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 between the Bills, Erie County, New York State and the National Football League.
"I don't know that there's a lot of obstacles," Raccuia said on WBEN. "I think it's just getting a lot of people focused on the timing and we'll find a way to get something done."
Renovating Highmark Stadium, which opened in 1973 and has already undergone significant upgrades over the years, is not something Pegula Sports and Entertainment 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."
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.
"It's definitely going to get smaller," Raccuia said during the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR with Jeremy White and Sal Capaccio. "The 60,000 number I saw out there, it's in the range. I think it will probably end up a little bit bigger than that. We don't know yet, for sure, but that's certainly a reasonable number. ... Every stadium throughout all of sports right now is getting smaller. We feel that that 60,000 to 62,000 range is appropriate for Buffalo and Western New York."
Raccuia said another major aspect the team is proposing is an open-air stadium concept, similar to what the Seattle Seahawks currently have right now with Lumen Field. One 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."
Other sites were considered by Pegula Sports and Entertainment, 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."
As previously mentioned, the Bills, Erie County, New York State and NFL 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 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."
You can listen to Raccuia's entire interview during the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR below: