Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Over the last several weeks with the new Highmark Stadium opening its doors for the upcoming football season, as well as the old Highmark Stadium across the street being reduced to rubble, some of the talk around Orchard Park has been the future development of sites like the old stadium, and even the old South Campus site at Erie Community College.
However, one local businessman and longtime sports marketing executive believes the talk of any potential development for ancillary entertainment around the new stadium is fruitless.
John Cimperman of Barnstorm Sports and Entertainment has been amazed at how quickly the new Highmark Stadium went from paper to reality over the course of three-plus years.
"Everything I've seen, everything I've heard is amazing," Cimperman said in an interview with WBEN. "The building looks great, and I really think the fans are going to be blown away. The original Highmark Stadium, a lot of nostalgia in that building, a lot of memories in that building. But the evolution of technology and fan conveniences are going to blow people away."
Once the old Highmark Stadium is officially cleared out and the site is flattened with the dirt dug up from the site of the new stadium, the Bills have reportedly entertained the idea of opening up the site for development, rather than solely utilizing it to accommodate more parking for game days.
In addition, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has stated in the past that the county is exploring all future options with ECC South Campus, and most of the buildings on that site.
While the new stadium has certainly gotten plenty of attention from fans and residents alike, Cimperman doesn't think it can serve as any sort of economic enhancer for the region.
"I think it's a gorgeous, state-of-the-art stadium that keeps the Bills here for a minimum of 30 years, but there is not incremental revenue that's going to come from the building," Cimperman explained. "Primarily where it is, there's no hotels, there's not a lot of ancillary entertainment. It's a great building, but it's not a new revenue driver for Erie County."
Quite frankly, Cimperman is not much in favor of trying to make the property in-and-around the new stadium a site for retail bars or restaurants.
"The reason for that is Buffalo is not big enough to support another entertainment district - Cobblestone, Main Street, Elmwood, Hertel. These areas need more people," Cimperman said. "If we just start taking people who would go to Elmwood and now they're going to Orchard Park, we're just diluting the disposable income of this market. So I think where the stadium should focus is efficient ingress and egress, really focus on other means of transportation - i.e. public transportation to the facility. But I think adding restaurants and bars for a 365-day environment, is not a good investment."
While other NFL markets like New England and Green Bay have found success with developing ancillary entertainment around their stadiums, Cimperman feels Buffalo is not in a favorable situation compared to the other two markets.
"The Boston market is over 7 million people, so that's seven times the size of Buffalo. [Foxborough is] also strategically located between Providence and Boston, so that can support that. I hate to say this to my friends in Green Bay, but 'Titletown' is the only entertainment district in Green Bay, so it's not diluting anything," Cimperman explained. "I know people bring up those comparisons, but they really don't hold water, because there's such different markets."
So what seems reasonable to potentially develop around the new stadium in Orchard Park?
"I've heard there's talk of maybe a small amphitheater, that might make some sense. But beyond that, it's really tough to support restaurants, bars, and hotels for 9-to-10 days a year."
Meanwhile, the towns of Hamburg and Orchard Park have also explored the possibility of future development close to the new stadium in an attempt to capitalize on the new facility. However, he only sees some incremental bumps coming for both towns, and like taking away from entertainment districts in Buffalo, he doesn't want the same happening for the villages of Hamburg and Orchard Park.
"You're only going to be taking people away from those villages," Cimperman noted. "I do anticipate that the Airbnb market is going to be really strong in-and-around the stadium. And there is a tax, a county tax on Airbnbs, so that could be a bump. But beyond that, I think it's pretty much status quo. You'll see your hotels downtown pick up. Hopefully there's a nice bump, as there always is, on a Saturday night before Bills game, where people are coming in from out-of-town. But I don't see it as a big windfall for Orchard Park or for Hamburg.
"We have a state-of-the-art new stadium, it's gorgeous. We've solidified our team here in Buffalo, but I don't think it's advisable to double down on Orchard Park, because we're just going to dilute where we are."
In fact, Cimperman strongly believes the focus of any future development of ancillary entertainment is in Downtown Buffalo, especially around KeyBank Center.
"We've got an arena that needs some improvements, we still don't have an arena district. Cobblestone's doing everything it can, but it does need help. So I would focus the resources here downtown, in the heart of the city, and then for those 10 days a year, people can go experience a great stadium," Cimperman said.
Cimperman does warn, though, that the city can't just go diving head-first into shallow water to build up the Cobblestone District.
"I think there needs to be a comprehensive blueprint for what the vision is of Cobblestone," he said. "I think if you look at Boston with 'The Hub', if you look at Cleveland with the 'Gateway District', these are great entertainment districts that have organically been built around their arenas and their stadiums. I would look at those models and really focus a lot of resources on bringing people downtown. The arena is so important to the economics of our region. We're talking 150 to 200 events a year. We need to focus more attention there."
