Although the negotiations that concluded with an announcement Monday have spanned the last several months, the deal for a new Buffalo Bills stadium has, in some ways, been a decade in the making. Here's a look at key points on the timeline:
2011
The Buffalo Bills, Erie County and New York State engage in ongoing lease negotiations for then-Ralph Wilson Stadium. The venue, which opened in 1973 and was first known as Rich Stadium, was nearing 40 years old and would need extensive renovations, which were a key subject of the discussions. State officials floated the idea of building a new stadium, but Bills founder and owner Ralph Wilson, who was then 93, didn’t want to commit the franchise to a long-term deal. Knowing the team would be sold upon his death, he preferred a shorter lease that was strong enough to keep the Bills from moving, and also deferred decisions on a new stadium to the next owners.
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Dec. 21, 2012
The Buffalo Bills, Erie County and New York State reach a 10-year lease agreement for then-Ralph Wilson Stadium (now Highmark Stadium). The deal includes a $130 million renovation, with the state contributing approximately 41% of the money, and the county paying roughly 32% of the cost. The remaining 27% came from the Bills. The agreement also included a nonrelocation clause with a penalty as high as $400 million, and as low as $28 million, depending on the timing.
March 24, 2014
Ralph Wilson dies at age 95.
Sept. 9, 2014
Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the Buffalo Sabres, reach an agreement to purchase the Bills for $1.4 billion.
August 2016
New Era Cap agrees to purchase naming rights for the Bills stadium. The deal for New Era Field, which sources said was worth an average of $4 million annually, was set to run through the 2022 season, coinciding with the length of the Bills lease.
2019
Hoping to begin negotiations in earnest for a new stadium, the Bills hire the sports consultants CAA ICON and the stadium development firm Populous to conduct a series of studies evaluating the renovation prospects for the team’s current stadium, exploring potential sites for a new venue – including South Park Avenue on the outskirts of downtown, and the University at Buffalo’s North Campus – and envisioning what a future NFL facility would look like in Western New York. Those documents, which were made public by the state two years later, reveal the team’s preference for an outdoor stadium with a partial roof covering.
2020
Negotiations, which were already reportedly quiet, go mum as state and county officials turn their focus to handling the Covid-19 pandemic.
July 2020
New Era, facing financial challenges in the wake of the pandemic-related sports league shutdowns, asks the Bills to release it from the naming rights deal. The Pegulas comply, and the venue becomes temporarily known as Bills Stadium.
March 2021
The health insurer Highmark BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York purchases naming rights to the Bills’ home, which is now known as Highmark Stadium.
Summer 2021
With two seasons remaining on the Bills’ current lease, team officials acknowledge their preference for building a new stadium, at a projected cost of $1.4 billion, across the street from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. To illustrate why they didn’t want to renovate Highmark Stadium, they took Buffalo News journalists on a tour of the complex, providing an up-close look at issues detailed in a county-commissioned engineering report on the aging stadium. Chief among the issues: The upper deck will likely need to be largely rebuilt in five to seven years. Pointing to Highmark’s limited lifespan and current lease’s July 2023 expiration, Bills officials are pushing Gov. Andrew Cuomo to advance negotiations, which they claim have been largely silent. But Cuomo's own time span seems limited: He was under investigation for multiple alleged instances of sexual misconduct.
Aug. 24, 2021
Cuomo resigns office and is replaced by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Western New York native who had already stated her intentions of keeping the Bills in Buffalo. Even before she took office, Hochul made sure to meet with Bills co-owner Kim Pegula.
“I talked to her then because I knew there was a sense this was not being addressed by the administration,” Hochul said, referring to her predecessor Cuomo, “and I did not want them to think that we were not extremely interested in making sure that we got this deal done.”
Fall 2021
The negotiating teams led by Hochul and Poloncarz, Democrats who have a long-standing relationship from their political work in Erie County, begin engaging in more frequent discussions with the Pegulas’ team. Details are unclear, as all sides honor a pact to avoid negotiating publicly, but sources indicate that there is more dialogue than took place under Cuomo. By mid-fall, the parties are meeting weekly, “if not more than that,” said Ron Raccuia, executive vice president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, who represented the owners in negotiations.
Oct. 27, 2021
The NFL owners are briefed at league meetings in New York City on the progress of negotiations. “Everyone’s happy with the collaboration and the effort,” said Raccuia, noting that the framework of an agreement by Dec. 31 – the Bills’ self-instituted deadline – could allow a new stadium to open by 2026 – one year earlier than originally planned.
Hochul, meanwhile, says during a separate press briefing that she plans to have a news stadium in her 2022 state budget.
Nov. 2, 2021
The state released a stadium site study that it commissioned from the engineering firm AECOM. The study’s authors recommended building a new facility versus renovating Highmark, which effectively eliminated that possibility. “It probably does not make sense to do renovations when you are talking about a new stadium that could last more than double the life of a renovation,” said Poloncarz, referring to an excerpt from the study that noted renovations are typically good for 15 to 20 years, while a new venue can last three decades or more.
The study projected the cost of an Orchard Park stadium at $1.354 billion – close to the Bills’ own estimate – and pegged construction and associated costs of a downtown stadium at $2.1 billion or more. The study did not recommend one site over the other.
At one point in November, the principals in the deal – Hochul, the Pegulas and Poloncarz – met with their top aides to identify “what some of the major outstanding issues would be, and what we hoped to accomplish,” she said.
As negotiations picked up through the fall, Hochul kept involved by phone, eventually connecting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell who, like the governor, is a Western New York native.
“I kept reinforcing: It has to be good for the taxpayers of New York,” said Hochul, who is justifying the public expenditure in part by pointing to the taxes generated by the Bills.
Dec. 20, 2021
While developers and other community members opined in the media and in public hearings about stadium location throughout the fall, Hochul settled the question at a news conference in Warsaw, a rural community about 30 miles east of Orchard Park. Asked for an update on negotiations, she said, “We are very intently focused on keeping the Bills here. If Orchard Park is (the Bills’) first choice – their only choice, it's Orchard Park – we’ll make it all happen.”
Dec. 31, 2021
The Bills’ deadline for the framework of an agreement passes without a deal. Asked for an update four days later, Poloncarz said, “There have been significant discussions over the last two weeks. That I will not deny. But we are not imminent to a deal.” Never expansive in his comments about ongoing negotiations, Poloncarz acknowledged, “I will say some progress has been made.”
Jan. 5, 2022
Hochul delivers her State of the State address to the Legislature, a speech that establishes her legislative priorities for the year. The stadium isn’t mentioned, but a spokesperson for the Bills casts ongoing negotiations in an optimistic light. “All parties continue to work together in a warm and constructive manner to get an agreement in place as soon as possible,” said Jim Wilkinson, a PSE spokesperson.
Jan. 7, 2022
During a news conference in Manhattan, Hochul reinforced that the new stadium will be open-air, with no roof. “When there is 18 inches of snow on the ground, a dome always sounds better,” said Hochul, referring to a Buffalo snowstorm that week. “But I do believe that part of the culture of the Buffalo experience is to have the outdoor.”
Jan. 18, 2022
Hochul unveils her first budget, a $216.3 billion plan encompassing health care, education, infrastructure and tax relief, but no Bills stadium – yet.
Jan. 24, 2022
During a meeting with The Buffalo News editorial board, Hochul suggest that a deal is a question of when, not if. “I’m not going to spike the football just yet. But I feel confident that people know this is an important priority of mine.”
March 25, 2022
The NFL's joint finance and stadium committees, which include 16 of the league's 32 teams (but not the Bills), vote to recommend G-4 loan funding for a new Bills stadium. The program will provide up to $200 million in league funding, in addition to at least $200 million put up by the Pegulas. Visiting teams' share of Bills ticket sales will cover $150 million of the loan.
March 28, 2022
The Bills, New York State and Erie County announce an agreement has been reached to build a $1.4 billion stadium in Orchard Park with a 30-year lease Hochul describes as "ironclad." Pending legislative approval, the state will invest $600 million in the construction costs, while the county will contribute $250 million. Private funding from the NFL and Bills will total $550 million, including $200 million from the league's G-4 loan program, which was approved by owners at their annual meeting in Florida.
