With the Buffalo Bills lease for Ralph Wilson Stadium set to expire on July 13th, 2013 negotiations between Erie County and the team have started to take place. That has prompted the Buffalo City Common Council to hold a debate on the idea of a stadium down town.
“Ralph Wilson Stadium is one of the oldest stadiums in the NFL; it’s no longer the great place that it used to be,” said WUFO 1080 Am Sports Radio host Pat Freeman. “The building of a stadium in downtown Buffalo is one decision that changes the landscape of opportunity. You see we’re not just talking about a home for the Buffalo Bills, but a facility with a retractable roof that can be used year ’round for a variety of events.”
It is a nice concept and idea, but there are three problems that are standing in the way of a downtown stadium.
Early in the 20th century, Buffalo was a booming town with a rapidly growing population. That led some of the greatest architects in American history to build buildings in the city. A good example of this is the fact that only one other city holds work by three of the greatest architects in H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, which is Chicago.
In addition to those buildings there are other works downtown that are historic in nature. With there being very little vacant space, a huge project like a downtown stadium will have to knock down one of these historic buildings.
That leads to me to the second problem, which is the people themselves. Buffalo is a fierce town that will put up a fight if they don’t like an idea. Two examples are the idea for a downtown casino and Verizon building a data center in the suburb of Lockport.
The Seneca Indian Nation, in a deal with New York State, was going to build two casinos. One was built in Niagara Falls, which is still operational, with other casino was to be built in downtown Buffalo. Opponents of the downtown casino took it to Federal Court and won. Now, all that remains of the plan are the iron beams from when construction started during the court case.
The Verizon story brings up Buffalo’s third issue and that is the court system here. Verizon planned a couple years ago to put a $50 million data center in Lockport, NY. Everything was set and ready to go when a lawyer found a home owner near the site that didn’t like the plan and sued Verizon. The problem is the court system takes forever, which is a huge hindrance in getting major projects built. Finally, after about a year of delays, Verizon decided to build the center elsewhere.
The only real likely location the Bills can build a stadium is the land owned by the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority right on the water front. There is enough land there to build a stadium and parking lots, but there is one problem – a stadium there would require moving or lowering a section of route five, adding to the cost of the project.
In the end, the Bills know the obstacles of building a downtown stadium, as Bills owner Ralph Wilson faced this same issue in the early 1970s when moving out of War Memorial Stadium, which was in the city. The likeliest outcome remains the renovation of Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY.
