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The Mckinley Mall is very close to Highmark Stadium and yet all these years, that traffic to Bills games has not helped the struggling mall much if at all. You're right in that the games crowd seemingly drives over just to see the game and then leave without taking much of a look around. Granted the Mckinley Mall didn't offer anything extraordinary that you could not find in any other American suburban mall but that's the point, the owners should have redeveloped it into something else, perhaps a mixed use development with bars and outdoor activities than just leave it as a plain old indoor mall and hope for the best. That could possibly entice people to stick around longer in Orchard Park and Hamburg. Our Gillette Stadium, the home of the NE Patriots, is situated similarly to Highmark Stadium in that it is pretty far from Downtown Boston or Downtown Providence (kind of midway between) and off a major highway but for the past 15 years it also has had a next door mixed use development called Patriot Place complete with restaurants, businesses, and shops to help entertain game patrons and sustain it throughout the year. Highmark Stadium ought to have something like that, not a strip mall or enclosed mall or anything like that but a mixed use type of development. It is not too late to consider something like this.
2 important facts about "Patriot Place". Number one, it was built by the owner on land he purchased. Number two, Gillete Stadium was built and paid for by the Robert Kraft and is accessable by rapid transit. Who would build and pay for something like Patriot Place? Given the retail environment of the area, its likely just a dream. I personally would have gone to a lot more games if there was a rapid transit option. I remember the traffic being backed up to Exit 50 on the Thruway, hours before the game started. If there was a dowtown stadium with bus or Metro accessability, going to a game would be have been an appealing option. A "Bills Place" attached to a new downtown stadium would be a major shot in the arm for the city.
Keep in mind, Boston is at least 5x the size of Buffalo, and including Providence, Hartford, Springfield, etc makes it almost 10x.
In NYC, next to Yankee Stadium there are a bunch of dive bars that I think only open for game day. I think something like that would work in Orchard Park. Create a mini "entertainment district" with 3-4 bars adjacent to the stadium.
^I think it could work as a destination for game days and other events, but as Thundarr mentioned, it would be even better if the stadium was in the city and you build something like this, along with some housing added.
^I think it could work as a destination for game days and other events, but as Thundarr mentioned, it would be even better if the stadium was in the city and you build something like this, along with some housing added.
Blame that on the state and/ or Kathy Hochel, who already gave away probably the largest gambit in the negotiations--location.
Its another missed opportunity. A new stadium downtown with a new convention center would be a game changer, not seen in the area in decades. Looks like the best they can hope for is a newer version of the old one. Really sad. When I lived in Boston I used to walk to Fenway and take in a game. A downtown, easily accessed stadium, would help the city immensely. If they can't get it done with a Western NY governor it will never happen.
^ Yeah, I honestly think that putting the stadium within the city would have made sense and a similar development like a Patriots Place could have served as infill, depending on where the stadium was located.
To be fair, it looks like the Pegulas wanted a new stadium in Orchard Park. So, I'm wondering if that had some influence on keeping the stadium out there versus putting it within the city.
"In fact, it’s one of the largest asks for public money in pro sports stadium negotiations: Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the team’s owners, have pitched a $1.5 billion proposal for a new stadium in Orchard Park and to help cover some renovation costs to the Pegulas' NHL Sabres arena in downtown Buffalo."
The city stadium would cost much more, take longer to build due to required property purchases, would be subject to disruptive lawsuits (due to cost and property purchase issues), would require new major infrastructure relocation and development that also adds time and cost, would displace dozens of businesses and potentially hundreds of residents, would be over a mile from downtown so would not build add-on synergy or ready access to public transportation, would leave a gap of thousands of unfilled parking places and little usage 355 days per year, and also leave a white elephant of the existing stadium, parking lots, and possibly Bills practice facility.
All this "use downtown parking lot" talk is just talk - people aren't going to walk 1 to 1-1/2 miles to the stadium, through the public projects, and public transit doesn't have the capability to transport that many people at once from a single location. And, most season ticket holders aren't city residents, so they will mainly be driving in anyway. People are screaming about parking at the Med Center for the new VA, there is no way they won't be building massive lots if a stadium was in the city.
And this "Pegula wants it in OP" is because he is not stupid or blind to the costs and problems that building a city stadium would result in. Even if he were to demand the city, then the chances it would be built would be much much less than in OP for all of the above reasons.
2 important facts about "Patriot Place". Number one, it was built by the owner on land he purchased. Number two, Gillete Stadium was built and paid for by the Robert Kraft and is accessable by rapid transit.
Gillette Stadium is accessible only by a special commuter rail service run during game days and special event days. I would not call it rapid transit by any means. Gillette is nowhere near the Red or Orange Lines for instance. The NFTA could pipe a gameday only express bus service from Downtown Buffalo to Highmark to supplement local bus route #14 if ridership demand is there.
One only has to look at the city 3.5 hours SW of Buffalo to see the pros/cons of a football stadium in a downtown setting. FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland takes up prime real estate by the lakefront right by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The pros are that it is easily accessible by transit and within walking distance to Downtown Cleveland and nearby hotels. The cons are that as a football stadium, it gets used only a part of the year while sitting vacant the rest but takes up valuable space that could have been used for housing and other permanent uses. There has been constant talk about adding retail but so far no commercial developer has seriously put thought into it because Cleveland, like Buffalo, is glutted with retail and the developers fear they will not get a proper return on investment. Again, this is a downtown setting where real estate investment is a lot riskier than out in the exurbs, it can be total boom or bust and a football stadium has a bigger footprint than a baseball stadium or indoor arena. The inhabitants of Buffalo really need to think hard to see if this is really something they want.
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