Palm Beach, FLA (WGR 550) - One day after it was announced that the Buffalo Bills, National Football League, New York State, and Erie County came to an agreement on a new stadium for the football team, along with a 30-year lease, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell - a Jamestown, New York native - said he's glad to see the stadium negotiations reach the finish line and that the team is staying for the long-term.
“I am happy to see a resolution to it,” Goodell told reporters during his annual address at the League Meetings at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.
“I think the Buffalo Bills mean a great deal to the community, and I know that community means a great deal to the NFL. So I believed firmly that the stadium was necessary. I said some time in the last year or so that a new stadium was really going to be required. The current stadium was nearing the end of its useful life. We needed a new stadium to keep the Buffalo Bills there. There’s no other place to play."
Pegula Sports and Entertainment Executive Vice President Ron Raccuia, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Erie County Executive Mark Polancarz, and the league announced on Monday that an agreement had been reached to build a new stadium for the football team, directly across the street from its current home of Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
That deal includes a $200 million loan from the NFL, as part of it's G4 funding program, which helps finance new stadiums as well as renovation projects for existing stadiums around the league.
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“The credit I give, No. 1 probably to the Governor, for her leadership and stepping into a situation where she had to find a solution to it, where she took on that leadership role," Goodell said. "She worked with the county, she worked with others, she worked with Bills, she worked with us, and I look at this as a public-private partnership. Obviously, there’s public money in this, which is not uncommon for new stadiums. There’s the NFL money. The Bills are going to be putting money in. There’s a 30-year commitment to be there in that new stadium, which I think is the most important thing, ultimately, for the fans. These are things that are worked out through negotiations, from market to market. I think it’s a good resolution.”
Goodell said that even before he was NFL Commissioner he spent a great deal of time on the Bills' stadium issue. He was named NFL Commissioner in 2006. Prior to that, he was the league's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for five years.
"Having the Buffalo Bills there, for, at least, the next 30 years, in a new stadium, I think it’s going to be a really positive thing," Goodell said. “I’m thrilled that the Bills will be there for, at least, my lifetime.”
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