Gov. Kathy Hochul and western Democratic lawmakers on Monday announced a plan to publicly finance about $850 million of a new $1.4 billion stadium in Orchard Park for the Buffalo Bills.
The plan, which includes $600 million from the state and $250 million from Erie County, came out in the final days of state budget negotiations and rankled progressive advocates and left-leaning economists who view it as a poor use of taxpayer dollars at a time when the state is flush with cash from federal aid and there are competing interests for how to spend that money.
The deal would target opening the stadium in 2026 and keep the professional football team there for at least 30 years; if the team received court authorization to leave that location, it would have to pay back all of its public subsidy, according to the governor's office.
Further, the Bills are required to pay any cost overruns during construction, a provision that was not included in the development of other facilities in the state, including Yankees Stadium, which ran at least 30 percent over its budget.
The $850 million public subsidy would be the largest for any NFL facility on record, according to the Associated Press, but the state and Erie County would be paying a smaller share of the construction costs than other taxpayer-funded stadiums. The current facility, Highmark Stadium — which was previously known as Rich Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium — opened in 1973 and was buoyed by taxpayers footing nearly three-quarters of the construction costs.
