Archives for October 24, 2012

‘Exactly eight years later the Bills haven’t been as good since and aren’t now. Is their future even that bright?’

‘Freeman says it’s worth it because a new stadium is the only way to ensure the team remains the Buffalo Bills, “by building a new stadium, to me it ends the discussion. It locks your franchise in for a long term.”‘

‘Renovating the stadium is expected to top $200 million dollars, some of it would be county money. Poloncarz said “we will continue to work on negotiating a lease with the Buffalo Bills at their current home in Orchard Park, which the Bills have indicated they do not want to leave.”‘

‘A new stadium, and higher priced suites. Neither of these items is likely for Buffalo, no matter how great the drawings look or how much we wish it so. On the other hand, a stadium halfway between Buffalo and Toronto is a different beast altogether.’

‘”I go back to consistency,” said Head Coach Chan Gailey. “Everybody has to do the right thing on every snap. Right now we are not doing the right thing on every snap. If it falls back on anybody, it falls back on me making sure everybody is doing the right thing at the right time because that is what coaches are supposed to do-get people in the right place at the right time is what they are supposed to do.”‘

‘Wide receiver Donald Jones brought in five games for the PS3 and a version for the XBox 360 to play with kids in the patient playroom. Jones also made room visits to other kids in the hospital who couldn’t join in on the fun.’

‘Buffalo Common Council voted to “table” the matter — or put it on hold for future discussion. The GBSEC intends to have the lawmakers hear from the private investors once it’s able to secure the Outer Harbor property for the project.’

‘”We are not going to discuss at this point where we are with the Bills, whether it is continuing at the Ralph or a brand new stadium, but there are a number of factors that need to be kept in mind that unfortunately people out in the community are not discussing when they talk about a new stadium,” says Erie County Exec. Mark Poloncarz.’

‘GBSEC estimates the project would take three to five years to complete. Meantime, the Bills are negotiating a new lease at Ralph Wilson Stadium with the state and Erie County. Sticking points in the negotiations are $200 million in stadium upgrades and penalty clauses if the Bills leave town.’

‘”The sales tax, other revenue sources are relatively tapped out. So that piece is difficult to see, but if there is a general will of the government than it could be done,” Harrison explained.’

‘The big question is who will pay for it? Developers say the state would have to pay $400 million, the NFL would pay $200-$400 million and hundreds of millions of dollars would come from construction trades due to the 10,000 construction jobs that will be created. There are a lot of steps to this very complicated process, but the stadium rendering and formal plan was the first order of business.’

‘”It might be hard to get through to some of the taxpayers because obviously right now the economy is really hard. And where are they gonna come up with that extra money to do that?”‘

‘Unless the Bills make some unbelievable about-face in the second half of the season, there’s a good likelihood that things will have to be blown up again. And, if that’s the case, why not go back to the future? Why not hire the man with the Midas touch who engineered the golden era of Bills and Colts football? A guy whose teams have made 17 playoff trips in his 23 seasons as GM? A guy named Bill Polian?’

‘Ralph Wilson Stadium has loads of memories and lots of parking… and really, that’s it.’