BY ANDREW KRUSZKA, STAFF WRITER
Let me start off by saying that I am a huge Buffalo Bills fan. I can not count on my fingers and toes the number of times that I’ve cried and screamed because of my love for this team, and I’m only in the early stages of my career being a fan. I know the folks that lived through the four Super Bowls are rolling their eyes right now because I complain about “13” seconds, but just know that I have so much joy for this team before you read the rest of this article.
The Buffalo Bills and New York State have just reached a milestone deal where a new stadium will be built by 2026. The stadium will cost a whopping $1.4 billion!
You read that number correctly, $1.4 billion. This was all fine and dandy to me. I’ve been to “The Ralph” multiple times in the past few years and understand that the stadium is quite run down and needs more upgrades than it can handle at this moment. That being said, the new stadium talks have flooded the city of Buffalo for many years now.
You may be asking yourselves, what’s the issue with this new stadium? My issue: taxpayers in New York State will have to pay $850 million of the $1.4 billion for the stadium. This means that the New York tax dollar will pay for over half of the cost of the stadium!
Again, if you’re someone who is okay with this, you’re allowed to have your own opinion, but my problem with this is, where could this money have gone to actually help people? As a huge sports and Buffalo Bills fan, I love that they’re getting a new stadium, but at this cost, why can’t an owner that makes well over many billions of dollars, fork over some more money? He’s the one that is certainly banking off the Bills playing exceptionally well in the previous years.
The agreement states that the Bills will have to stay in Buffalo for at least the next 30 years, which again makes me happy. Why does the taxpayer’s dime have to cover so much of the cost?
We sit here nowadays and complain about the education system, the roads, the lack of funding here, and the lack of funding there. Yet, we’re going to have the taxpayers’ money pay $850 million for the new stadium? This is atrocious, and I hope we remember this come time for election season.
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York is upsetting a lot of Western New Yorkers, an area where she is from. Let’s be honest, Hochul has not had strong backing in her hometown area since taking over in August 2021, but this might just push it over the edge. I, for one, can not agree with this amount of money from the taxpayers being put into this stadium. Our society and culture continue to be materialistic instead of taking care of the actual problems.
Governor Hochul, I call for you to go back on your word and force executives and people making millions of dollars more than the average New Yorker to pay for this stadium. You’re just as corrupt as the next politician if you continue to not serve the people of your state.
