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Buffalo Bills moving to Austin?


TexasMan

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Good Lord some of you need a geography lesson. Dallas is 30 miles from Fort Worth. Austin is 80 miles from San Antonio. And the amount of people that live between each city is not that comparable. Arlington, Irving, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Euless etc. are all much more developed than Buda/Kyle/SanMo/NB.

Plus, you know, it's the Cowboys. The biggest sports brand in the world. 

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I once attended a Temple game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philly.  Although their crowds are pretty weak and it was a 2:30 kickoff, I noticed several RVs with Eagles graphics in the parking lot that showed up for tailgating before the Temple game, presumably to tailgate through the weekend.  Imagine doing that at DKR, except it would be the other way around, with the hungover post-UT game crowd partying into Sunday morning and then hitting the NFL game.

Also, we need to import representatives of the Bills Mafia for the purpose of making sure the tailgate game is lit for the new team.

Edited by J.R. Juniors Junior Jr.
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5 hours ago, ztejas said:

Good Lord some of you need a geography lesson. Dallas is 30 miles from Fort Worth. Austin is 80 miles from San Antonio. And the amount of people that live between each city is not that comparable. Arlington, Irving, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Euless etc. are all much more developed than Buda/Kyle/SanMo/NB.

Plus, you know, it's the Cowboys. The biggest sports brand in the world. 

This is a pretty big deal if you're talking about an MLB team drawing from some location in San Marcos on a Tuesday night...it's a pretty insignificant difference for 8 home games.

Splitting the cities isn't a good idea either way, but with an NFL team it's at least logistically feasible.

 

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1 hour ago, VolenteHawk said:

This is a pretty big deal if you're talking about an MLB team drawing from some location in San Marcos on a Tuesday night...it's a pretty insignificant difference for 8 home games.

Splitting the cities isn't a good idea either way, but with an NFL team it's at least logistically feasible.

 

Yep, something like 40% of fans in DKR drive more than an hour to come and see a game each week.

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13 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

San Antonio could easily support a MLB team better than several current franchises.   The Rays and the A’s draw next to nothing for attendance even when they’re really good and they play in shit stadiums.  

Austin is probably a better pro sports market than SA now, though.  They both have enough population, and Austin has more money.   The main counter argument I see is Austin having more people who won’t care about pro sports (like in California) while San Antonio would have a rabid fan base.  But ultimately tech money and corporate sponsorships would probably win out.

The Bills really should move somewhere, whether it’s Texas or not. Buffalo is dead even compared to other rust belt industrial cities.  It makes Cleveland look like Los Angeles.  

 

This.

In regards to your point about Buffalo being dead, wouldn't the smart move just be to move Buffalo to Toronto?

 I mean, doesn't Buffalo's TV market already cover Toronto? 

They already play a game or 2 there a season and its only 100 miles away.

Canada gets an NFL franchise.

That seems to be a no brainer IMO.

 

Edit: 

Realized that Buffalo doesn't play in Toronto every year. They did for like 6 seasons in the late 2000's early 2010's.

Oh well.

Still think they could hold onto Buffalo's media market and add a lot of value to the franchise if they move to Toronto.

Edited by Dnaguy
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Regardless if this happens or not, I fully expect Austin will now be one of the markets that gets mentioned for expansion and/or relocation.

Given it's market size, growth, and disposable income it is an attractive target.  Also, I believe Austin FC getting a deal done, and the support they've received has opened some eyes.

Also, Texas has 30 million people and 4 separate "major league" markets now.  Any argument stating the state can't support another NFL team just doesn't make sense.

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That ship has sailed.  Not saying this is going to happen for reasons already stated above, but Austin has passed San Antonio as the most popular city for expansion/relocation in this state.  More corporate money in the Capital

San Antonio needs an NFL team more than Austin. And would be rabid and is an emerging city in its own right.
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So the City of Buffalo doesn't want to fully fund a new stadium? Yea, neither will the City of Austin, but perhaps they can get a neighboring city or county to do it. San Antonio makes a lot more sense to me than Austin for the NFL, but the Alamodome is surely too old for any owner to want.

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Austin finally made it on the list of leverage cities that teams use to get new deals with their current home town. Seattle (basketball), Portland (baseball), Las Vegas (baseball or basketball) and Austin (any sport but soccer). Congrats everyone!

Edited by Jasper_Jester
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22 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

Let’s get the usual troupes out of the way:

a - Austin isn’t big enough
b - not enough corporate sponsors
c - Cowboys will block it
d - Longhorns will block it
e - city council will block it
f - no good Stadium location

a) laughable - Green Bay, Buffalo, Pttsburgh, ..... all think this statement is that of a demented mad man
b) TESLA/Boring Co/Space X - they will sponsor, build tunnels to get into the parking lot/ramp, etc
c) Jerrah can be bought off
d) whole different dymanic - Saturday games with bands, Bevo & chearleaders vs Sunday games with broadcast contracts
e) even more laughable - because it brings commerce, bribes and such
f) don't think in Austin, thing regionally - Round Rock/Georgetown, Elgin, WImberley, etc - ruin a smaller community with a big stadium and infrastructure
g) the College Bowl game potential - I'm in for the 2028 Inaugural YETI bowl, brought to you by Franklin BBQ (Derka to be the bowl commissioner)
h) fuck yeah - more football (but wouldn't you really rather have the Lions....I mean they've never lost a Super Bowl, let alone 4 in a row)

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The bills are asking the public of Buffalo to build them a 1.5 billion dollar stadium. 
 

Im just trying to imagine the bills coming here and asking the city of Austin, Travis country, or even Williamson or hays or who the fuck ever around here to convince their voters to pay 1.5 billion to build them a stadium and the idea is so fucking absurd that to even think it is simply madness. 
 

So unless Elon musk decides to pay for the stadium himself it ain’t happening. I guess that’s possible. 

Edited by JimmyJames
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4 hours ago, Somnio said:

Regardless if this happens or not, I fully expect Austin will now be one of the markets that gets mentioned for expansion and/or relocation.

Given it's market size, growth, and disposable income it is an attractive target.  Also, I believe Austin FC getting a deal done, and the support they've received has opened some eyes.

Also, Texas has 30 million people and 4 separate "major league" markets now.  Any argument stating the state can't support another NFL team just doesn't make sense.

If Florida and NY can, certainly Texas can support 3.

Still think it's in both Austin and San Antonio's interest to convivence the wizards who put together the economics of where pro franchises land to treat the market as one.   

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1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

The bills are asking the public of Buffalo to build them a 1.5 billion dollar stadium. 
 

Im just trying to imagine the bills coming here and asking the city of Austin, Travis country, or even Williamson or hays or who the fuck ever around here to convince their voters to pay 1.5 billion to build them a stadium and the idea is so fucking absurd that to even think it is simply madness. 
 

So unless Elon musk decides to pay for the stadium himself it ain’t happening. I guess that’s possible. 

Not in today's economic environment where taxpayers in large part of the Austin metro area (and Texas for that matter)  will or have seen their property tax bill go up substantially thanks in part to property appraisals going sky high due to the real estate market. A lot of folks are going to have a back door tax increase thanks to this come October when property tax bill are mailed out. Then the chit really hits the fan later if they have their tax bills escrowed and the lower payment due to refi inches up quite a bit thanks for the tax bite taken out of the escrow.   It would be a lost cause in this environment to ask taxpayers to flip the cost on any type of luxury via a bond election.  I'm not sure bonds for stuff we really need like infrastructure could pass. 

Edited by Nueces River Rat
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2 hours ago, JimmyJames said:

The bills are asking the public of Buffalo to build them a 1.5 billion dollar stadium. 
 

Im just trying to imagine the bills coming here and asking the city of Austin, Travis country, or even Williamson or hays or who the fuck ever around here to convince their voters to pay 1.5 billion to build them a stadium and the idea is so fucking absurd that to even think it is simply madness. 
 

So unless Elon musk decides to pay for the stadium himself it ain’t happening. I guess that’s possible. 

Buffalo wouldn't piss on the Pegulas if they were on fire.

 

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On 8/1/2021 at 2:59 PM, JimmyJames said:

They’re maybe stupid enough to pay for it but they don’t have the money to do so. Up until recently their courthouse was an old HEB. 

WTF are you talking about?  

This has been the Hays County courthouse for over 100 years:

1024px-Hays_courthouse.jpg

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List of things I've seen done in/around Austin the last 20 years everyone said would never happen...

Built a pretty massive skyline including 4 new tallest, with the 5th under construction.  Tallest building in Texas proposed, with a very legit chance to be built.

100+ miles of toll roads built.  Billions of dollars approved to finally rebuild I-35 including tunneling through the central sections.

7 billion dollar light rail approved and funded, including downtown subway.

Cota, F1, MotoGP

Q2 Stadium, Austin FC

The population growth would continue to accelerate to the point that the metro now averages 50,000 or more new people every year.

I'm sure I've forgotten a bunch of other stuff, but I think my point is clear.  Anyone doubting Austin is stuck in the past.  This is a major city now, and there's not much at this point that could happen that should surprise anyone.

The next decade is going to put to bed any lingering doubts that lil ole Austin ain't just a big college town anymore.

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19 minutes ago, Somnio said:

List of things I've seen done in/around Austin the last 20 years everyone said would never happen...

Built a pretty massive skyline including 4 new tallest, with the 5th under construction.  Tallest building in Texas proposed, with a very legit chance to be built.

100+ miles of toll roads built.  Billions of dollars approved to finally rebuild I-35 including tunneling through the central sections.

7 billion dollar light rail approved and funded, including downtown subway.

Cota, F1, MotoGP

Q2 Stadium, Austin FC

The population growth would continue to accelerate to the point that the metro now averages 50,000 or more new people every year.

I'm sure I've forgotten a bunch of other stuff, but I think my point is clear.  Anyone doubting Austin is stuck in the past.  This is a major city now, and there's not much at this point that could happen that should surprise anyone.

The next decade is going to put to bed any lingering doubts that lil ole Austin ain't just a big college town anymore.

The NFL won't add another team in Texas as long as Jerry Jones and his heirs own the Dallas Cowboys. 

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Well my deep and intricate knowledge of the NFL and City of Buffalo forces me to chime in on this thread.  I know nothing about either of those things as per usual. 

One statement and one question, though.  

The city of San Antonio, the city of Austin, and the counties of Hays and Comal have discussed before (not related to the Bills) the idea of a kind of joint-MSA taxation district.  It would be levied on hotels, rental cars, and other tourist-based line items.  However, it would be very minimal, much less than the hotel taxes currently levied in those four jurisdictions.  But it would make up for it in volume, from Austin to Kyle to Buda to San Marco to New Braunfels to the Riverwalk.  It could be used to finance large assets and infrastructure projects along the corridor.  One of which, could presumably be an NFL stadium.  The Alamodome is not going to lure anything but an auto show.  The University of Texas is not going to sign over any portion of DKR unless it's a ridiculously greedy lease where they keep 51% of concessions and sponsorships and parking and no NFL ownership group is gonna agree to that.  So that leaves a new stadium built by taxes/fees collected from the tourism industry with corresponding debt underwritten by that cash flow + ownership group promissary.  As stated upthread, not hard at all to fill up a stadium between the two big cities on only 8 Sundays a year.  Longhorns don't give shit one about it.  The Longhorn Foundation wouldn't suffer at all.  Actual asses in seats might take a bit of a ding on 1 or 2 weekends a year when the two teams actually overlap schedules.  Say UT is hosting Mississippi State on Saturday and the San Austin Bills are playing the Pats.  DKR attendance might dwindle a bit for folks that want to see the NFL game instead.  Doesn't effect most sponsorships.  The tax/development/recruiting of students relationship that most companies have with UT Athletics are completely difference than the NFL.  Ownership group could probably have some arrangement just like they used to when a lot of NFL stadiums were also used by MLB in September.......with UT's schedule coming out years in advance, only 1 overlapping weekend, 2 at the most and can be assuaged with a Thursday/Monday game if need be.  Something like that.  UT really won't give a shit about this in the long run.  

I guess the real concern would be the ownership group of the Cowboys and Texans.  But my question is what is there real concern?  I guess a third "Texas Team" for TV kinda fucks shit up?  I don't watch any NFL but I'm guessing the Cowboys and Texans alternate 12 & 3pm time slots each week?  But does anybody actually watch both games?  I mean, I guess some ticket sales would fall off a bit.  But how many of y'all from Austin/San Antonio actually drive to those cities to see the games in person?  Maybe 1,000?  Is that really gonna hit their pocketbooks that hard?  Are they worried about merchandise?  I'm guessing San Antonio folks spend some coin on Cowboys schwag, but here in Austin---I barely see Cowboys attire or gear anywhere.  I'm guessing the primary worry is TV contracts.  But Florida deals with it.  California deals with it.  New York deals with it.  What's their hangup?  

FWIW---10% chance this happens.  We're just an obvious leverage tool right now.  But this may be the thing that gets us to the thing.  I don't want an NFL team anywhere near Austin.  We will get a relocated MLB franchise before 2035 though. 

Edited by Lobo
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6 hours ago, Jasper_Jester said:

Austin finally made it on the list of leverage cities that teams use to get new deals with their current home town. Seattle (basketball), Portland (baseball), Las Vegas (baseball or basketball) and Austin (any sport but soccer). Congrats everyone!

Vegas may get the A's soon.  Don't forget Charlotte, Nashville and Louisville as well!!

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18 hours ago, David Dennison said:

The NFL won't add another team in Texas as long as Jerry Jones and his heirs own the Dallas Cowboys. 

Which basically means forever. South and west Texas already have rabid cowboys fans from El Paso to Harlingen to San Antonio and Austin. There’s zero reason for the NFL to allow another team in Texas and sharing a team between Austin and San Antonio is just dumb. 

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Which basically means forever. South and west Texas already have rabid cowboys fans from El Paso to Harlingen to San Antonio and Austin. There’s zero reason for the NFL to allow another team in Texas and sharing a team between Austin and San Antonio is just dumb. 
Yeah I don't see this happening. I get that there are people here but allegiances to the cowboys and Texans, cowboys especially, run deep and wide. How many of us with those prior loyalties would support an ostent team? I know I wouldn't. This isn't an Austin FC situation where nobody has a team already.
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On 8/2/2021 at 10:31 AM, Orange&White said:

Given the increases in property values, the passage of every bond vote presented to the public, all of the money spent on homelessness and now the new light rail plan, I would say that the "Austin Bills" is very apropos

 

Not to mention it's the capital of Texas with the capitol.... which seats the leg that writes bills!

 

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OIP.LvhVn_ooWPTR5jZKUxipeAHaI6?w=136&h=1

 

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On 8/2/2021 at 9:10 AM, Somnio said:

Regardless if this happens or not, I fully expect Austin will now be one of the markets that gets mentioned for expansion and/or relocation.

Given it's market size, growth, and disposable income it is an attractive target.  Also, I believe Austin FC getting a deal done, and the support they've received has opened some eyes.

Also, Texas has 30 million people and 4 separate "major league" markets now.  Any argument stating the state can't support another NFL team just doesn't make sense.

A MLS team is nothing compared to the other major sports. Austin will never have an NFL, MLB or NBA team. These talks usually end up nowhere. San Antonio was forever in these talks when a team threatened to leave. Never got close to happening. And never will. Austin will be the same. They can be mentioned all day long. Doesn't mean it has any chance of coming to fruition. 

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11 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

A MLS team is nothing compared to the other major sports. Austin will never have an NFL, MLB or NBA team. These talks usually end up nowhere. San Antonio was forever in these talks when a team threatened to leave. Never got close to happening. And never will. Austin will be the same. They can be mentioned all day long. Doesn't mean it has any chance of coming to fruition. 

I think you’re completely right except for MLB in Austin, not San Antonio. MLB is at least possible in Austin.

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On 8/2/2021 at 1:04 PM, JimmyJames said:

So unless Elon musk decides to pay for the stadium himself it ain’t happening. I guess that’s possible. 

I googled Elon + sports but it doesn't sound like he's a huge sports guy.

But as rich as he is, your thinking isn't too far outside of the box.  


I'd still rather have a super high speed tunnel from here to the Cowboys stadium.

But if Elon helps bring us an NFL team, I couldn't complain.

 

 

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On 8/1/2021 at 11:57 PM, HornsOverIthaca said:

Use the Burger Center property and have Bowie Akins & Crockett play their home games there.  It'd be BOSS.  Keep the same pressbox and bathrooms though.

Fuck that. Put the Bills at House Park, make zero infrastructure improvements and watch the entire Centex region grind to a traffic apocalypse 8 Sundays a year.  It would be be the most Austin thing ever, right down to people bitching about how the old House Park was better (it was) and Aaron Franklin can go back to a bbq trailer on game  days, with Collinsworth doing some hacky “eat local” bit.  All you Surl asshats in West Austin can jump on folding tables pregame. 

Let’s fucking do this. 

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  • 7 months later...

30-year deal

 

Full article

Spoiler

Buffalo Bills Strike Deal for Taxpayer-Funded $1.4 Billion Stadium
The agreement calls for $850 million in New York State and local funding, the largest taxpayer contribution ever for a National Football League facility.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York State officials have reached a deal with the Buffalo Bills to help the team build a $1.4 billion stadium adjacent to its current home using $850 million in public funds, the largest taxpayer contribution ever for a pro football facility.

Under the deal, the state would finance $600 million of the construction costs, while Erie County, where the stadium will be built, would cover $250 million. The remainder would be financed through a $200 million loan from the N.F.L. that was approved on Monday, plus $350 million from the team owners.

The public dollars, which still need to be approved by lawmakers, would cover about 60 percent of the projected construction costs, a percentage that is slightly lower than in recent stadium deals in similarly small markets in the N.F.L. But the overall subsidy is the largest since Clark County in Nevada issued $750 million in bonds to help pay for the construction of a new arena before the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020.

The announcement came after months of secretive back-room negotiations among Gov. Kathy Hochul, county officials and the team owners, who indicated last year that they would not renew the lease of the current arena, Highmark Stadium, which is nearly 50 years old, one of the oldest professional football stadiums in the country.

The team pursued public funding for a new stadium instead, with state officials agreeing that building a new arena made more financial sense than undertaking renovations that could have been almost as expensive.

Striking a deal to ensure that the Bills remained in Western New York was a top priority for Ms. Hochul, a Buffalo native and avid Bills fan who took office in August and is running for a full term as governor this year.

In a statement on Monday, Ms. Hochul said officials had secured a 30-year commitment from the team to play in the new stadium, which she said would create 10,000 union construction jobs. The state would own the stadium and lease it to the Bills.

“I went into these negotiations trying to answer three questions,” Ms. Hochul said. “How long can we keep the Bills in Buffalo, how can we make sure this project benefits the hard-working men and women of Western New York and how can we get the best deal for taxpayers?”

Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for the governor, said that the state portion would be funded through “a mix of new and existing capital appropriations” that Ms. Hochul would ask lawmakers for in this year’s budget.

Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, unveiled the agreement just four days before the state budget is due in Albany, giving state lawmakers a relatively small window to scrutinize the details of the state portion of the financing that they must ultimately decide whether to approve.

The subsidy is bound to make the already fraught state budget negotiations even more contentious, with some left-wing Democrats from the downstate region already decrying the public funding as corporate welfare.

Indeed, the negotiations over a new stadium rekindled a bitter debate about whether government should be in the business of subsidizing arenas for professional sports teams; economic research has found that sports stadiums have rarely had a substantial impact, if any, on overall economic growth.

Public assistance, in the form of tax breaks and free land, has been used to finance the construction of arenas for New York sports teams, but many of the teams, from the Yankees to the Mets, have financed most of the costs themselves. The Giants and the Jets, which play in New Jersey, paid for nearly all of their stadium, which opened in 2010.

The negotiations also sparked skepticism about whether the Bills would have ultimately abandoned New York without a large government subsidy, though the owners never publicly threatened to uproot the team.

The Bills are owned by Pegula Sports and Entertainment, a company helmed by Terry and Kim Pegula, a wealthy couple based in Western New York; Mr. Pegula, who made his fortune through fracking, has a net worth of $5.8 billion, according to Forbes.

The new open-air stadium, which would be built across the street from the Bills’ current home in Orchard Park, a Buffalo suburb, would hold just over 60,000 fans, about 10,000 fewer than the current venue. But it would have a larger footprint overall and include about 60 box suites, a more lucrative source of revenue for teams.

A partial roof would cover about 80 percent of all seats, an attempt to protect fans from the region’s frigid wind and snowfalls during winter games. The new stadium could open as early as 2026 if construction begins within a year, according to team officials.

The N.F.L., which supported the idea of a new stadium, approved the $200 million loan for the construction during a spring meeting in Florida on Monday morning, shortly before Ms. Hochul’s announcement.

Local legislators in Erie County must also approve the county’s part of the financing.

 

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Very forward thinking of the State of New York.  "Taxpayer funding of venues not popular nor progressive?"  Fuck that, let's build the biggest one evah! 

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1 minute ago, Lobo said:

Very forward thinking of the State of New York.  "Taxpayer funding of venues not popular nor progressive?"  Fuck that, let's build the biggest one evah! 

It might be cheaper than cleaning up the ensuing riot if that team ever left.

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So between now and 2026, I wonder how much the value of the Buffalo Bills will increase. 

franchise-value-of-the-buffalo-bills-sin

I'm just happiest for Terry Pegula, that he can now enjoy that windfall without tapping into his own meager $5+ billion net worth. 

Edit- and I get that he might be able to get more public money from some other location. It just cracks me up how these guys consistently get states to pay for their shit. Lot of leverage comes with those 32 franchises. 

Edited by Blotto
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17 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

NFL owners chipping a measly $200M, LOL. Owners should have to borrow from the league and just pay it back.

When fellow owners don't want to invest in the cash cow that should tell public officials how much the corpse is rotted.

Billionaires spend other people’s money on capital projects…

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2 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

NFL owners chipping a measly $200M, LOL. Owners should have to borrow from the league and just pay it back.

When fellow owners don't want to invest in the cash cow that should tell public officials how much the corpse is rotted.

Bills owners putting up $350M and borrowing an additional $200M from the league. 

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So....who's next to publicly fund a new NFL stadium? I see 5 stadiums are from the 80s or earlier (excluding Buffalo now that they have this) - Chicago, Green Bay, Arrowhead, New Orleans, and Miami.

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