New stadium rumors

[better days]

Batavia would be a disaster. There's like 2 below average motels in that crap town and a Target...that's not going to bring people in to "Buffalo" to come for a game.

The point of building a new stadium is to maximize profits for the team and surrounding area. This is why downtown and the falls make sense.

Downtown: they're already making strides in revitalizing the city, and adding a professional football stadium/convention center would bring year round traffic to the downtown area...increasing property value and enticing more businesses to operate down there (hotels, restaurants, shops especially).

This method was used in Pittsburgh which was a complete $#it hole 20 years ago...and if anyone has been there recently, you've seen it's the complete opposite of that now. The same could be said for Cincinnati and hell, even Cleveland.

The Falls: All of the reasons I mentioned above apply here as well, but another interesting proposal would be hosting the Super Bowl (assuming there is a roof). The Falls are a great compromise/solution to the Canadian fan base as you literally cannot get any closer to Canada. Visitors would be able to view one of the "wonders of the world" and catch a game ...this would help the team but also BOTH sides of the Falls

Whatever keeps this team in WNY...get it done.

I have gone to a few games in Foxborough to see the Bills play the Pats*

Every time I went, I stayed in Boston, a great City to visit. But the trip from Boston to Foxborough is LONG.

Batavia is not that far from Rochester or Buffalo, especially the Suburbs of Buffalo, Lancaster & Depew which have a number of hotels/motels being near the Airport.

But the site of the old Lancaster Speedway would be a good place for the stadium as well.

[WagonCircler]

None of the options being discussed would be a disaster.

A disaster would be a new stadium in Toronto or LA.

[BertSquirtgum]

Pembroke. Been saying it for years. Dome. Sellouts for every game.

Batavia makes more sense because they have many more hotels. Pembroke has one ****ty motel.

[stuckincincy]

Hmm...wouldn't Erie County demand that $400 million penalty if the Bills left the county?

[YardRat]

Hmm...wouldn't Erie County demand that $400 million penalty if the Bills left the county?

Maybe that was the motivation for the one-year buyout clause.

[stuckincincy]

Maybe that was the motivation for the one-year buyout clause.

Could be, but that's several years down the road:

..."Even if an outsider purchases the Bills with the intent to move them to a larger market like Los Angeles, the team's lease on Ralph Wilson Stadium could prevent them from doing so. The Bills lease with New York State and Erie County has them locked into Buffalo until at least 2019. Any chance at relocation opens up during a one-year window in 2020, when the team can terminate the lease at the cost of $28.3 million.

"The lease's structure and the non-relocation agreement structure is a major inhibitor for someone to come in and buy the team with the speculative expectation of relocating the team to a different market," Marc Ganis of SportsCorp Ltd. told the Buffalo News."...

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/4/6...amily-relocate

OTOH, one could whip out Clinton/Gore gems like "it depends on what the meaning of is, is", "there is no controlling legal authority"' or "I have no specific recollection of that."

[chris66]

I have gone to a few games in Foxborough to see the Bills play the Pats*

Every time I went, I stayed in Boston, a great City to visit. But the trip from Boston to Foxborough is LONG.

Batavia is not that far from Rochester or Buffalo, especially the Suburbs of Buffalo, Lancaster & Depew which have a number of hotels/motels being near the Airport.

But the site of the old Lancaster Speedway would be a good place for the stadium as well.

its only long because of traffic. On a non game day thats a 15-20 min ride. Best bet is to stay in Providence. 20 mins in other direction.

[better days]

its only long because of traffic. On a non game day thats a 15-20 min ride. Best bet is to stay in Providence. 20 mins in other direction.

Who the hell wants to vacation in Providence?

NOT ME. Boston is the place to go for a good time.

Yes it is a long ride because of traffic because of the LIMITED access to Foxborough.

Orchard Park, Batavia, Lancaster all have much better access.

[OpIv37]

No, nobody from WNY that posts here has ever been to a Sabres or Bisons game. Ever.

Sabres can seat less than 19k. Orioles and Nationals can seat 40k, Ravens 70k+.

Going to a Sabres game is not representative of what a downtown football crowd would be like.

[stuckincincy]

Who the hell wants to vacation in Providence?

Plenty of fresh fruit in Provincetown, tho.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Serious question: Has anyone ever been to a football stadium in the last few decades where traffic was not a serious issue?

I honestly can't think of any. It might just be the cost of doing business when you have 60k+ all converging on one spot on the same day.

[YardRat]

Sabres can seat less than 19k. Orioles and Nationals can seat 40k, Ravens 70k+.

Going to a Sabres game is not representative of what a downtown football crowd would be like.

What they can seat, and what they actually do, aren't the same thing. Pretty sure 15-20k empty seats don't add to traffic woes too much.

Knowing Buffalo has a professional hockey team with a downtown stadium and inquiring whether anybody has actually attended a sporting event downtown is just condescending.

[YardRat]

Serious question: Has anyone ever been to a football stadium in the last few decades where traffic was not a serious issue?

I honestly can't think of any. It might just be the cost of doing business when you have 60k+ all converging on one spot on the same day.

I've never had a 'serious' issue with traffic at any professional sporting event I've been to.

[mrbojanglezs]

I'm so glad the article mentions Batavia. I've been screaming for that for 10 years.

Buy Batavia Downs. Raze it. Build Ralph II. Better yet, Rich II. Or Pegula Stadium.

It's prefect. Easily accessible from the NYS Thruway. Rochester and Syracuse are far more interesting markets to cultivate than Canada, IMO.

Raise the speed limit to 75 mph, done and done.

maybe if its just the stadium and not the headquarters can't imagine FAs being thrilled to move to Batavia lol

[mrbojanglezs]

the best option is to build it next to UB North, it would fit perfect with the school's 2020 plan. There is land by the Northtown hockey rink. Yo have the 990, 290, and millersport hwy, maple/sheridan transit road all being access points. It would be a multi use facility.

You can extend the subway to UB North, which has already been mentioned as a possibility. Now you have the subway connecting the harbor center and First Niagara Center and UB North and the stadium. There are nice houses out in Clarence/Getzville, Williamsville so the players wouldn't mind living there

[WagonCircler]

the best option is to build it next to UB North, it would fit perfect with the school's 2020 plan. There is land by the Northtown hockey rink. Yo have the 990, 290, and millersport hwy, maple/sheridan transit road all being access points. It would be a multi use facility.

You can extend the subway to UB North, which has already been mentioned as a possibility. Now you have the subway connecting the harbor center and First Niagara Center and UB North and the stadium. There are nice houses out in Clarence/Getzville, Williamsville so the players wouldn't mind living there

Yeah, but I don't think Amherst would be too happy about it. They fight new hotels like they're nuclear reactors. I can't imagine they fight they'd put up against a new stadium.

Personally, I'd love having the Bills in the Northtowns.

Just spitballing here, but I'd love anything that might help the area around the Central Terminal get cleaned up. My best friend is a Fed and her was a kid in that area. I've been on ride-alongs. It's like driving through an episode of The Wire. Nothing but vacants, block after block. Most of them belong to the city after they've been abandoned, seized for unpaid taxes.

It would be a great story to see some revitalization happen there. Especially if it helped get the Terminal restored.

[THATHURMANATOR]

I'm so glad the article mentions Batavia. I've been screaming for that for 10 years.

Buy Batavia Downs. Raze it. Build Ralph II. Better yet, Rich II. Or Pegula Stadium.

It's prefect. Easily accessible from the NYS Thruway. Rochester and Syracuse are far more interesting markets to cultivate than Canada, IMO.

Raise the speed limit to 75 mph, done and done.

Building the stadium in batavia would be the most ******ed thing ever.

[Skooby]

Building the stadium in batavia would be the most ******ed thing ever.

It'd be $.20 more per trip to Batavia, outrage.

[Turf]

The previous mentioned racetrack location is only like 3 minutes from the Depew exit and the airport, isn't it?

[better days]

Serious question: Has anyone ever been to a football stadium in the last few decades where traffic was not a serious issue?

I honestly can't think of any. It might just be the cost of doing business when you have 60k+ all converging on one spot on the same day.

Traffic in Buffalo & Tampa is not an issue on game day.

Heavier than normal, but it moves.

It is like sitting in a parking lot at times going from Boston to Foxborough.