NFL Commissioner Wants A New Buffalo Football Stadium
Is building a new Buffalo football stadium a good idea? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell thinks so. The Commissioner was in Western New York on Monday for Jim Kelly's annual charity golf tournament at Terry Hills Country Club in Batavia and told reporters "I want the Bills to be successful and I want them to continue to be competitive here in Buffalo."
Goodell said "we've been able to do these stadiums in such a way that it creates a tremendous economic benefit, too." He also noted that $13-billion has been spent on new stadiums in the past eight years and $11-million of that has been thru private funding.
What does that mean for Buffalo? The choices are to build a new stadium downtown, something I think team owner Terry and Kim Pegula would like to do to focus the Bills and Sabres in one spot. Or build a new stadium or renovate the current stadium in Orchard Park.
In my opinion keeping the Bills in Orchard Park is the best option. Their training facility and team offices are there, there's plenty of parking, and it also means that the tailgating tradition can continue.
If the stadium were to be moved downtown parking would be at a premium, essentially eliminating tailgating and traffic getting in and out of downtown would be a nightmare.
And if a stadium was built downtown, what would happen to the facility in Orchard Park?
This summer, a Denver company is expected to release its results of its research into a new Buffalo stadium. Among the things they looked at were stadium sites, financing and stadium designs. They also took into consideration the opinions of more than 30,000 people.