The new Orchard Park stadium deal came with a massive public subsidy — was keeping the Bills in Buffalo worth the taxpayer cost, or did local and state officials get played by the league?
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Add your commentI've lived in Buffalo my entire 54 years and I'll say this plainly: we got robbed. Terry Pegula is worth somewhere around 6 billion dollars. SIX BILLION. And we handed him nearly a billion in public money because we were scared he'd move the team? That's not civic pride, that's a hostage negotiation where the hostage takers won.
My grandfather worked at Bethlehem Steel. My dad worked at a GM plant. Both gone. You know what's still here? The Bills. Sometimes you hold onto what you have left. Call me sentimental, I don't care.
Pretty sure the Bills went to four Super Bowls and lost all four, they've never actually won one. Which is kind of the point — we keep pouring love and money into this team and they keep breaking our hearts. But hey, that's Buffalo I guess.
The economic impact studies used to justify this deal were funded by parties who had a direct interest in the stadium being built. That's not analysis, that's marketing. Independent economists have consistently shown that sports stadiums do not generate the tax revenue or job creation promised. Buffalo deserved better than to be handed a glossy brochure and told to say thank you.
Kathy Hochul representing Buffalo in Albany and then signing off on this deal is exactly the kind of thing that makes people distrust politicians. She gets to look like the hero who saved the Bills, Pegula gets a billion-dollar stadium mostly paid for by taxpayers, and the rest of us get to feel good about it because touchdowns. Everyone wins except the public.
The Bills haven't won a Super Bowl since ever so maybe we shouldn't be subsidizing their existence lmaooo. Let Pegula pay for his own stadium and use that money to fix literally any road in Erie County.
Fun fact nobody mentions: the NFL actually has the highest revenue sharing of any major sports league, so even small market teams like the Bills are financially stable without a shiny new stadium. This was not a situation where they genuinely needed public money to survive. This was the Pegulas doing what every owner does — exploiting the emotional attachment of a fan base to extract cash from governments. Textbook stuff.
To the person defending the jobs argument — construction jobs are temporary by definition. Once the building is built, those jobs are gone. The permanent jobs created at a stadium are mostly part-time, low-wage concession and parking work with no benefits. This has been studied exhaustively. Genuinely asking: is that worth $850 million in public funds?
Counterpoint for anyone actually willing to engage: what was the alternative? The Sabres are a disaster, the city doesn't have a second major attraction pulling national attention. If the Bills leave for Austin or wherever, do you really think Buffalo recovers from that perception hit? I'm not saying the deal was perfect but the 'just let them leave' crowd isn't being serious.
I work in construction and got 14 months of steady work because of this project. My brother-in-law too. So spare me the lecture about how no local jobs were created. Real people are paying their mortgages because of that stadium going up.
ok but have you BEEN to a Bills game and felt what that does for this city?? people act like its just football but for buffalo its way more than that. after decades of losing industries and population and being the butt of every snowstorm joke, the Bills are genuinely one of the things that makes people proud to live here. you cant put a dollar amount on that
I moved here from Cleveland three years ago and honestly the Bills fandom is unlike anything I've ever seen. These people bleed blue and red. So I completely understand why politicians couldn't say no. That said, from the outside looking in, nearly a billion dollars for a private sports franchise is genuinely shocking. You could build like four hospitals with that money.
been going to Bills games since the Ralph Wilson days, sat through blizzards, heartbreaking losses, years of mediocrity. i know its not rational economics. i know pegula is rich and probably didn't need our money. but when they finally make it back to a Super Bowl and Buffalo loses its mind with joy, nobody is gonna be out there doing cost-benefit analyses. some things just matter.
Actually the Bills HAVE won Super Bowls, they just don't get enough credit because the national media ignores Buffalo. Do your research before commenting.
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