New York Governor not sold new Buffalo Bills stadium

The Buffalo Bills need a new stadium. That’s what lots of prospective owners and businesspeople have said. It’s what team officials say. At this point, your grandmother is probably convinced the Bills need a new stadium because she was a young girl when Ralph Wilson Stadium opened for business. Just don’t count New York Governor Andrew Cuomo among those so certain.

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Cuomo told the Buffalo News on Tuesday that he’s ‘not convinced’ the Bills need a new stadium. This was a bit of a departure from earlier statements, when Cuomo said, “If a new stadium is what’s needed and is possible, it will get done.” Now Cuomo has backed off those comments and taken the stance of a more concerned onlooker.

On Tuesday, Cuomo called stadiums ‘expensive creatures’ when attempting to outline the fiscal realities of Western New York. “No one is anxious to build a stadium if we don’t have to build a stadium. … No one is anxious to pay for a stadium,” Cuomo said.

Part of this could be as a result of the fact that the state is already paying for $90M of the $130M being budgeted to renovate Ralph Wilson Stadium. With the paint hardly dry from those efforts, it’s hard for the governor of a cash-strapped state to emphatically throw his hat in the ring for a billion-dollar development deal centered around a sports stadium when the issue has become so unpopular with taxpayers.

For now, Cuomo can sit back and wait to see who wins the bidding war for Buffalo’s NFL franchise. After that though, it appears that Cuomo plans to have a long chat with the new owner to lay out any and all concerns as they pertain to a new football stadium in Western New York.