Kirby Jackson Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 I suppose that this can be combined with other thread but feels like it should be broken out. Now that we are in peak offseason this is a good time to discuss the comments of Terry and Kim. Above are some tweets from @john wawrow that he took away from yesterday. It sure sounded that way to me as well. What were your thoughts??? 1
Forward Progress Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 Please don't move the stadium downtown!! I have been to plenty of stadiums across the league and downtown stadiums have the worst tailgating. St.Louis was the worst that I have been to. The only thing going on outside of the stadium were street vendors peddling their souvenirs. 5
eball Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 As long as the team stays in WNY I don't care where they put the damn stadium. Fans will come. 6 1
Kirby Jackson Posted March 27, 2019 Author Posted March 27, 2019 My thoughts on this are pretty simple. Wherever it goes next is going to be a “business decision” not a fan experience decision. What is best for the government and best for the Pegulas are not necessarily the same. It will almost certainly be a public/private deal. The expression “split the difference” is a little ironic IMO. That’s how I see this thing playing out. The Pegulas want to maximize revenue and the government wants to minimize cost. My guess is 65,000 seats, downtown (somewhere), with a price tag in the $1B range. It will be split almost evenly between the state and the Bills. 3
YoloinOhio Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said: My thoughts on this are pretty simple. Wherever it goes next is going to be a “business decision” not a fan experience decision. What is best for the government and best for the Pegulas are not necessarily the same. It will almost certainly be a public/private deal. The expression “split the difference” is a little ironic IMO. That’s how I see this thing playing out. The Pegulas want to maximize revenue and the government wants to minimize cost. My guess is 65,000 seats, downtown (somewhere), with a price tag in the $1B range. It will be split almost evenly between the state and the Bills. How does it work with naming rights? Would New Era have to bid on it and how much does the corporate sponsor typically contribute to the overall cost?
Augie Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 (edited) As long as my Bills are still in WNY, I’ll consider it a win. I know that will be hated by some. I love games in OP. I also loved games before OP. If it comes to it, I’ll love games after OP. . Edited March 28, 2019 by Augie 6
YoloinOhio Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 27 minutes ago, Forward Progress said: Please don't move the stadium downtown!! I have been to plenty of stadiums across the league and downtown stadiums have the worst tailgating. St.Louis was the worst that I have been to. The only thing going on outside of the stadium were street vendors peddling their souvenirs. Some are better then others. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Cincy all have downtown stadiums with decent tailgating. It’s just more scattered because the lots are smaller and spread out. Indy has s nice big lot but they don’t tailgate well, it’s mostly done at the bars/restaurants around the stadium. That’s just been my experience.
eball Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 2 minutes ago, Augie said: As long as y Bills are still in WNY, I’ll consider it a win. I know that will be hated by some. I love games in OP. I also loved games before OP. If it comes to it, I’ll love games after OP. I'm just sayin', I would LOVE a downtown stadium with places to go before and after games. I'm just at a different place in my life and mega-tailgating in a parking lot isn't as important any more. 12 1 2 1
sullim4 Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 I tend to agree... I think it's becoming clearer that they want a downtown stadium in conjunction with some improvements to KeyBank Center. The thing they are going to have difficulty with IMO are the PSLs. They are going to lose a lot of existing season ticket holders if the PSL is excessive, and other teams that have done this have been unable to sell tickets as seasons. They then get dumped on the secondary market by scalpers, often at heavy losses, particularly late in the season. Eventually scalpers stop buying and then the team gets stuck with excessive inventory. I could see them keeping the OP facility as the team's HQ and practice facility. Most teams with urban stadiums have this kind of setup in the suburbs. 1
LeviF Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 We might as well accept it now. Tailgating is dead/dying across the NFL. And that's by design. 3
nucci Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 47 minutes ago, Forward Progress said: Please don't move the stadium downtown!! I have been to plenty of stadiums across the league and downtown stadiums have the worst tailgating. St.Louis was the worst that I have been to. The only thing going on outside of the stadium were street vendors peddling their souvenirs. Tailgating will be fine....not a lot of stuff downtown. They'll be able to create some decent sized lots
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 3 minutes ago, LeviF91 said: We might as well accept it now. Tailgating is dead/dying across the NFL. And that's by design. It's become less of a working man's sport and more of a yuppie executive's.
Forward Progress Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 7 minutes ago, nucci said: Tailgating will be fine....not a lot of stuff downtown. They'll be able to create some decent sized lots That's good to hear. As long as the great tailgating tradition continues, I'm on board.
YoloinOhio Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 2 minutes ago, Forward Progress said: That's good to hear. As long as the great tailgating tradition continues, I'm on board. I have a feeling that the organization will do its best to ensure there are enough places to tailgate. I do think they want to curb the dangerous stuff though. 4
May Day 10 Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 Im not so worried about the tailgating downtown as much as the traffic. A Sabres game with 15-19K people locks up traffic to a miserable degree. People leave Sabres games (no matter the score) between the 2nd intermission and 2/3 through the third period to avoid getting stuck. Its awful. 3 2
badassgixxer05 Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 Lets be honest here. Some of the tailgating does get just a little bit out of hand at times...?I'm sure that not only the stadium will be scaled back but the tailgating will be also. They will be sure to funnel you into a few Pegula owned bars though.. lol
billsfanmiami(oh) Posted March 27, 2019 Posted March 27, 2019 2 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said: I have a feeling that the organization will do its best to ensure there are enough places to tailgate. I do think they want to curb the dangerous stuff though. Yup, I think they’ll be trying to find that perfect balance between the two. I’m fine with paying a bit more for my seasons & for the experience in general as long as it’s close to or maybe even better than the current experience. I’m not advocating the full on carnage / WWE type stuff but I want to know I’m at a football game. If we’re going to have a downtown stadium I don’t want to feel like I’m at a hockey game at sterile Keybank center.
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