By Kyle Silagyi / Billswire.usatoday.com
It’s a fear that has lingered over the heads of Buffalo fans for much of the 21st century – an apprehensive thought that rears its ugly head once every few years.
The Bills are not safe.
In a contemporary NFL that favors large markets and glamorous stadiums, Buffalo is a relic of the past. With a metro population of 1.1 million, it’s the league’s second-smallest market. Only five teams play in older venues than the 45-year-old New Era Field.
According to Forbes, the Bills are the NFL’s least valuable franchise.
On a surface level, relocation does not seem like an erroneous outcome for Buffalo, something that has prompted national media outlets to question the team’s long-term stability in western New York.
“The drums are getting louder, Buffalo,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio tweeted earlier this summer. “And the message from the league is clear: Pay for all or part of a new stadium, or else the Bills will eventually move.”
SB Nation’s Adam Stites further added to the conversation with a recent article in which he identified the Bills as a potential candidate for relocation.
Buffalo’s uncertain stadium situation serves as the basis of Stites’ argument, noting that New Era Field is aging and hasn’t undergone significant renovations in some time.
Stites also writes that team owner Terry Pegula “sounds . . . committed to staying in Buffalo.”
The only problem? Stites isn’t sure who’s going to foot the bill for a new stadium.
“Despite Erie County already setting aside $500,000 to begin saving for the cost of a new stadium, that’ll be a drop in the well,” Stites wrote. “So if the city of Buffalo balks at the idea of pledging a large amount of taxpayer money for a new stadium, it’s very plausible that another city would step in with an offer of its own.
“Until the Bills figure out where they will play and who will pay for it, a long-term future in Buffalo isn’t a sure thing.”
With the evidence presented, the logic is sound. Buffalo’s stadium situation is in flux, and until a definitive plan is approved, the beloved franchise is in danger of relocating.
But that’s an incredibly elementary point of view.
Though stating that the Bills are in no danger of relocating would be ignorant, I will say that we’ll likely see pigs fly before we see the team up and move.
One doesn’t have to look any further than Pegula for evidence that the team isn’t going anywhere. The billionaire is the sole owner of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. His company, Pegula Sports and Entertainment, also owns the NLL’s Buffalo Bandits, this in addition to owning and operating numerous restaurants throughout downtown Buffalo.
Pegula also was behind the construction of the HarborCenter, a ~$170 million state-of-the-art facility that opened in 2015. The HarborCenter has attracted a number of prestigious hockey tournaments to downtown Buffalo, perhaps most notably the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships and the 2019 Frozen Four.
Combine this with the property that Pegula owns throughout the city, and it’s easy to see that he’s incredibly committed to Buffalo.
The team’s ownership group has taken strides toward resolving its stadium uncertainties in recent months, as well, hiring CAA Icon to conduct a “comprehensive study” of options in November 2018.
The purpose of the study is to guide the Pegulas to the most efficient outcome: build a new facility somewhere in Western New York, or renovate the near half-century old New Era Field.
And both are realistic options at this point. A downtown stadium has been a fantasy of many Bills fans for years, something that would help the city of Buffalo take the next step in its revitalization.
Or perhaps renovations to the already-serviceable New Era Field would suffice. Though the stadium lacks the glitz and offerings of the some of the league’s newer venues, there’s a special charm about it.
Age and a lack of corporate boxes top of the list of national complaints about the facility, but age is not a suitable critique of a stadium.
Barcelona’s Camp Nou is 61 years old. Manchester’s Old Trafford broke ground in 1909.
New Era Field is not deteriorating. It certainly could not be classified as a modern venue, but extensive renovations could easily help it reach contemporary standards.
The Bills have options in Western New York — and leaving the region does not appear to be one of them. Though a surface-level analysis would suggest that Buffalo could soon lose its NFL team, a deeper dive quickly disproves this theory.
To say that the Bills are in danger of relocating would be to blatantly ignore Pegula’s contributions and commitment to the region.
Though NFL relocation is always an interesting topic to discuss, Buffalo truly has no business being in the conversation. With a passionate fanbase and incredibly-committed ownership, the Bills will call Buffalo home for the foreseeable future.