The Bills' 10-year lease for New Era Field with New York and Erie County is due to expire in '23bills
The NFL "no longer seems to be pushing for a new stadium" for the Bills, as Commissioner Roger Goodell said that a significant renovation of New Era Field would satisfy the league's desires, according to a front-page piece by Vic Carucci of the BUFFALO NEWS. Bills co-Owners Terry and Kim Pegula yesterday said that a market research study they had commissioned from Denver-based CAA ICON last year has "been completed." The intent of the survey was to "examine 'potential stadium sites, designs, and financial planning for all options.'" Kim Pegula said that more than 30,000 people "were surveyed," but the findings were "never meant to be made public." Carucci noted Goodell last June "voiced strong support for the need for a new home" for the Bills, and that was "consistent with what he and league owners had been saying in recent years." The team's 10-year lease for New Era Field with N.Y. and Erie County is "due to expire" in '23. Goodell "didn't offer a specific timetable on when any decision of the direction the team and public entities would go with a stadium would be finalized." But he did make it clear that he was "expecting a solution in the not-too-distant future" (BUFFALO NEWS, 1/29). In Rochester, Nick Wojton writes Goodell's comments yesterday "sound like a minor win of sorts for those in favor of keeping the Bills in Orchard Park instead of building a new stadium completely -- perhaps one in downtown Buffalo, for example" (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 1/30).
