Roger Goodell hints that Buffalo Bills need a new stadium
By John Buhler
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t exactly say it, but strongly hinted that the Buffalo Bills might need a new stadium to stay in Western New York.
According to Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hinted that the Buffalo Bills might need a new stadium to stay in western New York.
Goodell stated, “Stadiums are important, just making sure the team here can compete not only throughout the NFL but also to compete in this environment because we’ve got great facilities here now. The Bills have to stay up with that.”
Goodell also said that the Bills have great owners in the Pegula Family, who already put $130 million into renovating Ralph Wilson Stadium in 2014. The Pegula Family, who also own the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, bought the team with the primary goal of keeping the Bills in Buffalo.
Professional football has been in Buffalo since the 1960 inception of the American Football League. While Buffalo is one of the smaller markets in the NFL, it would be hard to relocate a team that has a great football tradition and a firmly rooted fan base.
The real challenge in financing a potential new stadium for the Bills lies in limited market constraint. Surely, the Pegulas would shell out much of the cash needed to finance a new stadium, but could Buffalo handle a large financial overhaul coming from the private sector?
The Bills fan base is as rabid as always and many would be willing to do whatever it takes to keep the Bills in Buffalo, but a bigger metropolis in St. Louis, Missouri has already lost its team and perhaps both Oakland, California and San Diego, California could follow.
The Bills need to stay in Buffalo. That team means everything to the people living in that part of New York.
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