ALBANY – The Hochul administration Wednesday evening said it has turned to two Los Angeles-based firms to help it with negotiations over plans by the Buffalo Bills to build a new, $1.4 billion stadium in Orchard Park.
Gov. Kathy Hochul last week told reporters in Buffalo that the state would soon release a state-commissioned study assessing the different options, costs and other financial information about a new stadium. But the Hochul administration declined, until Wednesday evening, to release any information about the study or who won the contract and how much it was costing taxpayers.
As it turns out, the state has two contracts in the process of being executed related to the Bills’ stadium talks, according to Pamm Lent, a spokeswoman for Empire State Development Corp.
• $500,000 with California-based O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, a law firm that boasts its sports sector work going back to the 1950s when it helped advise the then-Brooklyn Dodgers on its move to Los Angeles. The firm will provide legal advice for the state, which is negotiating with the Bills and Erie County over who pays how much for the new stadium. One of the firm’s lawyers is Irwin Raij, a Manhattan attorney who advised former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in talks a decade ago over stadium renovations; Raij last week did not respond to an email seeking comments.
People are also reading…
• About $150,000 to California-based AECOM, a real estate and infrastructure consulting firm that was hired by the Cuomo administration in 2014 to do a study on future prospects for a new Bills stadium.
Read the full story from News Sports Reporter Jason Wolf
Empire State Development’s board approved the law firm deal and, Lent said, did not have to approve the AECOM contract because of its expected price tag.
The economic development entity, a public benefit corporation, is not covered by transparency rules that would make more information about the contracts available through the state comptroller’s office.
Hochul last week said she expects her administration to publicly release the AECOM report in about two months.
In a briefing document for Empire State Development’s board meeting last week, officials said Raij is “uniquely qualified” for the contract signed with his law firm because of his experience representing the state in talks with the Bills’ stadium renovation and lease extension negotiations a decade ago. They wrote he will provide “targeted specific advice” to the state during the talks, noting his range of experience on pro sports matters. The document said Raij also is an owner of a minor league baseball team in Oklahoma City and a Major League Soccer club in Los Angeles.
The agency declared it was exempt from usual bidding rules for the contract given the law firm's unique experience in stadium negotiation matters and Raij's past work with the state involving the Bills. The contract is for one year for a maximum of $500,000, with the option to renew, and top lawyers will bill the state at a “blended rate” of $775 per hour.
