[Bills opening stadium discussions with NYS and Erie County]

On 3/31/2021 at 4:49 PM, May Day 10 said:

Pilot Field was originally designed, ready to remove the green roof and put in another deck and also expand the right field bleachers into more and permanent seating.

 

Buffalo was a finalist, along with Denver, Washington DC, and (Orlando/Miami/St Petersburg) (it was a no secret 1 of the teams was going to be put in a Florida location, it was just a matter of which one.

 

Right around the time that the Finalists were announced, I believe Rich publicly stated reservations about the cost of doing business as an MLB team including the $95 million expansion fee.  I dont believe the Riches really pursued it down to the wire.

 

It would have been a disaster here anyway and they may have been relocated by now.  Buffalo is/was too small for MLB with how the economics of the league are set.  It would be a dream for me and I would almost certainly be a STH.  The corporate dollars are not there, and the RSN fees would not be anywhere near competitive.  The Riches have enough $ to sustain losses, but they don't really seem to be willing to get their noses dirty (were very silent during Sabres and Bills sales).  

 

I still hold out hope for a miracle of a fortune 500 or 2 downtown with a revival and an MLB team.

 

 

 

 

Its a little known story, but apparently before all that, the Riches had dinner with the owner of the SF Giants.  The Giants' owner was bitching about Candlestick Park as well as the weather they had to deal with playing there.   The riches proposed moving or sharing the team in Buffalo and calling them the New York Giants.  There were a few meetings on that but it didnt get too far.

 

 

 

 

Never knew the Giants story before, that’s really interesting.

 

I heard once that MLB offered Rich the Expos before they moved to DC for something like $90 million and he turned it down.  Anyone else hear something similar?