Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR 550) - We're another step closer to the finish line with getting shovels into the ground for construction of a new football stadium for the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park.
In a joint announcement released by Erie County, New York State and the Bills on Tuesday, all three negotiating parties have signed the necessary documents in order to allow the construction of the new state-of-the-art, football-first stadium to move forward across the street from Highmark Stadium on Abbott Road.
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"For a long time now, people have been saying, 'When are you getting the Bills deal done? When are you getting the Bills deal done?' It's done. The Bills deal is done," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz during a press briefing of the announcement on Tuesday.
As part of what was submitted to the Erie County Legislature on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET was the complete package of documents for the stadium deal, as well as a bond resolution, giving the county the authority to enter in to the new Bills stadium construction. In addition, an extension of the existing lease has been agreed upon through 2028 in case there happen to be any delays in construction of the new stadium.
"These documents have been submitted to the Legislature for its approval, they've said they would take approximately 30 days to review," Poloncarz said. "The goal is to move the process forward such that once the Legislature approves, construction can begin at the stadium. The schedule that we have anticipates construction to begin in May. Because we have now entered all these documents, the only thing that is required left is for the Legislature to offer its approval of the documents."
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Poloncarz is hopeful the Legislature will be able to approve it either at the 30-day timeline or immediately thereafter. All parties involved in construction want to start process as soon as realistically possible, and no major construction can begin until the Legislature approves the project documents.
As the County Executive hinted at last week, the expectation for the new stadium estimate is now at $1.54 billion, which is up $140 million from the original estimate of $1.4 billion when the Memorandum of Understanding was agreed up last March. However, the Pegulas have agreed to cover any overruns in cost for the new facility in Orchard Park.
In the end, it is a historic stadium deal that will ensure the long-term future of the Bills in Western New York.
"When you talk about dotting i's and crossing t's, this is what you end up with. Hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents," Poloncarz said. "But I think the most important thing to take from this is because of the work of so many for so long - Gov. [Kathy] Hochul's team, the Pegulas' team with the Buffalo Bills - the Buffalo Bills will be staying here, not only for the next few years during construction, but 30 years thereafter. This lease secures them in our community until 2055."
For Executive Vice President and COO of the Bills, Ron Raccuia, it's another great day in the process of getting the stadium deal in place and shovels in the ground. While he hopes the 30-day review period will go quickly for the Erie County Legislature to sign off on the documents, he understands there's no rushing anything.
"Chairwoman [April] Baskin has been fantastic through this process. She'll do what's right for the Legislature," said Raccuia on Tuesday. "We hope it's done quickly. We'd really like to get started with permits and everything, but we respect their process."
Raccuia says it's not just an exciting day for the organization, but one for the community, who will likely be upping the excitement levels in the days, weeks and months that lie ahead with construction of the new stadium.
"When we dig, when people start to see it rising out of the ground, every day is exciting," Raccuia said. "As we've talked about from Day 1, this is the largest project in Western New York history. It secures the Bills franchise in Buffalo for 30 years. It's another great day to celebrate as Bills fans, and as Western New Yorkers."
Tuesday's announcement caps off a nearly two-year process that started with negotiations surrounding the possibility of a new stadium in Orchard Park, and ending with the completed project documents being sent off to the Legislature for final approval.
"This is just a great ending to this part of the process," Raccuia said. "We're thankful to the Governor, the County Executive, all of our elected officials for helping us get to this point. Obviously, the commitment of Kim and Terry [Pegula] to this region is unprecedented. This is the first time in Bills history that the team and the owner are signing a 30-year lease, and we should all be excited about that going forward. We'll have time to reflect during this whole process. We still have a lot of work to do."
Once the documents have been signed off and approved by the Legislature, Raccuia believes construction efforts will start to move right along with a hopeful start time in May.
"Our teams have done a great job already getting us prepared. Turner-Gilbane has been in the community, meeting with vendors, the bidding process has started," Raccuia detailed. "There's been some soil testing already taken place, our partners at ECC have been terrific with getting the property ready for a major construction project. You're gonna see it really fast. Fencing will go up first to protect the area, and then some of the large equipment for excavation will arrive on site. We hope to have a groundbreaking, I would hope, sometime in May and be right on schedule for a big dig very shortly there after that."
As fans and others in Western New York have awaited the stadium deal to be finalized, the team has done their part to garner excitement for the new facility with a number of stadium renderings released periodically. The latest renderings were released more than a week ago, with the team revealing more details into what fans can expect come game day in 2026.
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As for what more the team is planning to reveal in the coming weeks, Raccuia says they will give and take that information as it becomes available to them.
"The final designs are almost done, those last renderings are really, really close to where we're at. I'm sure there's going to be a couple of tweaks," he said. "Excited to start showing off the Sales and Experience Center at the Walker Center that we're opening up. I think that'll be pretty soon on the horizon to start showing people what that's going to look like, and how they're going to experience it. So yeah, more to come. Nothing that I can think of right off the top of my head."