Tag: Buffalo Bills

Apr 6

2023

Experts: Stadium CBA comes up short

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According to experts, the community benefits agreement for the new Buffalo Bills stadium lacks key provisions that are common to successful CBAs elsewhere. That’s partly by design. The CBA for the Bills stadium, announced Wednesday, is the first such agreement for a major project in Erie County. It calls for the team to commit $3 million annually over 30 years to fund projects that benefit the community. That’s in exchange for a $850 million public contribution to the $1.5 billion stadium. But the deal does not specify how that money should be spent, leaving those decisions up to an oversight[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 15

2023

Commitment to diversity on stadium project

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State and local officials on Wednesday pledged that construction of the new Buffalo Bills stadium will include opportunities for local businesses owned by women and people of color — and that they’re working with local unions to diversify their ranks ahead of the groundbreaking. Officials also said the new stadium in Orchard Park will include additional bus service for Bills fans who can’t or don’t want to drive to games. Those commitments came as the Erie County Stadium Corp. — a subsidiary of the state Empire State Development Corp. — met to approve a framework for the $1.4 billion stadium[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 5

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Each Sunday, Jim Heaney summarizes the reporting of Investigative Post from the previous week and recommends other stories to read – along with his commentary. The email newsletter is free. Subscribe here. When officials announced a couple of weeks ago the framework of a community benefits agreement for the new Bills stadium, I asked Geoff Kelly to analyze the deal. He poked around, found nothing had been committed to a public document, and said it was premature to draw any conclusions. That didn’t stop Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz from praising the CBA and for The Buffalo News editorial board from[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 26

2023

‘Weak’ relocation clause in Bills’ lease

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The Buffalo Bills would have an easier time abandoning their new stadium in Orchard Park for another city than any of the other teams playing in subsidized stadiums built for NFL franchises in recent years, Investigative Post has found. Four NFL stadiums have been built with public assistance since 2014: Levi’s Stadium for the San Francisco 49ers, U.S. Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Atlanta Falcons, and Allegiant Stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders. Like the Bills draft lease, those agreements require teams in those stadiums to pay back the taxpayer’s investment in the event they[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 16

2023

Bills new stadium lease is not ironclad

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Investing $850 million of public funds in a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills is a heavy lift for taxpayers. The elected officials who negotiated those terms have offered us the solace that it keeps the team here for at least another 30 years. It’s an ironclad lease, they’ve assured us. But it’s not. And the state of the team’s ownership – Terry Pegula, in his 70s, and his wife Kim, dealing with serious health issues that keep her away from the team – only heighten concerns about the team’s long-term prospects in Western New York. The memorandum of understanding[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 9

2023

Monday Morning Read

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Here’s Jim Heaney’s recommended reading – and a little food for thought – for the past week. His recommended reading is part of WeeklyPost, emailed Sunday mornings. You can subscribe here. In the wake of his injury last week, Damar Hamlin’s charity had raised $8,552,900 as of Sunday night. The GoFundMe page set up to assist the Buffalo family that lost five children in a house fire had raised $181,828. Just saying. How much are the Buffalo Bills worth? Let’s just say Terry Pegula could build his new stadium on his own dime with the increased value of the team[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Dec 19

2022

Monday Morning Read

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Sign up for a free subscription to WeeklyPost, from which this post is extracted from. I cringed while watching the Bills game a week ago Sunday after Jets quarterback Mike White was returned to the game after suffering an injury that sent him to the hospital that night and is keeping him sidelined this week. It was the latest example of the NFL treating its players like disposable commodities. Other examples this season include the concussion fiasco involving Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Bills and Dolphins playing in a brutal heat and humidity that sent many players to the sidelines with cramps. I[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Dec 8

2022

Lawmakers indicate no review for Bills stadium

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Updated: 5:05 p.m. The Buffalo Bills new stadium is now set to win approval from the Erie County Legislature without completing a full environmental review that’s been required of similar projects around the state. Legislators on Thursday signaled that they would issue a “negative declaration” next week under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, forgoing an Environmental Impact Statement. That would allow the Bills to skip a full environmental assessment.  After more than an hour of testimony and discussion, legislators said they felt comfortable moving forward without an EIS, something that was required for all major league sports venues built[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post