Common Council to discuss downtown Bills stadium
The idea of building a Buffalo Bills stadium downtown has long been talked about. And as YNN's Kaitlyn Lionti tells us, Buffalo common council members will re-visit the possibility on Tuesday.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — It's where the Buffalo Sabres play and where the Buffalo Bisons play, but the Buffalo Bills don't have a place to call home in the Queen City.
Tuesday, Buffalo Common Council's Community Development Committee will discuss having a stadium for the Bills in downtown Buffalo.
"I think that would be amazing. It's something that's been talked about forever, everybody always wanted it, everybody always says they need it, there's ample amounts of space and it'd definitely boost the image of the city a whole lot," said Brendan Miller, a Bills fan.
"The Bills stadium needs to be in downtown Buffalo. It has to be," said Anthony Petrilli, another Bills fan. "It's not the Orchard Park Bills. We're the Buffalo Bills. Every major city, or most major cities have their stadium downtown."
Common Council President Richard Fontana says bringing the Bills to downtown Buffalo is something the council has discussed before.
"I think the timing of the resolution is better his time, because of the $100 million being proposed or banded about to be spent on the existing stadium, so if you're going to put money into it, the question of buying a new car as opposed to keeping your old one – is it worth it?" said Fontana.
Fontana says a football stadium would most likely go on the waterfront. He doesn't think a downtown stadium would make sense financially.
"Personally, I don't really see a need to have a stadium downtown with only eight games a year played in the area, seven with the Toronto Series," said Fontana, "I don't want to see vast, open land used for parking lots in downtown Buffalo. I don't think that's the highest and best use for the land that's actually valuable in the downtown core and the waterfront."
But Fontana says he's open to hearing what Council Majority Leader Demone Smith, who filed the resolution about the stadium, has to say.
"The sponsors are working diligently to come up with some new ideas, which is important, and we'll look at them. Hopefully there's some economic spinoff to the city as a benefit," said Fontana.
The stadium resolution will be discussed Tuesday at 1 p.m. in Common Council Chambers in City Hall. There will be a chance for public comment.