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Will the Stadium Stay in Orchard Park? Hear me out


Hammered a Lot

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1 hour ago, freddyjj said:

Huh?

 

OP please rewrite title in English please.  

 

And the body of post mentions neither stadium or Orchard Park.  What did you drink for breakfast? ?

 

I did hear him out, and I’m still waiting! 

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58 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

So let me summarize...

 

- Retrofit KBC from an arena to a convention center. 

 

- Build new hockey/general purpose arena. 

 

- Abandon current underused convention center.  

 

-  Excavate outdated RWS to somehow fix narrow concourse problem(you would still have an old outdated stadium). 

 

 

That’s a ridiculous amount of money being spent to keep your parking business going.  ???

 

 

Here’s a better idea...put a fixed roof domed  stadium downtown in proximity to arena.  Keep Bills practice and administrative offices at current location. Implode RWS. Problem solved. 

 

I have said pretty much the same thing. New stadium downtown with the  Pegula’s other large investments, keeping the Bills training facilities in OP, and remove the vast majority of the old stadiums seating, keeping enough seating so they can still have fans out there for spring training, and of course keeping the playing field as part of the practice facilities. This is what I would like to see happen. I don’t know, but if the Bills own all that parking area, most of it will be sold off, being there will be no need for so much of it. 

 

Go Bills!!!

Edited by Don Otreply
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13 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said:

The idea of expanding concourses either inside or outside New Era is intriguing. I'm a strong opponent of a new stadium at all, but even stronger against for a location outside of OP.

 

This could be a very good idea, and could very well work, but the total cost would be pretty close to putting up a new stadium. It’s hard to say what will actually happen, I tend to be a city location guy, a downtown location helps the City of Buffalo more than a stadium in the burbs, imo. We shall see...I kinda think the Pegulas will put off any real action on a new stadium as long as they are able to, it after all is a huge outlay of cash.  

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Im not entirely sure what is possible for the arena.  It was a poorly designed arena built on the cheap for the most part, but it is still very useful.  I hate the bubble roof (with the giant blue wall) and the gradual pitch of the seats the most, but those are major structural punch list items.  Concourses get jammed up bad.  Aesthetically from the outside it looks like trash.  Cheap materials used for seats.

My guess is we will see some sort of moderate-level renovation of the arena.  Something above just a few coats of paint and a new store.  With the costs, harbor center attached and canalside, I would give almost zero chance of a new/moved facility.

 

 

Speaking as far as the known possible locations, as far as the stadium goes, based on my knowledge of construction, infrastructure, fan experience, and money, IMO the stadium dollars would go the furthest building adjacent to the current stadium in OP.  A major reno would probably rival a new stadium in cost, and provide much less options.  Downtown, lots of land acquisition and infrastructure costs, traffic, and boondoggle that we have been over 2000 times.  

 

 

If it were me, I would really be exploring around the "elbow" of the 190 and 90 by the Ogden Street exit areas.  There is room there and people would fly in and out of there efficiently.  That layout reminds me a bit of the highway situation where Philadelphia's stadiums are located.

 

Edited by May Day 10
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3 hours ago, Hammered a Lot said:

Heard this the other day and to me it makes sense. There has been talk about the need for a new larger convention center in Buffalo. How about converting the current Buffalo, or what ever it's called now, arena into a convention center. There is conversation going on how the Buffalo arena is substandard to other arenas/venues.  So building a new up to date arena in the cobblestone district makes sense. Terry Pegulas main interest is hockey.  Look at the investment in the Penn State "Pegula "hockey arena. This would help in the so called stimulus that's needed for downtown and be near his downtown investments. Concerning expanding the lower concourse at NEF I wonder if any of his company's knowledge in fracking drilling could be used to break up the rock at the lower concourse level. Terry has also recently bought a mine. It seems his companies are specialized in Geology.  Fire Away.

  The support infrastructure is already in place at OP including utilities, fire fighting, and law enforcement to name a few.  Roadways are adequate if not ideal.  To redo all this downtown will most likely run 100M plus which I don't see anybody coughing up the money for.  

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8 minutes ago, Jerry Jabber said:

With the Pegula's recently buying up a lot of property around One Bills Drive, plus the new training facility, I don't envision the Pegula's building a downtown NFL stadium.

At the risk of repeating myself, even if a new stadium ends up downtown, the practice/training facilities plus the administrative offices would all remain where they are today.  The only thing that would change is where they play on Sundays.

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There's a lyric in the song Proud Mary that says..."you don't have to worry, cause you got no money," and that's us. 

 

We have too many NY bonds that still need to be amortized, and the fact that we have no high powered corporate sponsors.waiting to step in.  Along with the unlikely prospect of raising taxes to pay for a new stadium, leaves us in a tough spot.

 

Way too many negatives to even be realistic.

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4 hours ago, Hammered a Lot said:

Heard this the other day and to me it makes sense. There has been talk about the need for a new larger convention center in Buffalo. How about converting the current Buffalo, or what ever it's called now, arena into a convention center. There is conversation going on how the Buffalo arena is substandard to other arenas/venues.  So building a new up to date arena in the cobblestone district makes sense. Terry Pegulas main interest is hockey.  Look at the investment in the Penn State "Pegula "hockey arena. This would help in the so called stimulus that's needed for downtown and be near his downtown investments. Concerning expanding the lower concourse at NEF I wonder if any of his company's knowledge in fracking drilling could be used to break up the rock at the lower concourse level. Terry has also recently bought a mine. It seems his companies are specialized in Geology.  Fire Away.

I guess when it’s too rainy to roof, you can always start drinking early, lol!!! 

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2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

So let me summarize...

 

- Retrofit KBC from an arena to a convention center. 

 

- Build new hockey/general purpose arena. 

 

- Abandon current underused convention center.  

 

-  Excavate outdated RWS to somehow fix narrow concourse problem(you would still have an old outdated stadium). 

 

 

That’s a ridiculous amount of money being spent to keep your parking business going.  ???

 

 

Here’s a better idea...put a fixed roof domed  stadium downtown in proximity to arena.  Keep Bills practice and administrative offices at current location. Implode RWS. Problem solved. 

 

 

Or just remove the upper decks and keep the rest of New Era intact. It's only the decks that are in rough shape. Then let UB and local high schools play there.

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16 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Or just remove the upper decks and keep the rest of New Era intact. It's only the decks that are in rough shape. Then let UB and local high schools play there.

 

Yeah, but who's gonna pay $35 to park for a high school football game?

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1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

At the risk of repeating myself, even if a new stadium ends up downtown, the practice/training facilities plus the administrative offices would all remain where they are today.  The only thing that would change is where they play on Sundays.

While I do think a downtown football stadium would generate a lot more revenue, it just seems like a lot of wasted property in Orchard Park, even if it's just how you described, not to mention the price tag of all of it (building a new stadium, parking, etc...).

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3 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

 

 

 

Here’s a better idea...put a fixed roof domed  stadium downtown in proximity to arena.  

 

 

IMO, this is the worst of all possible options. 

 

1 hour ago, Jerry Jabber said:

With the Pegula's recently buying up a lot of property around One Bills Drive, plus the new training facility, I don't envision the Pegula's building a downtown NFL stadium.

 

I'd like to think you are right about this. OP is a perfect location for the stadium, IMO. And while putting a lid on the Cap appeals to many, not to me. Brave the elements!

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40 minutes ago, jimmy10 said:

Just build it in Batavia. On behalf of all ROC season ticket holders, we demand that our drive be cut in half. 

  I'm one of what I would guess to be many who are happy to have the stadium in the immediate vicinity of Buffalo.  I still believe when the time comes the new stadium will be in OP but think there is a chance of downtown or up near I-90 in NE Erie County.  If Rochester and Syracuse were double or triple their current population then a better argument exists to put it closer to Rochester.  

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2 hours ago, Seasons1992 said:

The idea of expanding concourses either inside or outside New Era is intriguing. I'm a strong opponent of a new stadium at all, but even stronger against for a location outside of OP.

 

 

Concourses for who? New Era Field only has customer draw eight days a year during home football games.

 

A downtown sports arena would be centrally located and have public exposure year round.

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5 hours ago, Hammered a Lot said:

Heard this the other day and to me it makes sense. There has been talk about the need for a new larger convention center in Buffalo. How about converting the current Buffalo, or what ever it's called now, arena into a convention center. There is conversation going on how the Buffalo arena is substandard to other arenas/venues.  So building a new up to date arena in the cobblestone district makes sense. Terry Pegulas main interest is hockey.  Look at the investment in the Penn State "Pegula "hockey arena. This would help in the so called stimulus that's needed for downtown and be near his downtown investments. Concerning expanding the lower concourse at NEF I wonder if any of his company's knowledge in fracking drilling could be used to break up the rock at the lower concourse level. Terry has also recently bought a mine. It seems his companies are specialized in Geology.  Fire Away.

 

 

They will re-build the Hockey Arena along with the new downtown Football stadium all at the same time. Or at least as one big, long project.

2 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

If they move the stadium downtown it is highly unlikely Ill ever go to another game.   The parking down town is a nightmare and getting in and out of the stadium will be atrocious.   Trying to get out of a Sabres game is terrible, I cant imagine what it would be like with three times the people.

 

Parking and roadways will be re-done. They arent just going to jam a big new stadium into the existing area. The whole section of the city will be re-done. New entrances to the 190, etc.

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4 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

I'm no geologist but I think you have to consider the shallow water table downtown, considering you are only a few feet above Lake Erie. So there can't be much digging downward. In other words you can't build another in-ground bowl stadium, like New Era Field, downtown.

 

 

 

I believe Hammer was talking about digging down in OP at New Era, to expand the lower concourse.

 

Quote

Concerning expanding the lower concourse at NEF I wonder if any of his company's knowledge in fracking drilling could be used to break up the rock at the lower concourse level. 

 

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