(WBEN) - As the conversation surrounding a new Bills stadium heats up, Pegula Sports and Entertainment Executive Vice President Ron Raccuia joined WBEN's BMaz and Beamer for an hour-long discussion on what the team is looking for in terms of options for their future home. Here are some of the highlights:
On why continuing to play in Highmark Stadium, even with a full renovation, would not be an option:
"It's not an option because of the amount of work that would need to go into making that stadium safe and NFL ready going into the future. The upper decks themselves need to be replaced, and that study by DiDonato Associates has been out there... the upper decks are $500 Million just to replace those. That doesn't count having to replace all the electric that was from the original construction. The plumbing, the corridors, the problem with the ADA seating, I could go on and on. Our estimate is that to do a renovation is upwards of $1 Billion. That just doesn't make any sense when you can do a new stadium and it will be much more effective and sustainable long term."
Why Orchard Park?
"It's the most economical and efficient building and place. We have a budget of $1.4 Billion for a stadium in Orchard Park. That same stadium if you moved it downtown to one of the locations that have been considered, the price jumps to $1.9 Billion, and that does not include the hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure costs... We don't see a real economic value to spend an extra Billion-plus dollars to build it downtown."
Would the team sign a lease extension to play at Highmark Stadium without an agreement on a new stadium?
"No. Absolutely not."
Can that happen quickly?
"I do (believe so)... If we can get everybody together in a room working toward the singular focus of trying to build a new stadium then it can happen very quickly... I don't know that there's a lot of obstacles, it's just getting everybody focused on the urgency of the timing, and we'll focus on a way to get something done."
Has there been any conversations on moving the team?
"None."
On the concept of and opposition to public funding for an NFL stadium:
"This would be the single-largest construction project in Western New York history. It would create well over 12,000 construction and project related jobs. The economic impact from this type of construction project alone is approximately $2 Billion. Someone has to tell me if we need that type of project in our community. I believe that we do."
"You say 'Why a new stadium?' Where else would we play? The team contributes Hundreds of Millions of dollars throughout New York State in income tax, jobs, property taxes, we pay rent on the stadium, we pay for the upkeep. This isn't a one-way street by any stretch of the imagination. We have to have a place to play football."
"I understand and respect some of the economists’ positions on building new stadiums and teams. That’s fine. You have an equal amount of people on the other side who will tell you what it means to a community... What do you do if you don't build a new stadium? I think it pays for itself, I think it provides value to the state and the county in numerous ways, and we can articulate that.”
How fast would construction begin if there is an agreement?
"We come to an agreement and we'll start the next day."
Why 'downsize' to 60,000 or so seats?
"Every trend is going in that direction with smaller stadiums, ours should be likewise. Our market analysis shows that 70,000 seats is too many."
On having an open-air stadium compared to a roof:
"A lot of the surveying and talking to fans we've did over the last several years show that they overwhelmingly wanted to be covered from the elements, they did not want to be wet, and they were OK with cold. We've gone under that premise that we would build something that would cover the vast majority of the seats in an overhang scenario similar to Lumen Field in Seattle, similar to the renovation that took place in Miami where you are providing cover from the elements for the vast majority of the seats."
"In terms of a dome or retractable roof, that's an extra $400-500 Million on top of the project. We don't really see the benefit from that economically for us or for the state or county. If the state or the county feel different and they want us to explore it we certainly are open to exploring it."
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