Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The chatter in political circles this week is that news of a stadium deal involving the Buffalo Bills may be announced during New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's State of the State address, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday.
"As a public partner, in addition to Erie County, I think a lot of the parties want to give the Governor the ability to make the announcement," Albany insider Jack O'Donnell of O'Donnell and Associates told WBEN on Tuesday. "It may be that she announces an agreement in principle, or a memorandum of understanding, or something that allows the Bills to move forward with construction, or at least getting bids and doing the things they need to do before there are too many price increases."
O'Donnell thinks news of a deal will be more than a mention, but not a huge theme of the speech.
"The Governor has not run away from being from Buffalo or being a Bills fan," he said. "But I think for big parts of the speech, she'll be speaking to people in other parts of the state and across the country to people who don't know her as well as we do in Western New York."
Still, O'Donnell thinks a stadium deal will be high profile in the speech.
"Anything with the NFL is a big deal."
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He expects to hear from Democratic assembly members and senators who will criticize it as corporate welfare and a giveaway to billionaires. That said, O'Donnell thinks there will be a lot more in the speech and in the upcoming state budget that take up more oxygen and are a bigger lift.
New York State released its long-awaited study on a Buffalo Bills stadium on Election Day. The 91-page report from AECOM, a firm hired by Empire State Development, makes one recommendation: Build a new stadium.
In December, Gov. Hochul said the state was willing to accept a new stadium for the Bills in Orchard Park, if that remains the team's preference.
"If Orchard Park’s their first choice – their only choice, it's Orchard Park – we’ll make it all happen," said Hochul on Dec. 20, 2021.
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