What you are basically saying is, “build it, and they will come”. Only reference I have is Niagara Falls, NY. One of the 7 wonders of the world, surrounded by wasteland. I know, it’s a harsh comparison.
Whats interesting is watching these rehab shows where people buy large amounts of run down homes and rebuild neighborhoods. Is that happening on Buffalo? Is there a way to entice people to do that? That’s a more sustainable plan than forcing a stadium into a rundown area.
Building a stadium isn’t the answer to rebuilding Buffalo. You’d need 24 x 7 x 365 entertainment to drive that type of a project. Not 8-9 home games a year with the hope of playoff games. Most importantly, there is no current infrastructure to handle 65k fans and their cars getting in and out of the stadium. The cost to build that infrastructure would kill the project. Sabres games have less than 1/3 the proposed capacity of the new Bills stadium, and it’s hell leaving games. Is OP perfect for ingress and egress? No, but drive times are not terrible.
Lastly, any project that limits tailgating is nuts. To fill a new stadium with increased ticket prices, you need a reason other than te game
to draw people..tailgating is one of them. Hoping for a Nashville type of atmosphere to pop-up near a new stadium is a pipe dream, either downtown, OP or wherever.