The Senator

I live in downtown Buffalo, and I constantly see folks vaping while walking up and down Main Street, Elmwood, etc. (And they ain’t vaping tobacco!) It’s just not that big of a deal any longer. .

Bring ‘em ALL in, and GitErDone - if the price is right! ? .

What a terribly wonderful post. ? .

The remediation process would like add another 5 years to the timeline - there is cyanide literally seeping up through the griund in some spots. But the extra time would certainly please fans of The Ralph! .

All of these mock drafts are fairly silly, IMO. No one has the slightest clue what the Bills will do with the 9th pick, much less the 203rd pick. I’ll wait two weeks (post-combine) for the next round of ridiculous mock drafts. JMO .

I thought it meant he goes both ways .

Or, “He’s worth a look, if the price is right.” .

Man, bring back those 1973 season ticket prices. (55 bucks for a season ticket in the upper deck???) Bring back the days when you could carry in a one-quart thermos of coffee (or a 1-qt container of just about anything, usually vodka/iced tea for me). Bring back the days when you could smuggle in as much beer as you could fit under your winter coat and, at halftime, go out to ‘the patio’ and ‘bust a spleef’. Back in the late ‘70s we used to get there around 10am, find a spot where no security was watching, and hop the fence. Onc timr after getting over the fence, we happened upon the caterers stocking the suites and, finding one suite door left unlocked, helped ourselves to a bottle of Smirnoff! Oh, for the days (pre-9/11) when security was so lax you could do almost anything. Lots of great memories of that place. Thanks to the OP for posting. .

A practice facility is an excellent thought and maybe the current site could be used for that, with the county selling off the excess land for development purposes. As for one less direction, I’m sure some fans would love to arrive and depart by boat (JK), but I don’t understand why you think tailgating would be any less fun on the lakefront than in Orchard Park? .

See, that’s why it’ll be delivered late, and over budget - the County will overspend $3M on grass seed, forget to water the lawn, and, at the last moment, install artificial turf. .

You know, over the years, I have posted many, many times that the Bethlehem site would be an ideal spot for a new, waterfront stadium. It’d be right smack on the lake, plenty of acreage for parking (and tailgating), has an existing rail infrastructure, is only a few minutes from downtown, and has plenty of vehicular access (I90, Rt.5, Milestrip, etc.) Plus, what the heck else can that site be used for? No one is ever going to live atop that giant toxic dump, but you could convince me to spend a few hours there, once a week, 8-10 times a year. Only problem I see is, the Bills players and staff would be there every day. But is really is a good place for a stadium, I think. (Did you know that John Albright, of Albright Knox Art Gallery fame, conned someone into practically giving him that all that land, under the pretense that he would use it to grow flowers for the Pan Am Exposition? Once the land acquisition was completed, he and his partners brought in the Lackawanna Steel Company!) .

Respectfully, ‘bang for the buck’ precludes spending $300M every few years to constantly update a 47 years-old stadium, when a brand spankin’ new one could be built for approx. $750M. Nothing “superficial” is required - no tourist attraction, no shopping malls, water parks, etc. That would just drive up the cost, when all folks want and need is a great place to watch NFL football. The Ralph was great - and thank God it’s serviceable for a few more years while we build something new - but, like the Skyway, it is functionally obsolete, structurally deficient, fracture critical, and has outlived its usefulness. .

Yeah, too bad the Padres suck out loud, and too bad Machado won’t help that ? Yeah, and since the Padres suck so bad, the money would have been better spent on a new stadium. Maybe then San Diego could have a shot at being an NFL city. .

Just when we think no one in Buffalo has that kind of scratch, along comes some unknown guy worth $5B, and willing to spend half of it on Buffalo’s two major league teams. There’s plenty of quiet - and also not so quiet - money in BuffTown. Plenty of private folks and corporate entities that can afford suites and PSLs, plenty of companies that would love to have their name on a state-of-the-art downtown stadium, and plenty of companies that would be eager to advertise. You don’t think all those new medical corridor firms and their employees have money? Come on now, have a little faith in our city. .

Perv. I would take one from Melania. .

I love Steve Tasker as much as any Bills fan, but if you’re just now realizing that he’s not that good in the broadcast booth, you haven’t watched too many Bills preseason games! .

No, they can’t, but San Diego is not going to be blackmailed into building a new stadium any time soon, and the AAF is a viable alternative. The AAF games are competitive and entertaining, and the San Diego fans seem to enjoy the experience... https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2019/02/18/aaf-football-san-diego-fleet/2903068002/ Anyway, my main point was not to compare the AAF to the NFL; it was to rebut some new troll intimating that Californians pine for yet another NFL team, and that the Bills could be San Diego bound. That’s the most idiotic thing I’ve read on this board in quite a while. .

Sure they are. Their appetite for the game is insatiable! That’s why the Rams left, the Chargers moved, the Raiders moved twice and are now leaving. They love their football so much that the nation’s second largest city had no team at all for two decades. ? . Um, San Diego already has a football team. .

I would guess they spend that amount every year just to pick up the trash and clean up the vomit! .

If it’s Erie County spending the money? The project will finish late, and over budget. .

If it was as simple as a remodel, i.e., tearing out and replacing the seating, upgrading the suites and clubs, laying down a new field, modernizing the rest rooms, and a general facelift, then fine - go ahead. The problems start when you add more restrooms and widen the concourses, which is what’s wanted. Those four restroom towers they added a few years back constrict the outer footprint, and would have to come down to increase the outer boundaries. Likewise with the upper deck - it would have to be demolished and replaced if you want to widen the corridors. There’s no other way. The ceilings in the corridors follow the rake of the upper deck, to the point where the ceiling is about zero where you exit the corridor to access the seats. And there’s virtually no room anywhere for more restrooms, unless maybe you fill in the corners. So one way or another, we’ll have a new stadium, whether we build one downtown, across the street from the current one, or reuse some of the existing steel and concrete as we recycle the current one. (IMHO, the only parts of the current facility that will remain usable are the parking lots.) .

Wanna know what kind of turf works just fine and never needs replacing? It’s called grass. .

I could not agree more. I lived in DC from ‘81-‘84 and went to plenty of Colts and Orioles games. Memorial Stadium was a dump - by comparison, New Era is a palace! But even palaces become obsolete, as people want new kitchens, newer and more bathrooms, and all the modern conveniences. I’ll miss The Ralph, its excellent sightlines, and all the great memories, but it’s time to trade up. .

I usually wait until after the Bills season ends before I focus on the Sabres. Now, after only a month or so of focusing on the Sabres, I am focused on the NFL combine, the draft, OTAs, etc. Put a fork in the Sabres - they’re done. .

I suppose some folks may have said the same things about The Old Rockpile, but realize that, as a professional football venue, Rich/The Ralph/New Era has surpassed War Memorial Stadium by more than a decade. The current facility is ‘serviceable’ for a few more years, but I would have a huge issue with anyone who thinks dropping a $half billion$ on a total rehab/rebuild isn’t foolish. Buffalo is finally undergoing a renaissance of sorts, needs and deserves a new downtown football stadium to keep the momentum going, and the Pegulas have quietly been acquiring the land for it. JMO. .