forget about renovation on stadium, build us a new stadium NOW!

[DetDannyWilliams]

Concession stands and restroom facilities in sections 120 through 142 were temporarily closed Sunday due to a water main break.
Team officials said a collapsed pipe let residue get into the drainage system and cause the backup.
It was fixed by the third quarter.
With the money fans spend there, some say dealing with raw sewage was unacceptable. http://rochester.ynn.com/content/news/698426/water-main-break-at-ralph-wilson-stadium/

[THATHURMANATOR]

I am normally an easy guy to please but that was terrible.

It smelled like **** the whole game and no stands or bathrooms were open.

[TacklingDummy]

Agreed, don't waste money on the old stadium.
Build a new one.

[SpikedLemonade]

Don't worry the eventual new owner will put a gun to the head of the County to build a new stadium under threat of moving the team.

No new owner is going to pay a billion for the team and then spend any real money to also build a stadium.

[BillsFever21]

With all the of the hundreds of millions we keep putting in renovations we could've just almost built a new stadium with that money.

[Pinkerton Security]

while i agree, theres no way in hell its gonna happen any time in the near future.

[alnilla]

Pipes break it just happens. What they should of done was delayed the game for a few hours and fixed it cleaned it up and then started. I called and *****ed at them for a refund for the game ( Been a season ticket holder for the past 8 years) They said they are gonna call back with what they are offering. We shall see

[trapezeus]

imagine the jokes had the bills lost. ***** in the bathrooms and ***** on the field. But funnier.

i agree, the problem with buffalo is that the city officials are so worried to get things wrong that they are paralyzed from doing anything. get off the pot and build a stadium. We know we need it. the NFL should be willing to put some money in. the state can do it now, or wait til the project is even more expensive. They've got the hockey facilities going up, a new hotel going up downtown. Now is the time to put in a waterfront stadium. No more arguing. Just get it done.

and then start building up some restaurants and some unique attractions around it.

[Beebe's Kid]

Yeah... Just build a new stadium.

Sure it will be expensive as ****, and nobody is going to want to pay for it, but just build it.

[trapezeus]

how many billions of dollars are lost each year through loopholes and corruption. we can't find 1 single billion to build a ***** stadium and attach some attraction features to make it a place that people would like to see and a cornerstone to revitalizing a city that the state desperately needs to be strong again?

the money is there.

[HAMMER]

The Bills don't need a new stadium because a pipe burst, the Bills don't need a new stadium period. None of you are going to want to pay for PSL's, increased ticket prices, increased concession prices, or increased parking prices. The game day experience in Buffalo is top notch, tailgating, sight lines, proximity to Thruway. I have enjoyed going to AZ and other new stadiums but none of them have made me have any more fun than a day at the Ralph. It's football folks.

[sukie]

The Ralph is older now than the Rock Pile was when it was levelled. It is supstandard NFL digs.

Now the question I have is who is the target of the thread start shout "Build us a stadium NOW!!!" fellow tax payers that would foot the bill?

Do what Florida does. Add a tax to the tourists that will flock downtown to the new Ice rinks on the waterfront. All those new hotel rooms... CH CHING!!!!

[trapezeus]

i agree that it is football and that the ralph has some great aspects, but imagine being able to go get a concession where there is actual elbow room and a couple different non amark food choices. Imagine better club seating.

the thing is that when the state offers to pay for stuff, they need to make the facility much bigger than what the current lin eof thinking is. the stadium should keep the bills in bufalo long term, it should help be a cornerstone to rebuilding the water front, and it should be innovative in helping bring new business to the area. if they can make it a convention center and have the marriott going up be close by, and have some kind of interactive football exhibit or put some type of mall that tries something unique, then you can create some good restaurants and local shops around it to give it a nice vibe.

Having travelled around the US a little bit this year, i notice what buffalo lacks is central community. It's just sprawl at this point. It'd be great to have some companies come in, but that not being on the radar just yet, let's try and build a downtown community that even the suburb people are excited to partake in.

as for the costs of PSL and higher cost tickets, that unfortunately is the price to be paid between keeping a team and losing a team.

[SpikedLemonade]

None of you are going to want to pay for PSL's, increased ticket prices, increased concession prices, or increased parking prices.

It is the truth but I would love to shove it up the big mouth's asses by actually turning Buffalo into a modern NFL stadium.

The team will then be gone within 5 years.

[better days]

The Ralph is older now than the Rock Pile was when it was levelled. It is supstandard NFL digs.

Now the question I have is who is the target of the thread start shout "Build us a stadium NOW!!!" fellow tax payers that would foot the bill?

Do what Florida does. Add a tax to the tourists that will flock downtown to the new Ice rinks on the waterfront. All those new hotel rooms... CH CHING!!!!


I don't think War Memorial Stadium was ever updated. The Ralph has been a couple times already.

There is no comparison. The Ralph today even with the broken pipe is MUCH better than the Rockpile was when it was new.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

I don't think War Memorial Stadium was ever updated. The Ralph has been a couple times already.

There is no comparison. The Ralph today even with the broken pipe is MUCH better than the Rockpile was when it was new.

The expansion to the grandstand and awnings that were present in its AFL days look like they were added later. As for any other stadium, yeah that should be built somewhere near the lakefront.

[better days]

The expansion to the grandstand and awnings that were present in its AFL days look like they were added later. As for any other stadium, yeah that should be built somewhere near the lakefront.

Well, you may be right about that, kind of like the plywood sign that said Buffalo Bills was added.

[BillsFever21]

The Bills don't need a new stadium because a pipe burst, the Bills don't need a new stadium period. None of you are going to want to pay for PSL's, increased ticket prices, increased concession prices, or increased parking prices. The game day experience in Buffalo is top notch, tailgating, sight lines, proximity to Thruway. I have enjoyed going to AZ and other new stadiums but none of them have made me have any more fun than a day at the Ralph. It's football folks.

If the Bills are going to stay in Buffalo then they will eventually need to build a new stadium. You can only keep dressing up a pig for so long. The hundreds of millions we keep putting in renovations could pay for a new stadium.

Any new owner who buys the Bills isn't going to keep the team there without a new stadium. They are not going to pay a billion dollars for a team to see them play in an old stadium with horrible concourses. Inside the stadium and in the parking lots are great but the concourses are terrible. Either way it can only be renovated for so long. A new owner is going to want a new stadium and if people aren't willing to pay for potential PSL's, etc, then they will figure the team isn't economically viable to stay in Buffalo to begin with.

[WagonCircler]

The Ralph is older now than the Rock Pile was when it was levelled. It is supstandard NFL digs.

Now the question I have is who is the target of the thread start shout "Build us a stadium NOW!!!" fellow tax payers that would foot the bill?

Do what Florida does. Add a tax to the tourists that will flock downtown to the new Ice rinks on the waterfront. All those new hotel rooms... CH CHING!!!!

Seriously? You're comparing the tourism industry in Buffalo to the tourism industry in Florida?

That's like saying "We'll raise money by opening a coffee cart! Just look at how much money Starbucks makes selling coffee!"

I'm pretty sure you're being facetious, but it's not clear.

[Historian]

The Ralph is a dump.

Time to re-invest in the community.

[sukie]

Seriously? You're comparing the tourism industry in Buffalo to the tourism industry in Florida?

That's like saying "We'll raise money by opening a coffee cart! Just look at how much money Starbucks makes selling coffee!"

I'm pretty sure you're being facetious, but it's not clear.


Yup Facetious to the hilt.
i find it somewhat amuzing that Buffalo has what, 4 or 5 new hotel projects downtown? Really? For what? a new multi hockey rink facility? 4 or 5 hotels?

[SpikedLemonade]

The Ralph is a dump.

Time to re-invest in the community.

That sounds like $750M+ of tax dollars.

[trapezeus]

but the hockey growth and the fact the NCAA comes to town for basketball and the frozen four and the facilities are being updated for more hockey says, "more tourneys will come to town. now if they can leverage these facilities to trade group meetings, etc, that's good for the region.

I don't know what i think a new stadium should have added to it, but it should be something unique and make a stadium that is really only single use 8x a year more important. i don't think adding simply restaurants and shopping is enough. there needs to be a cornerstone experience either around football, or around interactive technologies (leveraging UB's diverse student population). THat might help keep all the people who come through buffalo for education and have them start a life in buffalo.

If the state sees benefits aside from just padding an owners pockets, it is worth it. if they build a stadium that is behind the time already, and scale everything down because of budget over-runs etc, it's a **** deal for buffalo.

I have no doubt they'll mess it up, but let's not be afraid of getting it wrong instead of just letting them leave because we did nothing.

[Night Train]

Let's put all our zonebucks together and build one made of straw...since that's all NYS has.

As an Erie County taxpayer, I'm not interested in seeing my bill soar any more. Sorry out of towners.

[THATHURMANATOR]

Yup Facetious to the hilt.
i find it somewhat amuzing that Buffalo has what, 4 or 5 new hotel projects downtown? Really? For what? a new multi hockey rink facility? 4 or 5 hotels?

What is amuzing about it? You think people would throw down millions of dollars on projects for no reason with no research done? Obviously it was realized through study and analysis that these projects were fiscally worthwhile. These are private projects mind you. Downtown is growing and more people are visiting. Not comparing to any other region. Just the fact that it is happening down there.

Can't stand haters with broad generalizations... Yeah they are only building a couple hockey rinks down there... Ok...

To that point however those rinks will bring a lot of people through tournaments at the youth, Highschool, and collegiate level.

[WagonCircler]

Aside from the obvious fact that this region has no business spending more tax dollars on anything, what bothers me about building a new stadium is the fact that it would be used, for all intents and purposes, less than 10 days a year.

And no, I'm not counting marching band competitions or other such monetarily insignificant events.

It's just absurd to spend a Billion Dollars on a facility that will likely be used 9 days a year. And for what? Wider concourses?

I've been to every type of stadium there is in the NFL. Old, new, intermediate--and I've yet to find a place with better sight lines than the Ralph. The experience inside the stadium is without peer.

So, spend some money fixing the infrastructure, the plumbing (which is basically what they're doing, I think) and expand the ground level area outside the stadium for the all-important, allegedly lacking amenities.

We go to the Ralph to watch football games. Everything else is superficial tourist bulli******.

Spending $1 BIL on a new stadium when most games are already sold out is a total waste of money.

[HAMMER]

Well said.

[Beebe's Kid]

Aside from the obvious fact that this region has no business spending more tax dollars on anything, what bothers me about building a new stadium is the fact that it would be used, for all intents and purposes, less than 10 days a year.

And no, I'm not counting marching band competitions or other such monetarily insignificant events.

It's just absurd to spend a Billion Dollars on a facility that will likely be used 9 days a year. And for what? Wider concourses?

I've been to every type of stadium there is in the NFL. Old, new, intermediate--and I've yet to find a place with better sight lines than the Ralph. The experience inside the stadium is without peer.

So, spend some money fixing the infrastructure, the plumbing (which is basically what they're doing, I think) and expand the ground level area outside the stadium for the all-important, allegedly lacking amenities.

We go to the Ralph to watch football games. Everything else is superficial tourist bulli******.

Spending $1 BIL on a new stadium when most games are already sold out is a total waste of money.

You must have missed the post about the people that were smelling poo on Sunday. They don't deserve that!! They also had to go to other bathrooms...the horror, the horror.

A stadium on the lake is a pipe dream, and it is a stupid pipe dream. You have a place where drunken *******s are able to stomp around, puke, pee outside, etc.

To think that the rest of the population of the area is as football obsessed as everyone here is a joke. They aren't. Football fans are destructive and not exactly the constant spokespeople of the local culture that posters here may feel.

I love how people come on and type in all caps with no intellectual currency to blow on an argument. A new stadium is going to cost $1 bah-bah-bah-billion dollars. There will be contracts given away to family members of legislators, who will be trying to cut corners, and the first time you have something malfunction in a building full of 70,000 wasted individuals, and you smell sewage, you'll be yelling that they wasted the money...only it will be tied to your taxes for the next 50, maybe 100 years.

It is kicking the can, to an extent, and if you think that there is a deal that can be worked by "cutting the corruption" or what ever else has been suggested, you don't understand how this all works. It will not be an altruistic project.

[WagonCircler]

You must have missed the post about the people that were smelling poo on Sunday..

You must have missed the part of my post where I said "Fix the plumbing."

[WagonCircler]

I love how people come on and type in all caps with no intellectual currency to blow on an argument. A new stadium is going to cost $1 bah-bah-bah-billion dollars. There will be contracts given away to family members of legislators, who will be trying to cut corners, and the first time you have something malfunction in a building full of 70,000 wasted individuals, and you smell sewage, you'll be yelling that they wasted the money...only it will be tied to your taxes for the next 50, maybe 100 years.

We have 100 years of local history that's a very accurate predictor of government waste, corruption and piss poor planning.

[Beebe's Kid]

We have 100 years of local history that's a very accurate predictor of government waste, corruption and piss poor planning.
I know you do, and I meant to add a disclaimer that my comments were more in accord with your own and and addition to. Trap knows I agree with him on most things, but his talk about being able to cut the fat, as it were, is more what I was addressing.