Bills will not exercise 2020 opt-out in stadium lease

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The Buffalo Bills have informed Erie County they will not exercise their one-time opt-out clause in their New Era Field lease, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz confirmed via his official Twitter account.

There are media reports of my receipt of a letter from @BuffaloBills confirming they will not early terminate the lease. That is correct. I requested the letter from them to show their commitment and good faith to the county and community. They delivered and I thank them. #Bills pic.twitter.com/1O94dILXJY

— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) January 31, 2020

The team had until Feb. 28 to inform the county if they intended on exercising the clause, which was signed back in 2013. If they had done so, the lease would have expired on July 30 of this year. However, since they will not opt-out, the team is tied to the stadium until the official end of the lease, which is set to expire following the 2023 season.

If the Bills had elected to terminate the lease this year, there would have been a penalty of over $28.3 million payable to the county.

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