DON’T GET ME STARTED initially felt that the best place for a new stadium would be at the waterfront. Then I began thinking about it as most of the media kept mentioning “new stadium – new stadium” echoing the words of Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones of the Cowboys. That is except for Don Esmonde whose Sunday column convinced me that the best place for the Bills to play would be right where they are – at the present site.
Why throw away over $130 million in current renovations, on top of the many millions previously poured into the conclave to provide more suites – now numbering quite a bit over 100 suites. Now those in the media that have been supporting a new stadium might be guided by the fact that under the current renovations, the Bills moved the press box from between the 30 yard lines to well behind the end zone. That, likely, means that the media might have to watch the scoreboard to see what’s happening on the other end of the field, though the scoreboard might be about 140 yards away. For the first time, binoculars would be prescribed. Would the NFL move the press box between the 30 yard lines in a new stadium? I don’t think so because that would prevent some very expensive suites.
There’s nothing wrong with the current stadium and with the new improvements, certainly it will be better for the fans with a larger concourse and other items. Why spend additional hundreds of millions to build something that might be used only 10 times, at the minimum.
Jerry Jones of the Cowboys said increasing revenues is important to the league. Hey Jones, there’s word that the stadium would hold about 60,000+ fans in the new stadium. Since visiting teams get about 40% of the gate receipts, they wouldn’t be getting as much in the new place since the place would be holding fewer people. They get nothing from the suites and other things. Why is it so important to the league to raise the prices of everything when the league has become a multi-billion dollar industry?
As for the Bills staying in Orchard Park, they should follow the pattern set by the Kansas City Chief. The group that built that stadium also built the current Bills playpen almost at the same time. The Chiefs spent just over $300 million to refurbish the place and everyone – including the fans – like what they’ve done. $300 million is much better than almost a $1 billion to build a new place. $300 mill is much easier to take for the city, the county and the state.
Goodell should stop listening to Jones and take stock in what it would take to refurbish the current site which has many advantages, including tremendous parking that flows to the owner. I doubt there would be so much parking wherever they would consider. It takes land to making a huge parking lot and the stadium would take quite bit of land. Take some $300 million and refurbish the Ralph, as per K.C. That would save the city, county, state hundreds of millions of dollars. That makes sense.
Parking costs are up; concessions are expensive; ticket prices have been raised. Who benefits? The owners. Who bears the costs? The fans and the people of western New York.
I hope that the group who are looking into the stadium issues will come to the conclusion, “Hey, the current place is not that bad. Put in a few more hundreds of millions and keep it where it is – where people have been accustomed to make the trip Sunday afternoons on Don’t Get Me Started.
Filed under: Don't Get Me Started
Tagged with: Art Wander, Buffalo Bills
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