If you’ve been to a Buffalo Bills game this season, it’s impossible not to notice the construction of their future home looming over Highmark Stadium. 

Still on track to open at the start of the 2026 season, renderings of what the new 62,000 seat Bills Stadium will look like has some fans excited, but admittingly, the building comes with its fair share of controversy.

The new Bills Stadium is estimated to cost $1.7 billion to build, with a whopping $850 million of that coming from New York State and Erie County taxpayers. As part of the agreement, the Buffalo Bills signed a 30-year lease of the stadium, with a buyout option after 15 years. 

Many New York State and Western New York residents feel as though they’re getting the short end of the stick on this deal, and consider it a huge waste of money. But when Governor Hochul, who led the New York State negotiations for the new stadium, spoke with Dan Primack of Axios, she defended the deal by dropping a bombshell. 

The Buffalo Bills Had Offers To Leave Buffalo

Speaking at Axios’ BFD NYC Summit earlier this week, Governor Hochul justified the massive amount of money that taxpayers will pay for the "New Highmark Stadium", and revealed that other markets attempted to entice the team to move out of Western New York.


“It wasn’t just, wake up one day and (say) ‘let’s build a new stadium.’ (The Bills) had a lease that expired. Other states were looking to recruit them. I know this for a fact. It’s a small market…there’s states and cities that were luring them. I had to close the deal, because this is part of the identity of most of Upstate New York.”

She continued her defense by saying that New York State will get a return on the investment at least seventeen years after its completion, perhaps sooner, and the millions of dollars in public funding will be paid back in full just from the income tax of the players’ salaries. 

When Primack pointed out that it will likely be the Pegulas and other minority owners that will see the profits from the new stadium, not New Yorkers, Hochul doubled down. 

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“I’ve made sure they are a Buffalo Bills team, not one of five other cities I was in competition with.”

You can watch the Governor’s conversation with Axios about the Buffalo Bills' stadium deal below; around the 7:20 mark. 

One Sentence That Will Immediately Enrage Buffalo Bills Fans [LIST]

Whether it's past woes or fears about the future, here's a disclaimer: If you’re a Buffalo Bills fan and feeling slightly annoyed today, you’re about to fly off the handle thanks to these single sentences.

Gallery Credit: Megan Carter

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