The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)

Bills set to open stadium talks with state, local officials

- By John Wawrow

With a revised stadium feasibilit­y study in hand, the Buffalo Bills are preparing to open discussion­s with state and local government­s to determine whether to renovate the current facility or build a new home either near the existing suburban site or downtown.

“We’re ready to have the conversati­on,” Pegula Sports and Entertainm­ent executive vice president Ron Raccuia told The Associated Press by phone on Tuesday.

“We hope to start quickly. Obviously, this is Easter Week and New York state is finalizing its budget. So those are two factors,” he added. “If we have to go to Albany or if Albany’s coming to us, or we’re going to Zoom, we’ll figure it out.”

Buffalo-based PSE is the umbrella company which oversees Terry and Kim Pegula’s numerous holdings, including the Bills and the NHL’S Sabres.

Raccuia spoke on the day the Bills unveiled their new stadium naming rights partner, regionally based health insurance provider, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York.

The Pse-funded feasibilit­y study was initially launched in November 2018, and conducted by CAA ICON, a consulting firm, and Populous, an architectu­ral firm. Initially completed more than a year ago, the findings have since been revised to take into account the economic challenges presented by the coronaviru­s pandemic.

Raccuia wouldn’t share details of the findings, but noted the study also includes proposals for muchneeded upgrades to the Sabres downtown home, Keybank Center.

Since opening in 1996, the arena has had no major renovation­s and was considered to have “fallen behind modern standards” when it came to structural renovation­s and upgraded amenities.

The future of the Bills home, however, is expected to carry a far heftier price tag no matter which option is determined best for a franchise based in one of the NFL’S smallest markets. The larger question is how the costs would be split between public and private money.

“We have to have those conversati­ons with the state and county first,” Raccuia said.

Terry Pegula has previously stressed the Bills will take into account how much the local economy can bear in whatever option is chosen.

“We have the interest of our fans at heart, and what we do will be heavily weighted — whatever the plan is — toward the benefit of our fans,” Pegula told The AP in June 2019.

A new stadium alone would cost approximat­ely $1 billion, whether it was built near the existing facility in Orchard Park or at a downtown site.

Staying at newly renamed Highmark Stadium, which opened in 1973, also wouldn’t come cheap.

A stadium site selection study conducted by AECOM Technical Services in 2014 projected it would cost $540 million for the next series of renovation­s, including structural improvemen­ts and rebuilding the stadium’s third deck.

The study based its estimates on what it cost the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs to extensivel­y renovate their facilities over the previous decade.

And that cost is on top of the $130 million in renovation­s that took place in 2014, plus the $18 million the Pegulas spent on club seat upgrades three years ago.

Though the Bills have full operative control of the stadium and its surroundin­g land, the state and county play a role in holding the lease, which currently runs through the summer of 2023.

 ?? JEFFREY T. BARNES ?? The Buffalo Bills’ home has a new name: Highmark Stadium, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The newly rebranded health insurer, Highmark Bluecross, Blueshield of Western New York, has purchased the naming rights for what was simply known as Bills Stadium last season.
JEFFREY T. BARNES The Buffalo Bills’ home has a new name: Highmark Stadium, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The newly rebranded health insurer, Highmark Bluecross, Blueshield of Western New York, has purchased the naming rights for what was simply known as Bills Stadium last season.

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