Buffalo Bills want a new stadium – and for taxpayers to foot the bill

[RochesterRob]

1 hour ago, Ann said:

The chatter in political circles this week is that news of a stadium deal involving the Buffalo Bills may be announced during New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's State of the State address, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday.
 

"As a public partner, in addition to Erie County, I think a lot of the parties want to give the Governor the ability to make the announcement," Albany insider Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell and Associates told WBEN on Tuesday. "It may be that she announces an agreement in principle, or a memorandum of understanding, or something that allows the Bills to move forward with construction, or at least getting bids and doing the things they need to do before there are too many price increases."
 

</snip>

  Our Blunderer-in-Chief has most likely already added a quarter billion to the price tag with his antics.  

[Ann]

I'll laugh if she does announce...

[Foxx]

Poloncarz says maybe not.

 

[Ann]

 

 

https://twitter.com/timoshei/status/1479508441236484101

[Ann]

...

 

[RochesterRob]

3 hours ago, Ann said:

...

 

  So this means the politicians are kicking this can into 2023?

[Spartacus]

5 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

  So this means the politicians are kicking this can into 2023?

well, it's hard to budget for these big surprise items

 

2022 is an election year - so a little extortion to vote to keep the Ds in power outside of NYC 

[RochesterRob]

3 minutes ago, Spartacus said:

well, it's hard to budget for these big surprise items

 

2022 is an election year - so a little extortion to vote to keep the Ds in power outside of NYC 

  The way Hochul is spinning it is because there is no agreement in place between Albany and Erie County.  Not that Erie County is going Republican but I don't see how a hold up helps Democrats in contested areas.  The Republicans are in a minority in Albany so it would be nearly impossible to make them the whipping boys if a stadium winds up not budgeted.  

[Ann]

...

[Ann]

Not ready to spike the football yet…

 

 

 

[Ann]

....

 

[Spartacus]

1 hour ago, Ann said:

....

 

pretty much full of shit regarding the traffic from OP

 

no way possible it will be better at a downtown site with much more limited traffic options and no public transit

[RochesterRob]

1 hour ago, Spartacus said:

pretty much full of shit regarding the traffic from OP

 

no way possible it will be better at a downtown site with much more limited traffic options and no public transit

  I remember on the old BBMB various figures being cited as to adapting downtown to readily move traffic in terms of 10's of thousands of vehicles on a NFL Sunday.  It was on average that 20-25 million dollars would be needed just to rework Rte 5 plus additional I-90 rework plus local streets being reworked to make any area functional away from OP.  This is not counting any other costs such as upgrading utilities or services such as Erie County Sheriff's Dept or local fire departments.  Just reworking roads and streets.  Probably more on the order of 30 million or more given recent inflation.

Edited January 30, 2022 by RochesterRob

[Ann]

How many rooms does the NHL All Star game need!?!?
 

Why not a dome? Buffalo’s blizzardlike branding plays a role in Bills stadium plans
 

</snip>
 

The National Football League franchise continues to negotiate with the State of New York and Erie County to help finance the construction of a new $1.4 billion stadium across the street from its current venue in Orchard Park, but a dome isn’t part of the discussions and was never on the Bills’ wish list. An internal study conducted four years ago by Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which oversees the holdings of team owners Terry and Kim Pegula, put it bluntly: “No roof. Outdoor football.”
 

</snip>
 

But the NFL is an international entertainment business that rakes in billions of dollars. The vast majority of that income is television revenue split evenly among all 32 teams. And Buffalo’s blizzardlike branding and all that comes with it – fields blanketed in snow, the howling wind and screams of bare-chested fans – make for good TV.
 

</snip>
 

NFL owners hope to vote on a Bills stadium deal at their next meeting in late March.
 

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Western New York native, has said she expects to include stadium funding in the annual budget, which state legislators must approve by April 1. Erie County legislators must also approve any deal and have said they will take up to 30 days to review it.
 

“To keep it open air is part of the Buffalo bravado,” Hochul said in January, responding to a question from The News, “which people love to showcase.”
 

Buffalo does not have the infrastructure to host a Super Bowl, regardless of whether the Bills’ new stadium has a dome.

For starters, hotel space in the market is woefully inadequate. Downtown has about 2,500 rooms spread across 18 hotels, while Erie County has a little more than 11,000 rooms. A Super Bowl would require at least double that capacity.

“We don’t even have enough hotel rooms and downtown infrastructure for an NHL All-Star Game,” said John Cimperman, a longtime NHL and NBA executive and sports marketing agent who owns 42 North Brewing Company in East Aurora. “That would have happened by now. Let’s not build this with the hope of a Super Bowl.”
 

</snip>
 

A domed stadium would theoretically allow for year-round use, but few events demand such a large venue.
 

“Buffalo isn’t going to host soccer games that would use it, especially in the winter,” said Victor Matheson, a sports economics professor at College of the Holy Cross. “Almost no concerts are that size other than something like the Rolling Stones or Taylor Swift and a tiny handful of others, and they all do summer tours specifically because they want to use the large outdoor stadiums in the rest of the country.”
 

Roger Noll, a sports economist at Stanford University, pointed out that Hard Rock Stadium in Miami had no concerts scheduled in January or February and that while Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which has a dome, will host Metallica and Billy Joel concerts later this month, the vast majority of the city’s shows are in smaller venues. The only event scheduled at the stadium from March through June is the Academy of Country Music Awards.
 

“The problem is that almost no artists draw a crowd so large that it makes sense to use a football stadium,” Noll said.
 

</snip>
 

Historically, a dome doesn’t make sense from a competitive standpoint, either.
 

Only three NFL teams that play home games in a dome have won the Super Bowl: the 1999 St. Louis Rams, 2006 Indianapolis Colts and 2009 New Orleans Saints.
 

</snip>

 

[Ann]

Lawmakers introduce bill to eliminate subsidies for pro stadium construction, citing in part Washington Commanders probe
 

The investigation into the Washington Commanders' workplace -- and the NFL's response -- served as an impetus for a bill introduced in Congress aimed at eliminating subsidies for professional stadiums.
 

Three members of Congress -- Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) -- introduced a bill on Tuesday that would immediately eliminate a tax break used by professional sports teams. They labeled the bill the "No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act."
 

In a news release, Speier, a member of the House Oversight Committee, referred to sexual harassment allegations surrounding the Washington organization -- including owner Dan Snyder -- as well as the league's response to an initial investigation, as a primary reason for her support of the bill.
 

"The NFL has proven once again that it can't play by the rules. As such, taxpayers-subsidized municipal bonds should no longer be a reward for the Washington Commanders and other teams that continue to operate workplaces that are dens of sexual harassment and sexual abuse," Speier said in a statement. "It doesn't make economic sense, and it's particularly galling given the league's longstanding failure to address issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault as well as on-going racial and gender discrimination and domestic violence."
 

</snip>
 

The NFL, through a spokesman, declined comment.
 

</snip>

[Arm of Harm]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

Lawmakers introduce bill to eliminate subsidies for pro stadium construction, citing in part Washington Commanders probe
 

The investigation into the Washington Commanders' workplace -- and the NFL's response -- served as an impetus for a bill introduced in Congress aimed at eliminating subsidies for professional stadiums.
 

Three members of Congress -- Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) -- introduced a bill on Tuesday that would immediately eliminate a tax break used by professional sports teams. They labeled the bill the "No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act."
 

In a news release, Speier, a member of the House Oversight Committee, referred to sexual harassment allegations surrounding the Washington organization -- including owner Dan Snyder -- as well as the league's response to an initial investigation, as a primary reason for her support of the bill.
 

"The NFL has proven once again that it can't play by the rules. As such, taxpayers-subsidized municipal bonds should no longer be a reward for the Washington Commanders and other teams that continue to operate workplaces that are dens of sexual harassment and sexual abuse," Speier said in a statement. "It doesn't make economic sense, and it's particularly galling given the league's longstanding failure to address issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault as well as on-going racial and gender discrimination and domestic violence."
 

</snip>
 

The NFL, through a spokesman, declined comment.
 

</snip>

I have mixed feelings about this. 
 

Stadium subsidies funnel taxpayer money into the NFL. The taxpayer has absolutely zero responsibility to subsidize NFL players or NFL owners. Taxing the middle class to fund the rich is bad policy.

 

That said, the investigation into the Redskin Commanders is being conducted by Democrats, which means at least some portion of their allegations are likely bogus. Granted, I’m not all that interested in whether the Democrats are lying about the rationale for a ban on stadium subsidies, because the ban itself makes basic sense. 
 

Of more concern is the fact that I don’t want to see this law go into effect until after the Bills have secured a new stadium, with a renewed commitment to staying in Buffalo where they belong. 

[Ann]

3 minutes ago, Arm of Harm said:

I have mixed feelings about this. 
 

Stadium subsidies funnel taxpayer money into the NFL. The taxpayer has absolutely zero responsibility to subsidize NFL players or NFL owners. Taxing the middle class to fund the rich is bad policy.

 

That said, the investigation into the Redskin Commanders is being conducted by Democrats, which means at least some portion of their allegations are likely bogus. Granted, I’m not all that interested in whether the Democrats are lying about the rationale for a ban on stadium subsidies, because the ban itself makes basic sense. 
 

Of more concern is the fact that I don’t want to see this law go into effect until after the Bills have secured a new stadium, with a renewed commitment to staying in Buffalo where they belong. 

Methinks the NFL donates enough to Congress (all political parties and parts of the legislature) for this bill to go nowhere fast.
 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

3 hours ago, Ann said:

Lawmakers introduce bill to eliminate subsidies for pro stadium construction, citing in part Washington Commanders probe
 

The investigation into the Washington Commanders' workplace -- and the NFL's response -- served as an impetus for a bill introduced in Congress aimed at eliminating subsidies for professional stadiums.
 

Three members of Congress -- Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) -- introduced a bill on Tuesday that would immediately eliminate a tax break used by professional sports teams. They labeled the bill the "No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act."
 

In a news release, Speier, a member of the House Oversight Committee, referred to sexual harassment allegations surrounding the Washington organization -- including owner Dan Snyder -- as well as the league's response to an initial investigation, as a primary reason for her support of the bill.
 

"The NFL has proven once again that it can't play by the rules. As such, taxpayers-subsidized municipal bonds should no longer be a reward for the Washington Commanders and other teams that continue to operate workplaces that are dens of sexual harassment and sexual abuse," Speier said in a statement. "It doesn't make economic sense, and it's particularly galling given the league's longstanding failure to address issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault as well as on-going racial and gender discrimination and domestic violence."
 

</snip>
 

The NFL, through a spokesman, declined comment.
 

</snip>

 

A federal bill dictating how states and municipalities can spend their money?

 

That bullshit should go nowhere fast.

[Arm of Harm]

40 minutes ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

A federal bill dictating how states and municipalities can spend their money?

 

That bullshit should go nowhere fast.

Democrats do illegal stuff all the time, apparently without any repercussions or remedies. One example of that is their illegal alterations to election procedures prior to the 2020 election. 
 

In this case, unlike many other cases, they’d actually have a reasonably sound legal argument. The interstate commerce clause clearly applies to the NFL. 

[Core Four]

1 hour ago, Arm of Harm said:

Democrats do illegal stuff all the time, apparently without any repercussions or remedies. One example of that is their illegal alterations to election procedures prior to the 2020 election. 
 

In this case, unlike many other cases, they’d actually have a reasonably sound legal argument. The interstate commerce clause clearly applies to the NFL. 

 

The Federal government can't tell states and local municipalities how to spend their money...at least not yet.