BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Pegula Sports and Entertainment Executive Vice President Ron Raccuia joined BMaz and Beamer on Thursday to discuss the ongoing stadium talks and the need to advance the negotiations.
"I don't know that there's a lot of obstacles," Raccuia said. "I think it's just getting a lot of people focused on the timing and we'll find a way to get something done."
HEAR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH RACCUIA BELOW:
The team is proposing to build a $1.4 billion stadium across its current site on Abbott Road. A new stadium would also have approximately 60,000 seats, 12,000 fewer than Highmark Stadium currently holds, and be an open-air concept, similar to the Seattle Seahawks.
Renovating Highmark Stadium, which opened in 1973 and has already undergone significant upgrades over the years, is not something PSE has any interest in doing for long-term viability.
"The upper decks themselves need to be replaced," Raccuia said. "The upper decks are $500 million just to replace them. That doesn't count having to replace all the electric from the original construction, the plumbing, the corridors, the ADA seating...Our estimates to do a renovation is upwards of $1 billion. That doesn't make sense when you can do a new stadium and it will be much more effective and sustainable long term for not only the franchise but the county and state as well."
Raccuia said a major reason for the open-air concept was because fans wanted to be shielded from the elements, according to the team's internal survey.
"Basically they did not want to be wet," he said. "They were okay with being cold."
Related
Other sites were considered by PSE, including UB North, which Raccuia described as a "non-starter" for the state. Downtown Buffalo was also considered. However, he said added infrastructure in Buffalo would tack on another several hundred million dollars.
"We feel (Orchard Park is) the most economical and efficient building in place," Raccuia said. "We have a budget of $1.4 billion for a new stadium in Orchard Park. That same exact stadium if you moved it downtown to one of the locations being consider, the price jumps to $1.9 billion. That does not include the hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure costs that would go along with a downtown stadium."
The Bills, NFL, Erie County, and New York State are the stakeholders in determining the logistics. The Bills are seeking to cover the overwhelming majority of the costs by using taxpayer dollars. Raccuia said other teams across the league have used substantial tax dollars to cover new stadiums in the past and that this project would create over 12,000 construction-related jobs and create $2 billion in economic impact.
"Does Western New York need that type of project in our community?" he said. "I believe that we do...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. But we have to have a place to play football games."
Was there ever a threat by the team to leave Buffalo?
"None," Raccuia said. "We've never discussed anything with any other markets. Our sole focus has been to get a deal done here."
If a new stadium is not agreed upon, Raccuia said the team "absolutely will not" renew their current stadium lease with the county, which is due to expire in July 2023.
An interview request with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz was declined through his spokesman.
"As he's said all along, our team won't be discussing any details of the ongoing negotiations in the media," Peter Anderson, a spokesman for Poloncarz, said.