The fact is the only reason Buffalo got a new stadium at all is the income tax from the players and the sales tax from the games made it a reasonable expenditure. They didn’t have to buy up a lot of downtown/waterfront real estate, and greatly modify the infrastructure that would have been a lot more costly downtown. If downtown Buffalo was already a hub for entertainment activity, putting the stadium there would have made more sense.
I wonder how often all the people clamoring for a downtown stadium actually go down there now. I bet it’s a very small number. Ten single day events a year is just not worth the cost of putting it there. If there was an economic incentive to do it, you better believe it would be there.