During recent league meetings, some NFL league officials expressed the opinion that the Buffalo Bills need a new stadium to compete in the NFL, and shouldn’t be putting funds towards renovating the existing Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who would be a part of any discussions about a new stadium, came out and vehemently disagreed that the Bills need a new stadium to remain competitive–however, he likely didn’t win any fans in the small group that makes up NFL ownership in doing so.
Among his comments:
“The NFL is not just about making more revenue. It’s about how can you make the most revenue possible. They don’t care about Buffalo. They only care about lining their pockets. And I’m serious when I say that.”
Can’t imagine any owners–most of whom are in the NFL (and business in general) to make money–would necessarily disagree, but also can’t believe they would appreciate being colored as greedy. Of course, it may be he wasn’t specifically referring to owners, but league officials–and while it may be true that most don’t care about Buffalo in particular–any more than they care about any other city that has a franchise–you can be sure that having county official bash them won’t help when it comes time for the city to pull at what little heart strings may exist in trying to keep a team in the city if they aren’t competing, and aren’t living up the the league expectations on revenue.
Speaking of which, he added:
“The Bills currently don’t sell all the suites they have available now. For them to say you need a new stadium…I disagree. And if they are going to try to pull the viability argument out, then show us the numbers. And if you are not going to show us the numbers, then I don’t believe there’s a problem with viability because I have spoken with the team. I know what the team says and I trust what the team
Just a thought–if you’re trying to make a point that the team & stadium is economically viable, it might not be a good idea to point out that they can’t even sell out the suites they have today. It may prove that they don’t need a new stadium with more suites–but it also may prove the point that the owners could make more money if they moved the team…to say Toronto. Or Los Angeles. Or San Antonio.
Poloncarz apparently added that Terry and Kim Pegula “wouldn’t have paid as much money for the team as they did” if they thought they couldn’t make money while playing at the current stadium–one more argument that may fall flat, when you consider that the Pegula’s are ultiamtely one of those “greedy owners,” and while they currently have significant interests in westerns New York, there’s no guarantee that they would stay–or continue to own the team–if it isn’t making enough money or winning on the field.
