As the question of the Bills' future in Buffalo grows more urgent, opinions across the city are as passionate as they are divided.
The Spectrum's editorial board is no different. Attempting to reach a cohesive conclusion after deliberating the pros and cons of renovating the Bills' current home in Orchard Park, or building a new stadium in downtown Buffalo proves a daunting task.
Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed the first five members of a panel he created to explore the possibility of building a new football stadium in an attempt to ensure the franchise stays in the area. But the financial and logistical feasibility, and the necessity of such a dramatic step, are deeply questionable.
Building an entirely new stadium would cost between $800 million and $1 billion, and renovating the current stadium would come with a $400-500 million price tag. Much of this would come from public subsidies and tax increases. Public funding helped support new stadiums and major renovations in New Orleans, Kansas City and Cincinnati. But Buffalo is a smaller market, and the burden on taxpayers would be heavier.
A new stadium would come on the heels of major renovation projects downtown, like the First Niagara Center expansion, which hosts the Buffalo Sabres, the construction of the new UB medical campus and the block-by-block revitalization of Main Street that is gradually restoring traffic and increasing economic activity.
The presence of an NFL stadium in the city would certainly attract vast numbers of people on game days and, ideally, encourage a crop of new businesses to accommodate masses of football fans looking for bars and restaurants where they could enjoy the pre-game and post-game hours.
But Buffalo's metropolitan infrastructure isn't designed to handle a surge of 70,000-plus people converging upon all forms of public transit and packing the surrounding streets. Though the cash flow that a stadium full of Bills fans would generate is undoubtedly appealing, it doesn't necessarily justify the construction, complication and chaos that would dominate the downtown area for years.
A brand new stadium is undeniably appealing and it seems like an attractive option to diehard Bills fans, who long to show their team some love despite the Bills' losing record. But true fans of the Bills have a place in their hearts for the stadium.
The structural foundation is in question, and the 40-year-old venue appeared on Bleacher Report's list of the NFL's 10 worst stadiums. But Bills fans eagerly extol the virtues of the Ralph.
Its location in Orchard Park, surrounded by open fields, offers expansive space for tailgating, unlike the more crowded parking lots of most downtown stadiums. Though the famously lax open-container laws, long celebrated by Bills fans, have recently been amended, the stadium's celebrated reputation for intoxication can't be replicated.
The Ralph is currently undergoing a $130 million upgrade, adding new entrances, a sports-bar style lounge and a larger scoreboard. The project, which will be completed by the 2014 season, aims to improve fans' game-day experience. For the devoted Bills fans here at The Spectrum, that experience needs to remain at the Ralph.
While building an entirely new stadium makes more headlines than a renovation, the low-risk option holds a certain nostalgic appeal and is clearly a safer move for the Buffalo economy. It's not always right to take the risk - sometimes it's a mistake to go for it on fourth and one.
email: editorial@ubspectrum.com
