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Hypothetical New Stadium, Part 1


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Off the lake in Buffalo, around HSBC arena, but it would have to come with a bigger bridge to handle traffic. You are located in buffalo then, right by a border crossing that is at the end of the big highway that goes directly to one of the Largest Cities in Canada that the Bills are trying to market their product to. I find as a Canadian, the biggest problem going to a game is the border crossing, and a new bridge is necessary. Making the stadium a 5-10 drive from the Border will keep the team central to the areas they are trying to market to being Rochester and Toronto. The views of one in Niagara Falls would be nice, but i don't think its going to o much for the team to be located there.

 

The only problem is that the best idea for the stadium to be used for more then just football would be to make it a dome or a retractable roof stadium to allow for things like concerts during the winter months.

 

Wow, for a change - I agree with this a-pita, i mean apus.

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The land on which the Perry Street Projects currently stand is more than sufficient for a new stadium.

 

You would have to address parking/tailgating, but a creative mind could solve the problem, I'm sure.

 

Maybe things have changed - but Perry and others used to have a reputation as being cheap housing pay-offs to party faithfuls.

 

Regardless, it's Section 8 housing, so uprooting tenants would be difficult, I should think.

 

http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/CityServi...ledDevelopments

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Where do you live? It's quite popular between BOS and NYC.

 

I live in Buffalo now, but I used to live in SW CT. When I was there, a trip from Stamford to Boston cost around 2x on the Acela vs. the standard amtrak, and got you there a whopping 20 minutes faster. Which means the far more cost conscious people in upstate NY and Ohio aren't going to bother.

 

Sure, it'd be great to take a 150mph train from the stadium to Toronto or Albany after the game. But I'd have a hard time believing that the economics will ever come close to supporting it.

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Where do you live? It's quite popular between BOS and NYC.

 

:thumbsup: I thought about using it to go to Philly a few years back - it was 2.5 time the cost of a ticket on Southwest out of Providence.

 

WRT to location, I like the Niagara Falls idea - IF they extend the Ontario Parkway to the Robert Moses Pkwy. That allows the Rochester folks a direct route. Otherwise, put it in Batavia hold training camp in Toronto.

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The Buffalo Bills future is north - not east. Sorry Rochester and Syracuse - love your support but the population and money just north of the border is huge.

 

My first choice would be downtown Buffalo... preferably near HSBC or along the harbor.

 

If Grand Island didn't have such access issues - I wouldn't mind the stadium being built there - plenty of space - sorta north of beaver island park on the westside of the island - imagine the skyline views of Niagara Falls to the north and Buffalo to the south.

 

We could even build a bridge from the qew right to grand island or provide ferry service for Canadians on game day.

 

If money weren't an issue - Id help fund high speed trains between Toronto and Buffalo. Albany and Buffalo. Cleveland and Buffalo. We need to connect these metro areas and high speed trains are the way to go.

 

also moving it north to the city actually makes it a shorter commute for Rochester folks anyway by about 20 minutes. I guess ideally maybe right next to HSBC, could share parking facilities though would obviously have to add more. Tailgating would definitely suffer unfortunately. We'd have a serious sports district.

 

As for the high speed trains, I kind of think they'll be inevitable over the next 20 years as people try and fly and drive less.

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Lets get real, folks, when the Bills are sold, if its a fair, highest bid gets the team bidding competition, no buyer will keep the team in WNY.. the economics don't make any sense from a luxury box and merchandise sales standpoint....plus the ticket prices in WNY would be significantly below what could be charged in Toronto, L.A., you name it. the only the numbers could work are if the buyer sticks with RWS and leaves the team in the current stadium... stop dreaming, the area cannot support a new stadium at todays buildling costs...

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Either the Perry Projects near the Arena or the waterfront. But above all else it must stay in Erie County. And I don't like the burden on the tax payer to maintain the Ralph and a new stadium woul dup the cost, but who the hell are the Buffalo Bills gonna be playing outside the Buffalo Metro area? I know that some of Niagara county is considered part of our metro but still It has to be remotely near the city. All the "commuters" from Rochester and whever else fans come from can ride an extra 10-15 minutes.

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The off-season (yes, even training camp) is pretty boring around here. Just looking to spark some discussion that doesn't involve Jason Peters.

 

Let's say some random billionaire buys the Bills, wants to keep them in western/upstate New York, and will completely privately fund a new stadium. Where would you want it? Not where do you think it would go (save the Toronto jokes), but where would you want it if you were asked by the new owner for input. A few thoughts:

 

1 - Orchard Park, right next to/on top of the current site of The Ralph... infrastructure is there, training facilities, plenty of parking, easy access to several major highways, etc.

2 - Niagara County, either in the city of Niagara Falls or somewhere in Wheatfield, Lewiston, etc... easier commute for the Canadian base the team is trying to grow.

3 - Buffalo, on the current site of the Perry Projects... plenty of land available for development near HSBC, public transportation, (potentially) the Casino, but would alter tailgating as we know it (perhaps make it more like Cubs games with people flooding bars before and after the game?).

4 - Buffalo, somewhere on the outer harbor... access would be a B word, especially come December, as many fans would be forced to use the skyway.

5 - Lackawanna, on redeveloped brownfields... same problem as #4.

6 - Batavia, or some other point along the 90 in Genesee County... might make seasons tickets or spending corporate dollars on a suite more attractive to people from Rochester, Canandaigua, Syracuse and points east.

 

With the apparent apathy of the Toronto market, I am actually leaning towards #6 in the interests of the long-term financial health of the franchise. I get the feeling more folks from Rochester and points east would go to Bills games and more businesses would be interested in suites/partnerships if they had a significantly shorter commute (not to mention access during non-game days for various events). Moving the stadium near Batavia would cut a good 40 minutes or so off the commute TO the game, and a good hour or so after the game when you consider all the folks that would be fighting to head west to Buffalo.

 

Thoughts?

 

ON EDIT: Assume sufficient funds and the necessary political will to accomplish just about anything... within reason.

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Lets get real, folks, when the Bills are sold, if its a fair, highest bid gets the team bidding competition, no buyer will keep the team in WNY.. the economics don't make any sense from a luxury box and merchandise sales standpoint....plus the ticket prices in WNY would be significantly below what could be charged in Toronto, L.A., you name it. the only the numbers could work are if the buyer sticks with RWS and leaves the team in the current stadium... stop dreaming, the area cannot support a new stadium at todays buildling costs...

 

 

Wow... first post and you win Tool of the Day! Congratulations!

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Waterfront. Put it where the Pier used to be. Knock down the useless, ugly Skyway. Run the Metrorail down there. Regular trains cab run there from the Depew station and elsewhere. Tracks are already there. Just need the train cars and the cash. Can develop the area around it with the usual hotels, restaurants, bars, condos and so on. Would be pretty cool if you ask me. Would probably be a much different atmosphere than there is now though. I have always had an idea for a Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Building. Next to the new Waterfront Stadium would be a good place for it. I would buy the team, build the stadium and the HOF Building. I am only a Billion and a half short though.

 

Someone mentioned Lancaster. I live in Lancaster. No room for a stadium here anymore and the traffic is BRUTAL. Worse than anywhere in Buffalo especially during rush hour. Mostly two lane streets with no turn lanes. Transit Road is hell. No Thruway access close by. Can only get on the 400 going towards Orachard Park and on the 90 headed towards Amherst. It would be 20x more ridiculous getting out of there after a game than it is in OP.

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Waterfront. Put it where the Pier used to be. Knock down the useless, ugly Skyway. Run the Metrorail down there. Regular trains cab run there from the Depew station and elsewhere. Tracks are already there. Just need the train cars and the cash. Can develop the area around it with the usual hotels, restaurants, bars, condos and so on. Would be pretty cool if you ask me. Would probably be a much different atmosphere than there is now though. I have always had an idea for a Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Building. Next to the new Waterfront Stadium would be a good place for it. I would buy the team, build the stadium and the HOF Building. I am only a Billion and a half short though.

 

Someone mentioned Lancaster. I live in Lancaster. No room for a stadium here anymore and the traffic is BRUTAL. Worse than anywhere in Buffalo especially during rush hour. Mostly two lane streets with no turn lanes. Transit Road is hell. No Thruway access close by. Can only get on the 400 going towards Orachard Park and on the 90 headed towards Amherst. It would be 20x more ridiculous getting out of there after a game than it is in OP.

 

I agree with you lancaster was always bad for traffic (my sister used to live there).

 

I don't think that the City of Buffalo is going to use tracks that are there already to run metro trains on, they could have done that when they built the stupid thing in the first place.

 

No one is going to take on the debt of buying the Bills and building a stadium. The state and the city will have to pay up or they will be outta there for sure (very sorry to say that).

 

Might be nice to have them located in Niagara Falls on the Canada side IMO and open your Bills hall of fame and excetra on the US side or visa versa. If they were to build I think that would be the best plan but this is all pipe dreaming.

 

I think the city state and all would be best severed by a rectractable roof on the Ralph and a nice remodeling. The rockpile worked way past its day and we built Ralph way before the economy went so far south, so I don't think they should (or will) take on the debt again for building a new one. It is a sunken stadium and would be easy to put a roof over pretty cheap. Also a lot more would be willing to sit in relative comfort meaning more revenue (sorry all you cold weather, no dome fans just my humble opinion). Build more Luxy boxes and give TO corps. a slight discount, Ralph becomes servicable. They would also be smart to some kind of high speed transport to get there from TO, IDK, Jet blue or something simular discount charter tailgater flights?

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Lets get real, folks, when the Bills are sold, if its a fair, highest bid gets the team bidding competition, no buyer will keep the team in WNY.. the economics don't make any sense from a luxury box and merchandise sales standpoint....plus the ticket prices in WNY would be significantly below what could be charged in Toronto, L.A., you name it. the only the numbers could work are if the buyer sticks with RWS and leaves the team in the current stadium... stop dreaming, the area cannot support a new stadium at todays buildling costs...

 

BF?

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