Pegula on new Bills stadium "it's nothing urgent right now"

[DetDannyWilliams]

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/pe...t-now-20150730

[THATHURMANATOR]

Fine by me!

[Generalissimus Gibby]

The Ralph is fine. It may not be the newest thing, but its fine and its always in the top 25% of all league stadiums.

[Luisito23]

Fine by me!

Exactly...Pegula being the owner is the only thing that matters right now, the rest will come eventually.

[trapezeus]

i love the ralph with the site lines...but it is old. and the NFL literally clamored outloud every year since 2000 that a new stadium was necessary. t hat the fixes weren't enough. now there is no pressure from the league? that's crazy.

says something about the power of pegula.

but i would also say, i would like it to be a bit more structured for when they expect to move. the changes are nice, but it is narrow, it is still in the middle of no where, the pegulas could benefit from consolidating more downtown.

I would like to know that thye were aiming for something to start in 5Y and that they feel no pressure to be on target. i don't think the ralph's structure was designed to be a 50Y stadium....even with the rehab.

[OpIv37]

From the standpoint of the committed fan, the Ralph provides a great game day experience.

From the standpoint of expensive luxury boxes and shiny things to attract casual fans, the Ralph is lacking.

The league doesn't care about the committed fan because they already have our money. The market is tapped. They want the big money luxury boxes and the casual fans. So, there will be a new stadium under way by the year 7 opt out in the current lease.

[BillsImpossible]

There is simply not enough space in downtown Buffalo to host a football game.

Even after a billion dollars being spent on new bridges, widening entrance ramp lanes, and new roads, the lack of space persists.

Building a new stadium downtown is not going to happen any time soon.

It all boils down to the money...and the 10 year lease agreement the Bills made with Erie County and NYS.

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/art...3-48c0a6a2c0c2

I think Ralph knew that when he signed the agreement, the Bills home field would be in Orchard Park until at least 2022.

[BillsImpossible]

From the standpoint of the committed fan, the Ralph provides a great game day experience.

From the standpoint of expensive luxury boxes and shiny things to attract casual fans, the Ralph is lacking.

I totally disagree! The Ralph is not lacking in terms of shiny things to attract casual fans.

Last year I had the first time experience of not waiting in line for 30 minutes to get patted down like a criminal because I had Club Level seats....those red seats sandwiched in the middle of RWS that are often half empty.

No waiting in line to take a leak, an awesome bar with TV screens all over the place, and great food.

It was totally different from sitting in the endzone seats in my early 20's. A complete upgrade from what I was accustomed to.

The fans in the Club Level redzone seats were just as loyal and vocal, only pampered with heated coils from above, heated seats, and first class treatment.

But they were half empty.

Why?

Because there wasn't a Blue Light special in isle 13.

[OpIv37]

I totally disagree! The Ralph is not lacking in terms of shiny things to attract casual fans.

Last year I had the first time experience of not waiting in line for 30 minutes to get patted down like a criminal because I had Club Level seats....those red seats sandwiched in the middle of RWS that are often half empty.

No waiting in line to take a leak, an awesome bar with TV screens all over the place, and great food.

It was totally different from sitting in the endzone seats in my early 20's. A complete upgrade from what I was accustomed to.

The fans in the Club Level redzone seats were just as loyal and vocal, only pampered with heated coils from above, heated seats, and first class treatment.

But they were half empty.

Why?

Because there wasn't a Blue Light special in isle 13.

Not waiting in line and a full bar? News flash: most stadiums have full bars throughout the stadium. I can personally vouge that the Ravens, Redskins, Nats, Orioles and Capitals do.

[JoeMama]

If Terry Pegula says it, I'm on board.

He **** blocked lame Bon Jovi and that screwball Donald Trump from usurping my beloved Buffalo.

That makes Pegula and automatic awesome dude for life.

[GreedoII]

Russ in his ear on this one I'm sure since they put a ton of cash in fixing up the Ralph....

[Meathead]

[trapezeus]

There is simply not enough space in downtown Buffalo to host a football game.

Even after a billion dollars being spent on new bridges, widening entrance ramp lanes, and new roads, the lack of space persists.

Building a new stadium downtown is not going to happen any time soon.

It all boils down to the money...and the 10 year lease agreement the Bills made with Erie County and NYS.

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/art...3-48c0a6a2c0c2

I think Ralph knew that when he signed the agreement, the Bills home field would be in Orchard Park until at least 2022.

how can the highlighted even be remotely true. Cities significantly larger than buffalo put their stadiums in their vibrant downtown. and it works fine.

Buffalo has a lot of unused space in the downtown area.

[better days]

how can the highlighted even be remotely true. Cities significantly larger than buffalo put their stadiums in their vibrant downtown. and it works fine.

Buffalo has a lot of unused space in the downtown area.

Maybe you are right there is room downtown.

But you are WRONG to say the Ralph is in the middle of nowhere.

It is quickly & easily accessible from a number of directions.

You want to talk middle of nowhere, go to Foxboro Mass sometime.

Now that is the middle of NOWHERE!

With limited access roads as well!

[OpIv37]

Having road access doesn't mean it isn't in the middle of nowhere.

Last time I was at the stadium, the only thing within walking distance was one or two bars and private homes. Contrast that with, say, the Ravens stadium. It's downtown and walking distance from bars, restaurants, hotels, public transportation, a casino, the tourist stuff at the Inner Harbor, the convention center, etc.

I don't mind that the Ralph is in the middle of nowhere, but be honest about it. Foxboro being worse doesn't make it any less true for our stadium.

[Jimkelly12203]

Folks may not realize it yet, but we're all going to hate it when there is a new stadium. Instead of tailgating in the wide-open fields and parking lots of the Ralph, we're going to be smack in the middle of a crowded down-town with multi-story parking lots. The stadium itself will be quite nice i'm sure. But the game day experience will absolutely decline.

[EricStratton]

For NFL stadiums, at least on the east coast, Baltimore seems to be the exception.

[Meathead]

Folks may not realize it yet, but we're all going to hate it when there is a new stadium. Instead of tailgating in the wide-open fields and parking lots of the Ralph, we're going to be smack in the middle of a crowded down-town with multi-story parking lots. The stadium itself will be quite nice i'm sure. But the game day experience will absolutely decline.

yeah it would be really hard to maintain any kind of tailgating similar to what we have/had at the ralph. space and safety limitations are a lot different in an urban setting than the hayfields of op. plus the nfl and the bills are slowly and steadily cracking down on the extent of outside parties even at the ralph so thats likely only to get more and more sanitized as time goes on. not all of that is bad, considering some of the drunken debauchery i ... err i mean others have engaged in over the years, but we are likely to lose most of that eras game day partying style

still, i would expect them to make some effort to retain the tailgating feel somehow. most likely it will be some kind of big party area or perhaps a party campaign shared by local establishments. whether that works or not is anybodys guess, probably not, but they will try

[WagonCircler]

He just wrote a check for $1.4 BIL. That will tend to buy you a little time.

[better days]

Having road access doesn't mean it isn't in the middle of nowhere.

Last time I was at the stadium, the only thing within walking distance was one or two bars and private homes. Contrast that with, say, the Ravens stadium. It's downtown and walking distance from bars, restaurants, hotels, public transportation, a casino, the tourist stuff at the Inner Harbor, the convention center, etc.

I don't mind that the Ralph is in the middle of nowhere, but be honest about it. Foxboro being worse doesn't make it any less true for our stadium.

You can get to the Ralph in about a half hour from anywhere in the Buffalo area.

That is not the middle of nowhere.

It takes HOURS, not an hour, but HOURS to get to the Stadium in Foxboro from Boston.

That is what the middle of nowhere is, a place FAR REMOVED, not a place 15 min to 1/2 an hour away.