BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Common Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt and 'Bills in Buffalo' Co-founder Benjamin Siegel have been some of the biggest advocates for building a new Bills' stadium downtown.
They were the voices seldom heard at the beginning of discussions, with the team's owner, Pegula Sports and Entertainment, adamant that a site near Highmark Stadium was the best place to build the team's new home.
Wyatt helped organize public hearings in the city and Siegel designed some now widely shared concept drawings. Both men tried to show what a stadium in the City of Buffalo could look like, only to have their hopes muted by Governor Kathy Hochul Wednesday and the release of research documents used by PSE, just a day later.
"If Orchard Park is their first choice their only choice, it's Orchard Park, and we'll make it all happen," said Hochul during a press conference at Erie County Medical Center. 'Their' being Pegula Sports and Entertainment and owners Kim and Terry Pegula.
The four documents appear to be what our 2 On Your Side partners at 'Investigative Post' sued state government to release. Two of the four were produced in the Fall of 2019. One of them titled New Stadium PDP Appendix notes various priorities the team and its owners have for the new stadium.
With bullet-points reading: “Generate more revenue”, “Sports betting should be considered,” “WiFi and DAS” and preferences for stadium type spelled out; “No roof. Outdoor football” and “Natural grass” - the documents show a little more about how and why the Bills' organization decided on Orchard Park.
But while PSE has made that preference clear, what appears to be counterintuitive is that their own research, the documents released Thursday scored Orchard Park as the second-place site. Downtown Buffalo was first. A detail that Siegel believes is enough to show that taxpayers never truly knew what they'd potentially be funding.
"[Pegula Sports and Entertainmen] had their heart set on building in Orchard Park no matter what and as long as [that research] didn't see the light of day, they could really get their way," Siegel told 2 On Your Side.
As the owner of his own for-profit company, Siegel said he doesn't blame the Bills or PSE for prioritizing their interests, but wonders why local and state leaders didn't stand up and call for more transparency.
"If people look at this report and see the benefit of this report that is now out there in the public, and they see the benefit of having it in the City of Buffalo as opposed to Orchard Park then they need to call their legislators, they need to get the word out... because a lot of our leaders really aren't leading," Siegel said.
A Bills' spokesperson on stadium issues told 2 On Your Side Thursday that the grading in Thursday's released documents, "didn't take into account a ton of other factors which make downtown unrealistic. Major infrastructure costs, having to move hundreds of residents, etc."
The downtown stadium would also cost $400 million more than the Orchard Park option and take 24 additional months to complete. Additional negative factors of the Buffalo site are also listed in the documents.
While Siegel is holding out hope that a push by taxpayers could still sway the stadium decision, Common Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt told 2 On Your Side he thinks Orchard Park may be a foregone conclusion.
"At the end of the day from what we hear everyone here is giving [Pegula Sports and Entertainment] whatever they want, they want it in Orchard Park that's where it's going to be. Whatever they want they're getting," said Wyatt.
"You know I understand the concern in losing the Bills but I also understand as a finance person as a business person you have to find leverage somewhere...as an elected official in Buffalo for us not to fight as strongly as we did for Canalside and these others things with one of the major assets that we have, it's just a mistake."
A mistake that Wyatt believes will only repeat the failings made by the region 50 years ago, which first established the home of the Bills in Orchard Park.