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Batavia Bills???


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Depends on what you value more.

 

Downtown stadium changes tailgating forever. Mainly people will cram into bars and pay for way overpriced drinks. If you can get through the crowd.

 

Batavia has space to keep it the way it's always been.

 

Longer drive, better game day experience.

 

In that case, why not keep it in Orchard Park if the goal is to 'keep it the way its always been'?

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Been through Batavia on my way to the Buffalo are a couple of times. As I recall it's about a 30-45 minute drive along I90 east of the Buffalo area. Seemed like a nice place to have a stadium. It seems like it would give that small town feel that you get in Orchard Park (which I love) yet it's not like it would be out in the middle of nowhere. But I'll admit, I'm not sure what it would do to the Buffalo economy overall.

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It's a local yokel Genesee County columnist talking about how cool it would be to have the Bills play in his backyard. The "talk" about it was three years ago from a stadium commission that had nothing to do with the Pegulas or any actual decision-makers.

 

Move along, nothing to see here.

 

...except this thread, which is right at the top of the page when searching for the term "Batavia."

 

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/167774-batavia-possible-stadium-site/?hl=batavia

Edited by jimmy10
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In that case, why not keep it in Orchard Park if the goal is to 'keep it the way its always been'?

Fair point. I couldn't answer that.

 

I can offer some insight thought. Coming from Baltimore (originally Buffalo) I can say the waterfront is alive with activity on game day. Orioles and Ravens.

 

Their restaurants, bars, hotels, all making money hand over fist.

 

Anyone who has gone to OP for a game knows this can never happen there.

 

I don't know how Batavia fits, or if it is even really under consideration. But this day in age I don't see how any team wouldn't build in the city, and knowing how hard it is in Buffalo (red tape) I could see them getting creative. Especially if Pegula is really that committed to WNY.

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The actual stadium is never really about the economic benefit to the host community. Whoever hosts it, it will cost many times more than whatever minimal game day activity it brings in. A dozen or two businesses and a few land speculators will profit heavily, but everyone else will pay more for their benefit.

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New York state will never *let* the Bills leave. This isn't CA or MO.

 

It'll come down to which one of the counties wants to play ball in the details of the financing and land development of the stadium.

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The idea was out there, and the stadium study quashed it.

 

 

It wont happen. Im sure Pegula would like the downtown stadium if possible. If it moves, its going to the city. If not in the city, it will be on site in Orchard Park.

 

 

There isn't a problem with getting enough people to games. Making it a few minutes more convenient to people in Rochester, while making it more inconvenient for a larger/dense population does not make sense.

Exactly. These ideas have been discussed for years. The problem is they don't make sense. The majority rules. The majority of people at games are coming from Buffalo or Ontario. Making the drive 40 minutes or so shorter for people from Rochester isn't going to help the organization. No one from Rochester is going to start attending Bills games just becaue the drive is 40 minutes shorter. They either attend games already or they don't. Batavia wouldn't make a difference. It will never happen anyways.
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Exactly. These ideas have been discussed for years. The problem is they don't make sense. The majority rules. The majority of people at games are coming from Buffalo or Ontario. Making the drive 40 minutes or so shorter for people from Rochester isn't going to help the organization. No one from Rochester is going to start attending Bills games just becaue the drive is 40 minutes shorter. They either attend games already or they don't. Batavia wouldn't make a difference. It will never happen anyways.

 

You're dead wrong about the bolded part in my opinion.

 

It would make all the sense in the world to move the stadium there (from the Pegula's perspective) if the Rochester market was as large as the Canadian market - and I don't think it is even close when you consider Toronto being a short drive from the border. A lot of the season ticket holder Bills fans in that stadium are from places like Toronto, Kitchener, Mississauga, Hamilton, etc.. The Bills also attract lots of people to the game from the opposing team because the Canadian fans in Ontario have a reasonably short drive.

 

If Canadians didn't love American football, then it would make all the sense in the world to try and centralize the Buffalo Bills more towards Rochester - like half way there - A.K.A. Batavia. The Pegula's won't though because there is more money to draw in from the outskirts of Toronto as it is right now. At least that is my opinion.

 

Not to mention - Genesee County could not even afford to build the roads it would take to accommodate an NFL stadium. Not a big enough tax base.

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What in the hell is in Batavia? Stupid thought.

What the hell is in Orchard Park, the red carpet inn?

 

Go ahead look it up.

 

It's the closest Hotel to the stadium and an embarrassment to us from an out of towners perspective.

Edited by likei've
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