Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - After the Erie County Legislature gave its final vote of approval for the new stadium deal for the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park this past Thursday, construction is finally open to commence on site along Abbott Road.
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Preliminary construction efforts on the new stadium will be taking place between now and the beginning of June when excavation work is set to begin across from Highmark Stadium.
It will take more than three years for the stadium to be completed in Orchard Park, with the target date for substantial completion set for Sept. 22, 2026. That will allow for the new stadium to be able to house the Bills and "Bills Mafia" for the 2026 season.
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As was the goal of several members of the negotiating party for the stadium project agreement, state officials were looking to keep the Bills in Western New York for the long haul with a new stadium.
"That was my No. 1 priority to make sure the Bills would commit, and that was part of our negotiations early on. It was non-negotiable, as far as I was concerned," said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul during a visit to Buffalo on Monday. "We wanted a 30-year commitment from the Bills, we received that, and we look forward to a groundbreaking, hopefully, in the very near future."
"This is months and months of negotiation between the state and the county and the Bills, and I think we're all happy with the deal. All the partners are," said Steve Ranalli, President of the Erie County Stadium Corporation (ECSC), a subsidiary of Empire State Development (ESD). "We get the Bills in town for another three decades, we're going to be creating thousands of jobs, and at the same time, all the investment that we're making really will be recouped with the economic activity that the team generates."
When it comes to the magnitude of the upcoming stadium project in Western New York, Ranalli re-affirms the fact that this will be the largest project of its kind in the region's history.
"About 10,000 construction jobs over the course of time here. It really is the biggest project that we've seen, and will see for some time," Ranalli said.
"We've invested a couple hundred million across the Waterfront over the last decade or so. This is significantly larger than even the investment we've seen there. So again, it's truly exciting to think we're going to have this amazing stadium, and have the Bills in town for decades."
With this project set to be as large as it is and completed in just over three years, it will take a lot of labor to get the project done in such a timely matter. Already in Western New York, there are a large number of projects going on taking up some of the labor force. When it comes to the need for workers on a project of this scale, Ranalli says it's tough to pinpoint just how many laborers will exactly be called upon to build the stadium.
"I just know the Bills are going to ramp up very quickly," he said. "The site fence is going up, obviously some of the early site demolition, clearing the way. But you're gonna see a lot of equipment and a lot of people on site here within the next 2-3 weeks, and it's only going to ramp up over the course of those years. So it's exciting. They've got a project labor agreement signed between the Bills and the unions here. And for anyone that's still interested, there is time for vendors, suppliers, contractors, and such to head over to BuffaloBillsNewStadium.com to find out if they can get involved as well."
Despite the massive task ahead with a project such as a new state-of-the-art football stadium, and the likely challenges the Bills and construction crews will face, Ranalli is confident the stadium will be done on time and ready for football come the 2026 season.
"The Bills have an amazing team that they've put together, starting with Legends overseeing a lot of it, and bringing in Populous, which is a world class design firm, especially when it comes to the stadium work," Ranalli said. "Then just the construction management firm, Gilbane | Turner, that partnership, they've got top-notch folks working on this, working out cost, schedule, all those things. We're confident they've got the right team in place to bring this thing home."
Before the major work gets underway in early June, there will certainly be a ceremonial groundbreaking of the stadium site in Orchard Park attended by Gov. Hochul, the Bills and other local leaders who had a significant role in the stadium's upbringing.
"I know the Governor will be certainly participating, it's such a big project for her. But we're getting close," Ranalli said. "All parties are talking about trying to find a date here. Certainly we were shooting for June 1, and I think we're going to be pretty close to it."
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