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Today's Poll: Would Batavia be a good place to build a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills?

By Howard B. Owens
tom hunt

Genesee County with all the open land would be ideal for a new Bills Stadium. Unfortunately politics will prevail and it will be located some where in Erie County.

May 12, 2014, 8:07am Permalink
Tim Miller

As good as any non-downtown Buffalo location...

It'd be great if it could be downtown, assuming logistics for parking that many cars and the population supports it. The Panthers and Jaguars built their stadiums in their downtowns, and they are great to visit.

If downtown is not feasible, Batavia would be great to try to pull folks from Rochester and Syracuse and points south. Better than Orchard Park where road capacity could be better.

Of course, that never stopped me from going to games. ;-)

May 12, 2014, 8:56am Permalink
scott williams

Batavia would be a great accessible location for this stadium. Imagine the jobs it would generate Genesee County should be giving up their souls to try and secure it, imagine the tax money if the county doubled in size 8 weekends a year!!

I for one am all for it though I rather it be the Cowboys stadium.

May 12, 2014, 10:31am Permalink
Sarah Christopher

We live just south of the Thruway...what will this do to the traffic and our peaceful surroundings? Will they destroy the nearby wooded area to build more hotels, restaurants, etc? What will this do to our property value? There are a lot of what if's!

May 12, 2014, 12:57pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

Sarah the sensible thing would be to build it NORTH of the thruway. Much more farmland and open space to buy and make to accomodate it. However Batavia is gonna have to step up, in things like shuttlebuses and other transportation to the Hotels. Could be a good opportunity to expand the Hotels in that little complex north of the city. I see alot more positive effects than negative. And the forseeable negatives not much more than nuisance.

But as others have pointed out before I'm sure the negative people will have much much more to complain about with this idea, therefore kill it before it even is considered seriously.

May 12, 2014, 1:35pm Permalink
Scott Ogle

I think if they planted the stadium here, within twenty years we'll be swallowed by the Buffalo-Rochester metroplex. If people find that desirable, well and good, but opposing such development isn't necessarily being negative. It's being small-town positive on the virtues of what we have, and what we could easily lose.

May 12, 2014, 1:47pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

Very doubtful there Scott, we are too far out from both for that to happen. Even NYC doesnt have a metroplex that far ranging and they have alot more reasons to do so...

May 12, 2014, 1:55pm Permalink
Sarah Christopher

I live very close to the hotels near the Thruway...in fact, I can see the Days Inn from my yard...I am concerned about additional hotels popping up and the trees coming down. We currently have one of the most peaceful little neighborhoods bordered by 40 acres of woods...I love it...I don't want our houses to be surrounded by hotels...I am sure no one will want that, so it will be impossible to sell our house. If this goes through, I guess we will be putting the house up for sale asap. :(

May 12, 2014, 2:13pm Permalink
tim raines

Rich stadium should have been a dome and built in downtown Buffalo .There wasn't any vision of tourism, conventions, etc when it was built. They only thought of it as a football stadium. Indy was put on the map when they built their first downtown dome stadium. Most other cities have followed and their stadiums are used for many activities year round.

It seems most posters think of a new stadium as football only too.

The only asset Genesee county has is land.

Does Genesee county have $500 million as their share of the costs?

Maybe they can start saving for the next 5 years.

May 12, 2014, 3:02pm Permalink
david spaulding

a better place would be Niagara Falls........ Batavia is fine the way it is, a stadium with all the traffic and crime that goes with it would make Batavia unattractive.

May 12, 2014, 4:57pm Permalink
Tim Howe

Well lets see, how would we define Batavia?

Batavia = A community comprised of nothing more than pizza places and restaurants.

The PERFECT community to come to before and/or after the game. Right now "The Ralph" is out in the middle of nowhere, no real place for the fans to celebrate before and/or after the game (Well lets stick with before, at least with before there is still hope, and I say that as a die hard fan too...LOL) Plus the No Fun League is trying to crack down on "Tailgating" too so one of the MANY Batavia restaurants is the PERFECT answer to that.

Think of the incredible boost to our local economy. Lets keep Batavia growing, we are already getting GREAT stores like Dicks Sporting Goods here which I never thought in a million years little ol Batavia would have. Lets keep that going.

The only hurdle I see is that ancient, aging joke of a city council that is still living in the 1930's so afraid of REAL growth that probably don't even know who the Buffalo Bills are :(

May 12, 2014, 5:00pm Permalink
Bea McManis

Batavia could be a thriving bustling community with a revitalized main street. In order to have that one dream come true we have to agree on a plan. My vision? First make Batavia the transportation hub for western new york and put that hub back where it was years ago, downtown. It would service passenger trains and bus travel. It should have a good sit down restaurant, a coffee shop, newstand and shops. It would be a memorable stop for passengers and a place for locals too. THEN, a stadium. If done right, with a thruway exit dedicated to the stadium and shuttles running from the transportation hub to and from the stadium, we would have a winner. Yes, the area would build up around it and homes would be purchased by speculators at a higher rate than normal. I see crime rates reduced, not increasing. Syracuse is the hub for central ny and albany has onetoo. The newest hub, in Denver just opened. http://www.denverunionstation.org/ it could happen here.

May 12, 2014, 6:06pm Permalink
Bob Harker

Tom nailed in the first post. No matter the positives and negatives the powers that be in Erie county will never allow it to built in Genesee county, and their "pull" trumps ours twenty fold.

May 12, 2014, 6:13pm Permalink
Joshua Pacino

While it would be a nice boost to the economy, I think the Buffalo Bills should be in .... Buffalo. I realize that with the "New York" Jets and "New York" Giants both being located in New Jersey that may seem like an odd idea to some folks in the NFL.

May 12, 2014, 6:41pm Permalink
RICHARD L. HALE

Much ta-doo about nothing.....the Bills will be in Erie County for sure.

The cost to Genesee County would be a little much.....especially for a historically .500 (and that's a little generous) football team.

Count me as a "no".

May 12, 2014, 11:44pm Permalink
Peter O'Brien

I am only for it if the Muckdogs are saved in the process and allowed to play at the stadium free of charge.

But it will not happen.

May 12, 2014, 11:44pm Permalink
Sarah Christopher

I think it is hypocritical for everyone to cry "boo-hoo" when someone wants to knock down a dilapidated abandoned building to make a park or to build something useful, but it is totally ok to wipe out one of the only wooded areas we have left. I am not emotionally attached to my home, so if someone wants to give me the big bucks for it, then I will take it...but there are a lot of people that built their homes and raised their families on my street...maybe they don't want to move...and they shouldn't have to.

http://youtu.be/tvtJPs8IDgU

May 13, 2014, 9:00am Permalink
Mark Potwora

Darien Lake and concert venue draws in thousands of people every season .It has done nothing to grow the town of Corfu or Darien....Having the Bills stadium in Batavia would probably yield the same results..

May 13, 2014, 10:17am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

I'm not going to name names and put anybody on the spot, but I can think of two businesses in Corfu and one (and maybe three) in Darien that probably wouldn't exist without Darien Lake Theme Park, of which concerts are part of what brings customs to their doors.

May 13, 2014, 10:34am Permalink
Kyle Couchman

Sarah.....please calm down. What makes you think they are gonna knock down 40 acres of woods? 2. It is not the ONLY wooded area we have left by a long shot. Your over exaggerated points to be honest are silly.

1st there is not any definate plans to build any stadium yet nor any ideas of where it will go.

2nd because this isnt a plan yet, how can anyone be hypocritical?

3rd In your earlier post you claimed it would effect schools? I again ask what schools are north of the thruway that it would effect.

Your dramatics are very entertaining but I suspect if you are so willing to put your house up for sale over people just thinking about the Bills moving here, that your not happy there and will find another excuse if this one never happens.

May 13, 2014, 12:11pm Permalink
Sarah Christopher

I never said anything about schools. I won't put my house up for sale unless they decide to build the stadium, but then you bet it will go up immediately. I can't afford to stay in a house that will lose value.

May 13, 2014, 1:07pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

Richard....if you followed the link you'd have seen that the reporter quoted Tony Mancuso..... Let me clip it for you.

"Three words: location, location, location. And we have it," developer Tony Mancuso said.

Not just the fact that Batavia is dead center between Buffalo and Rochester and along the thruway, but because of a massive potential stadium site just north of the Batavia exit of the thruway. Current farmland that is shovel ready.

"What we have here is over 600 acres of virgin land. The site is already approved for multi use development, stadium type development. We already have the infrastructure for the water, the sewer, the road," Mancuso said.

So perhaps a call to Tony might answer your question

May 13, 2014, 8:02pm Permalink

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