Buffalo Has "Murky" Bills Future

The Buffalo Bills fans are preparing to return to Highmark Stadium in full force on September 12th to see their beloved team take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1pm. The Bills Mafia is stacking up on tables to dive on, in celebration of the 2021 season. Josh Allen personifies the bright future of this NFL powerhouse. However, every minute it becomes more apparent that things are not so good with the "house" that the Buffalo Bills play in. Today, the team made it a little more "official" that "will not" play in Highmark stadium much longer.

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According to today's Bleacher Report by Adam Wells, the Bills' "long-term future in Buffalo looks murky, with their current stadium lease agreement set to expire in July 2023. Ron Raccuia, Pegula Sports and Entertainment senior vice president, told WBEN-Radio (h/t the Associated Press) the Bills "absolutely will not" renew their lease with the state of New York and Erie county if there is no agreement in place for a new stadium."

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Those are some pretty strong words by an ownership group so invested in Buffalo. Could the Pegula's be ready to move on from the western New York City? At the same time, have you been to a Bills game? According to Wells, "Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, has been the Bills' home stadium since 1973. It's currently the fourth-oldest stadium in the NFL, ahead of Soldier Field (1924), Lambeau Field (1957) and Arrowhead Stadium (1972)."

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It's an old stadium. The seats are old. The concessions are old. Even the bathrooms are old. More importantly, the corporate amenities are old. According to Wells, "Raccuia also noted the Bills are not "yet" focused on potential relocation options. "We're just committed to getting everybody together as quickly as possible to get to a solution," he said. "Talking about options and 'what happens if,' that serves no purpose. It's not where any of our focus or resources are being dedicated."

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The Bills want to compete with the rest of the NFL franchises when it comes to national advertising dollars. They cannot facilitate those agreements in Highmark Stadium. It will be an interesting season.

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LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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