Just got a stadium survey from the Bills

[RiotAct]

2 hours ago, Jrb1979 said:

I just did the survey and I am all in favor of a new stadium downtown. Lipstick on a pig is still a pig and that's what New Era Field is. 

a beautiful, kindly pig that provides great joy and companionship.

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, Hammered a Lot said:

I hope your tax dollars pay for it! Wear some underwear so your not dragging.

 

Ha! I love in tax-free NH. But I'll probably will end up with PSLs.

[Jrb1979]

35 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

The bills do. It's going to be much harder to fill a stadium without tailgating. For better or worse that is a huge draw.

Maybe right now. But if they build a new stadium with amenities like the Indians Stadium does they shouldn't have a problem. That stadium has a couple bar areas, local craft brews comfortable seats and a kids play area. 

 

Of course that might too much for some of you. 

[ghostwriter]

Only reason why I want a new stadium is because it marries the Bills to Buffalo for at least another 30 years. I want an extremely modest dome, something well under $1 billion. Something to keep us warm in during the winter and also a big venue for concerts and other forms of entertainment in the offseason.

[Hammered a Lot]

1 hour ago, dlonce said:

New stadium with retractable roof. Only one question pertaining to that.

 

Old guy here will not go to many games. Put a dome on a new stadium and I’ll purchase a Loge for 3-7 years, might even buy a 30 year PSL and will it to my kids.

 

I cannot stand the drive, the elements and massive cluster ***** of leaving the stadium. Offer me entertainment venues and restaurants and we stay after the game.

Pegulas need to stop with this dinosaur in Orchard Park and build a stadium closer to Buffalo, not in a friggin cow pasture.

You don't know where to park for quick out.

[The Senator]

 

As others have said, renovating Rich would just be putting lipstick on a 50-year old pig.  The structure is inferior, the restrooms inadequate, and the corridors way too narrow.

 

 I’m in favor of a new downtown facility, preferably with a retractable roof, but Cuomo would have to come up with another Buffalo Billion for that to happen.

.

[El Guapo]

16 minutes ago, The Senator said:

 

As others have said, renovating Rich would just be putting lipstick on a 50-year old pig.  The structure is inferior, the restrooms inadequate, and the corridors way too narrow.

 

 I’m in favor of a new downtown facility, preferably with a retractable roof, but Cuomo would have to come up with another Buffalo Billion for that to happen.

.

One of my questions asked me to rate the importance of numerous features. Two of the features were wider corridors and restroom accessibility. I put “Extremely Important “ for both of those. 

[Trogdor]

1 hour ago, Jrb1979 said:

Maybe right now. But if they build a new stadium with amenities like the Indians Stadium does they shouldn't have a problem. That stadium has a couple bar areas, local craft brews comfortable seats and a kids play area. 

 

Of course that might too much for some of you. 

The cost alone would probably price people out. Buffalo is unique and you take that away without the tailgating. Some of you apparently want this above all else, but I know that a lot of people enjoy it. This team has been miserable for 20years and no comfy seat would keep the stadium full for that long. 

[Da webster guy]

If you didn't say sightlines are very important I'm pissed at you.

 

They also didn't bring up noise as part of the survey, as in crowd noise being factored into design.    Pittsburgh fans still upset about the idiots who designed Heinz field leaving one end open "to see where the rivers meet and the city profile".    Meanwhile, all the noise blows right out that endzone and they have zero homefield advantage with regard to noise.

  

Opposing teams audible away, even at the goal line.    So stupid.   And they're a real football town with knowledgeable hardcore fans, it's not Miami or La where they wouldn't know an audible from an ottoman.

[formerlyofCtown]

10 hours ago, teef said:

just saw this come through my email too.  i'm just going to send them a bunch of nudes of myself, and see where it goes.

Judging by her reaction Buffalo_Gal must have already seen em.

2 hours ago, NewDayBills said:

Only reason why I want a new stadium is because it marries the Bills to Buffalo for at least another 30 years. I want an extremely modest dome, something well under $1 billion. Something to keep us warm in during the winter and also a big venue for concerts and other forms of entertainment in the offseason.

I wonder what visiting teams will think when they remove the visitors facilities from the old stadium and put them in new one?

Edited January 10, 2019 by formerlyofCtown

[wagon127]

Spending $2,000 a year for a lounge to sit in before and after the game, with non-alcoholic beverages is insane. All i want is Pub style tables thoughout the concourses of the stadium. This way i wont end up wearing the food i purchase there.

[Boatdrinks]

8 hours ago, Hammered a Lot said:

I hope your tax dollars pay for it! Wear some underwear so your not dragging.

Do you like where your tax dollars are going now ? You still have to pay them. They might as well use them for something I like if they’re going to take them anyway. Just my opinion. 

[bbb]

3 hours ago, El Guapo said:

One of my questions asked me to rate the importance of numerous features. Two of the features were wider corridors and restroom accessibility. I put “Extremely Important “ for both of those. 

 

A couple of years ago they made upgrades and kept talking about wider concourses.  I don't know if I just got fatter, but the concourses seemed the same, and that's about my only complaint about the stadium.

[purple haze]

4 hours ago, NewDayBills said:

something well under $1 billion.

And then you remembered you're talking about a construction project in New York State...  a Reno might be under that.  A new facility?  I doubt it.  Not because it should be over 1billion; not that it has to be over 1 billion; just because New York.

[GreggTX]

There is nothing wrong with the current stadium. All this talk of remodeling and building new stadiums is just for PR. The money would be better spent on teachers' salaries and roads, etc. It's just a money making scheme.

[thewookie1]

I would retrofit the present stadium in OP. Mainly for two reasons, cost and infrastructure.

 

It wouldn't be as expensive to renovate Rich Stadium as it would be to build a new stadium. Right off the bat just the land acquisition and  utilities being set up costs a lot and a downtown stadium would require a lot of space

 

Even more so would be the infrastructure required to make it work. Sabres games are bad enough with 30+ min wait times, now multiply that by 3 or 4 and just imagine the gridlock. The state would need to pour funds into Buffalo just to build infrastructure with the stadium itself being a separate funding enigma. Parking would be ridiculously expensive. And Buffalo's public transit is rather tiny. 

 

An inner-city stadium would likely kill tailgating which is effectively one of the primary draws for Bills fans year in and year out and or reduce it to a degree that would make it nothing special. Buffalo Bills fans are an older average crowd (season ticket wise) and still have some struggles with paperless ticketing; how will that demographic deal with price hikes and travel time increases? There isn't enough of a young rich crowd to pick up the slack thus we'd likely see the Bills crowds shrink by a great number as tailgaters stay home to party and some of the older crowd just stay home lamenting of days gone by.

[plenzmd1]

6 hours ago, Leonhart2017 said:

I gave them my email at the end of the survey in case I can make it home to do one of those focus groups. Who knows they may have some good catering there!

I can tell you with very certain clarity and based on experience... that’s a ney! Jimmie Johns is an upgrade if the players are not there! And I hate Jimmie Johns! 

[plenzmd1]

5 hours ago, The Senator said:

 

As others have said, renovating Rich would just be putting lipstick on a 50-year old pig.  The structure is inferior, the restrooms inadequate, and the corridors way too narrow.

 

 

 

those are all the things that would be rectified with a retro fit.Green Bay has fantastic corridors, great new restrooms..place was awesome and done for like $250M. 

[haroldwaide]

4 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

I would retrofit the present stadium in OP. Mainly for two reasons, cost and infrastructure.

 

It wouldn't be as expensive to renovate Rich Stadium as it would be to build a new stadium. Right off the bat just the land acquisition and  utilities being set up costs a lot and a downtown stadium would require a lot of space

 

Even more so would be the infrastructure required to make it work. Sabres games are bad enough with 30+ min wait times, now multiply that by 3 or 4 and just imagine the gridlock. The state would need to pour funds into Buffalo just to build infrastructure with the stadium itself being a separate funding enigma. Parking would be ridiculously expensive. And Buffalo's public transit is rather tiny. 

 

An inner-city stadium would likely kill tailgating which is effectively one of the primary draws for Bills fans year in and year out and or reduce it to a degree that would make it nothing special. Buffalo Bills fans are an older average crowd (season ticket wise) and still have some struggles with paperless ticketing; how will that demographic deal with price hikes and travel time increases? There isn't enough of a young rich crowd to pick up the slack thus we'd likely see the Bills crowds shrink by a great number as tailgaters stay home to party and some of the older crowd just stay home lamenting of days gone by.

I chose OP as well, but I opted for a new build with some minor infrastructure improvements to ease traffic congestion.  Build near the existing site, then tear down what we have, and use that space for the amphitheater, stores, or whatever else you want to add for fan experience.  I'm not an engineer, but I've noticed some cracks in the cement of NEF and that raises some questions about it's viability long term.  

[BigDingus]

I guess I've got a different mindset than many on here, as I'd much rather pay more for a better product than not have to pay much at all for what we have.

 

I think it's just my generation though, as the business landscape has changed dramatically to accommodate this line of thought, especially in service & restaurant industries. Fast casual dining chains used to be huge, but now people are ditching those places in droves & opting to pay more for a better experience & higher quality food/service. 

For live sporting events I'd rather have to pay a bit more for a cleaner, safer, more comfortable experience...otherwise I'd rather just watch for free in my home with a better view, better food, better smells, etc. Sitting on crappy bleacher seating next to a bunch of drunks that smell like balls, cussing up a storm, in crappy weather, having to pee in a trough next to a bunch of other men crammed side by side, all while having to pay for it and spend a ton of time driving home isn't exactly appealing anymore.

PSL's suck, but there's improved ways to do it that don't feel like such a ripoff (look into how they're doing them for LA's stadium). Buffalo has dragged its feet with building a new stadium for years. All the other rust belt/mid-west regional cities recognized the need for a new venue have long since built new stadiums.

1. Cleveland -        FirstEnergy Stadium: 1999-Present (Cost Adjusted for Inflation - $426 million)

2. Cincinnati -       Paul Brown Stadium: 2000-Present (Cost Adjusted for Inflation - $662 million)

3. Detroit -             Ford Field: 2002-Present  (Cost Adjusted for Inflation - $696 million)

4. Indianapolis -   Lucas Oil Stadium: 2008-Present (Cost Adjusted for Inflation - $808 million)

5. Minnesota -      U.S. Bank Stadium: 2016-Present (Cost - $1.06 Billion)

6. Pittsburgh -      Heinz Field: 2001-Present (Cost Adjusted for Inflation $398 million)

 

With the amount we've already spent to patch things up several times, we could've been on our way to having a new stadium by now. It's time to stop with the band-aids & just go for it now before it gets even more expensive in the future.