Bills ownership wants a new stadium.
On August 24th, Kathy Hochul will be sworn in as the governor of New York replacing Andrew Cuomo who resigned over allegations of sexual harassment. Cuomo had 16 months left in his term. It is not known whether Hochul will run for the office in the 2022 elections and if she will face Democratic challengers if she decides to run in a primary. What can be said is this. The National Football League and the Buffalo Bills ownership are going to keep a close eye on what is happening in New York. Buffalo Bills ownership wants a new stadium and the Bills lease to use the Orchard Park facility ends in 2023. Cuomo was in the Bills ownership camp in 2012 with a new lease agreement which included renovations and taxpayers handing over a couple of million dollars annually to Bills owners. Cuomo was a driving force in getting the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders a new home at the Belmont Park racetrack site which straddles the New York City-Nassau County border. In 2019, Cuomo helped then New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon buy minor league baseball’s Syracuse franchise by committing state funding to improve the Syracuse ballpark and then getting Wilpon to sign a 25-year lease to use the facility.
Hochul was born in Buffalo and while at Syracuse University led an effort to get the Syracuse University football stadium’s name changed to honor Ernie Davis, the running back who had leukemia and died after being drafted by Washington in 1962. She represented the Buffalo area as a Congresswoman between 2011 and 2015. The NFL and Bills ownership should view her as a possible ally and Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula have donated to her campaigns. She recently said “we expect the Bills will be here a very long time.”
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
