New Buffalo Bills Stadium comes with $1.4 Billion Price Tag

The Buffalo Bills are currently the best team in the AFC, maybe even in the NFL, according to some. The one thing that the Bills want is a new home. As reported on 104.5 The Team, over the past several months, the Buffalo NFL franchise has been negotiating with the State of New York and Erie County on who will pay for how much of the new facility and how much will be levied on the taxpayers.

On Tuesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul's office released a report from AECOM Engineering Company, out of Los Angelas, California. According to reports from the Poughkeepsie Journal in an article by Jon Campbell, a "new Buffalo Bills stadium would cost about $1.4 billion to construct at the team's current Orchard Park site and at least $350 million more if it were built in downtown Buffalo."

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The article stated that "the cost of renovating Highmark Stadium, the Bills' current home, would come to approximately $862 million, by far the cheapest of the options assessed by AECOM. However, the report recommends building a new stadium instead of renovating the current one, noting that a new stadium would typically last for 30 years or more while a renovated one would usually last for 10 to 15 years. The report's estimates are based on a 60,000-capacity stadium with at least 60 private suites and 60 loge boxes, totaling about 1.4 million square feet total."

I was surprised at the 60,000 seat number. That would tie it with the smallest stadium in the NFL, Soldier Field in Chicago. The Bears want out because they want more seats and the Bills would be building a new stadium that should be their new home for the next 30 years with the smallest seating capacity in the league? Something isn't right there. Either there will be "add on costs" to increase the capacity later on or Buffalo Bills fans can expect to be fleeced for tickets.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul grew up in Buffalo. She is a lifelong Bills fan and knows the importance of the NFL franchise not only to Buffalo but to the entire western New York region. This is a big deal. The Pegula family doesn't want to move the team but money is money. If New York and Erie County don't step up, the Bills could find a city that will give them way more than they are asking for now. At the same time, the Pegula's have to do right by their tax paying fans.