Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR 550) - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was in Orchard Park on Friday to celebrate a significant milestone in the construction of the new state-of-the-art football stadium to house the Buffalo Bills starting in 2026.
"At first, we had to dig the hole, and you're the ones responsible. Now we put in the steel," said Gov. Hochul on Friday during a ceremony inside Erie Community College's South Campus.
Hochul was among those to have signed the first steel beam set to be erected for the Highmark Stadium project, along with construction crews and other local officials.
"For me, to be able to be here as Governor of New York and to sign the steel beam that is going to be part of history, all of you should be so very, very proud of that," Hochul said. "It doesn't happen without you. And someday, when you're sitting in the stands and you're able to tell your families, ‘I helped make this,’ make sure that you have that smile, that sense of pride, and root the Bills on to, yet, another victory."
Gov. Hochul acknowledged the tough conclusion to the Bills' season, but mentions that we, as Buffalonians, are resilient, and have united Jets and Giants fans to root for Buffalo.
"I know it's been a tough week for our fans, but I said as the first Governor from Buffalo since the 1800s, I had one job, and that was to unite New York – Downstate, Upstate. I knew that if we made it to the playoffs, and I could unite all the Jets and Giants fans from the rest of the state, and convert them into Buffalo Bills fans, I'd be successful, and we did it," she said. "People all across New York, and indeed the nation, were rooting for us over the last couple of weeks. It's powerful. There's a sense of pride, because we're so tough, we're so resilient. We love our team through good times and tough times, and we always come back for another season. That's what's in the DNA of Buffalonians, we always come back."
Jason Peterson of Bethlehem Land Surveying is one of the over 800 laborers who have been involved with the new stadium construction. He has been working alongside one other coworker from his company on surveying the land.
"It's pretty exciting, especially for a company our size," said Peterson on Friday. "As surveyors, we normally point to projects that we worked on. But this is one of those projects where you really can take a sense of pride in the fact that you were part of this. You left your mark out there. You can actually point to something that you've laid out, and it's been built and point out everything about where your control point was, where the bolts were. It's pretty exciting."
