panoramic photo of the Buffalo Bills stadium.

Photo by Alan Kotok, Attribution (CC BY 2.0)

Buffalo Bills Stadium Project

The purpose of this site is to identify important details about the Buffalo Bills new stadium deal by summarizing publicly available information to assist the general public in understanding the components and ramifications of this very complex transaction.

The University at Buffalo Sports Law Practicum is not representing any party involved.  This information is not legal advice, nor has it been submitted to any of the parties for approval or consent. Rather, it is an objective, academically-driven project with the goal of furthering public information and informed discourse about the new Bills stadium initiative.

The site provides information about the new lease terms, the financial commitments from each of the parties, the community benefits agreement, environmental aspects of the new stadium, a comparison of public sector obligations of the new lease versus the current one, a cost/benefit analysis of the new lease terms, and answers to frequently asked questions, or FAQs.

Extensive research and document production has been conducted by third-year law students involved in the Buffalo Sports and Entertainment Law Society (BSELS). Contributing authors include: Michael Perlo, Joe O’Bryan, Christopher (CJ) Kolber, Grace Ponterio, John Liberti, as well as Faculty Advisor, Nellie Drew, Senior Managing Director of Clinical Legal Education, Elisa Lackey and consultation from Director of Intergovernmental Projects at New York State Department of Labor, Rich Tobe.

The Buffalo Bills have inked a deal for a brand-new state of the art stadium, which will cost $1.4 billion with a public contribution of $850 million. This was set to be the largest publicly funded stadium project prior to the Tennessee Titans announcing that they were following suit and broke ground to build a new stadium worth $2.1 billion, $1.26 billion of which will come in the form of public funding. Although the public contribution seems large on its face, this is the trend that NFL stadiums will begin to see in the near future and the Bills are the ones leading the charge.