Buffalo Bills will receive $850m from New York taxpayers to build new stadium

State and county taxpayers will be asked to commit $850m in public funds toward construction of the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium which has a state-projected price tag of $1.4bn as part of a 30-year lease agreement reached on Monday.

New York state will commit $600m in funds, which will be in included in the budget due on Friday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced in a press release. Erie county will commit $250m toward the project, with the NFL and the Buffalo Bills committing $550m in financing.

The dollar amount is considered to be the largest public commitment for an NFL facility. The deal is meant to secure the NFL team’s long-term future in Buffalo, with the proposed 60,000-plus-seat facility to be built across the street from the Bills’ current stadium.

Although the taxpayer burden of 60% is considered high, the agreed upon funding falls in line historically. The state and county have shared about 73% of the cost to build, maintain and upgrade the Bills’ existing facility, now called Highmark Stadium, which opened in 1973. Under the proposed agreement, the Bills will be responsible for covering any costs that run over the budget.

“I wanted to accomplish two major goals: Keep the Bills in western New York, keep them in the state of New York because this is not just a western New York point of pride, it’s a point of pride for all New Yorkers,” Hochul, a Buffalo native herself, said during a press conference. The second goal, she said, was “making sure that it made sense for our taxpayers in terms of our commitment and our return on the investment, which will be paid off in the next 22 years.”

Without going into detail, Hochul said the project will create 10,000 union jobs with the commitment recouped by the economic