New York is spending $850 million for a new Bills stadium.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who was defending her decision to put $850 million in state and local money into the construction of a new Orchard Park stadium to house the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills franchise, dropped an interesting nugget. San Diego, not Austin, Texas might have been very interested in attempting to entice Bills ownership to the Pacific coast California city. The National Basketball Association’s Buffalo Braves franchise ended up in San Diego in 1978. The National Football League’s San Diego Chargers ownership moved the business to Los Angeles in 2017. San Diego does not have an NFL state-of-the-art stadium available which is why the Spanos family moved the team to Los Angeles. Hochul did not reference any other cities. Austin was mentioned as a possible suitor for Bills ownership at the beginning of the stadium negotiations with New York State.
Hochul was doing a radio show with Brian Lehrer on WNYC in New York when she volunteered that San Diego was an option. “I was aware that they (Bills ownership) were being reached out to by other cities that have lost teams before. That is real,” Hochul said. “Buffalo’s a very small market. It’s quite extraordinary that they have a team at all, because there’s a lot more money to be had in larger cities like San Diego and others who would love to have a team.” Oakland, San Diego and St. Louis have lost NFL teams in the last five years. The NFL is getting public money in Buffalo for a new stadium and public money in Maryland to renovate Baltimore’s football facility. Virginia politicians want Daniel Snyder’s franchise despite all of the sexual and workplace harassment charges and allegations of financial improprieties against his Washington Commanders business. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee wants a new Tennessee Titans stadium in Nashville. Money talks.
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