Absolutely agree! I live in Western NY. The Buffalo Bills are getting a new stadium built. It’s projected to cost $1.4 billion. New York State will contribute $600 million in funding with Erie County contributing $250 million, the Bills contributing $350 million, and the National Football League via a G-4 loan $200 million. In addition the Bills signed a 30-year lease, with a buyout option after 15 years. So 850 million from taxpayers, 550 million from the team/ nfl. The team is responsible for any cost over runs. Voters in NY State & Erie County did not get any chance to vote on this stadium. Disgusting.
However, the Bills are also charging season ticket holders a seat licensing fees in order to buy their season tickets. So even more money coming from local taxpayers before they can secure their season tickets. There was no information about how much the fees would be before the stadium deal was approved. Most season ticket holders still don’t know what their cost will be. A local business owner with 4 premium seats was told his licensing fee would be $50K per seat. So $200K on top of the actual ticket cost. He’s just an average middle class small businessman, not a millionaire. He told the news reporter he talked to he will have to give up the tickets after decades of having them.
This is in Orchard Park NY & is an open air stadium, not a dome. So not even usable year round. It’s used for 9- 12 pro football games & 1 weekend of high school playoffs a year. There are maybe 2-3 concerts a year. So somewhere from 16-20 events a year. For 1.4 Billion dollars.
And guess who gets the profits from any event. Yea, the Buffalo Bills. We’re paying for millionaires who work for billionaires to play a game. Such a great benefit to society.
