The urgency to reach a deal among New York State, Erie County and the Buffalo Bills to build a stadium by 2026 was heightened by the deteriorating upper deck at Highmark Stadium, the seriousness of which was unknown until last year, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Monday.
The new stadium will be built directly across the street on Abbott Road, adjacent to Erie Community College’s South Campus, in what Gov. Kathy Hochul called “the largest construction project in Western New York history.”
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Funding a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills was one of the signature proposals made by Gov. Kathy Hochul, and while it was not in danger of failing, it did not gain unanimous support from Democrats.
Nope that’s what they said. In fact both NYS and PSE studies said ancillary development in Orchard Park would be literally zero.
— RM (@rm71692) April 11, 2022
Maybe Cuomo is to blame for not engaging PSE sooner, but even @markpoloncarz said this week he wanted it downtown. You are who is misleading everyone pic.twitter.com/jzmgZZIgNB
I know a thing or 2 about this, including info not publicly known, and there are lots of things that are just inaccurate. First, the upper deck was not known as an issue for a decade. That was revealed in the most recent DiDonato Report, and they've done the analysis for decades.
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 11, 2022
Second, the future value of economic impact was wildly inflated. The IMPLAN model of analysis was used, which is so bad the ECIDA doesn't use it anymore to calculate future economic impact of projects. Everyone agreed the future impact of a stadium in Bflo was inflated.
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 11, 2022
Third, the cost to put light rail to the Bflo site was not included in the analysis, though it was contemplated as necessary. We are not far enough along to qualify for federal infrastructure dollars, and it would have been hundreds of millions more in costs.
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 11, 2022
Fourth, the former owners had no interest in committing to a new stadium. The new stadium committee was created in concert with them but met only once because the former owners didn't have an interest in it.
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 11, 2022
There are many other issues I'm not going to get into now but the cost factor and growing opposition in the impacted neighborhood were huge. I wasn't going to cut funding for public health, libraries, etc., to fund a stadium. I don't in new OP deal. I would to fund city site.
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 11, 2022
And probably have to create a new tax, or increase property taxes, to fund a city site. Getting any of that passed wasn't feasible for many reasons. Governor dealt with same issue with NYS. The county will be in a better financial position under the new deal than the current.
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 11, 2022
My preference was Buffalo but as I've said before you never get everything you want in a negotiation. We didn't. The Pegulas didn't (their original ask was for NYS and County to build a stadium in OP w/no team contribution). It's a compromise. The team stays. That's a win. /end
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 11, 2022
