BUFFALO, N.Y. — The committee tasked with ensuring the Buffalo Bills follow through on their investment in the community, as part of their new stadium deal, is still trying to figure out how to operate.
On Monday, the Community Benefits Oversight Committee (CBOC) held its third-ever meeting, only one person offered public comment and Chairman Reverend Mark Blue shared they had made an oversight regarding that investment.
"It's like building a plane while flying it," said Chairman Blue.
The committee was created in February 2024 to advise the Buffalo Bills on its Community Benefits Agreement; a deal the Bills signed in exchange for $850 million from Erie County and New York State taxpayers.
The CBA outlines initiatives for the team such as ensuring Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) participate in new stadium construction, improving public transportation to their future home in Orchard Park, and investing $3 million annually into the local community.
According to Chairman Blue, however, the first year of that $3 million investment was not subject to guidelines or oversight before being spent because of a "misunderstanding."
“We thought that once the stadium was built then the monies would be allocated but now going through the contract those monies are available or will be made available for the upcoming year,” Chairman Blue said.
He explained that the committee recently learned that the investment was supposed to start when the CBA was signed, which happened in March 2023. Blue said the committee and the Buffalo Bills initially thought it wasn't until the stadium was scheduled to be completed in 2026.
"It happened for a good reason they weren't aware, we weren't aware but it's here that's more money that's being allocated over the life of the stadium," said Chairman Blue, an extra $9 million to be exact.
Essentially the Buffalo Bills' first investment didn't have guidelines set by the oversight committee because they didn't exist until February.
When 2 On Your Side asked for more details on the investment, Bills’ Vice President of New Stadium Operations, Penny Semaia said that information would be released in the team's soon-to-be-released Community Benefits report.
Semaia added that he’s confident the community will be satisfied with how the money was spent.
“The annual report will outline all of our investments but we're excited because it will highlight specific categories like workforce developments or economic impact, community and youth as well as civic and community engagement,” he said.
“We're excited to share that they'll see exactly where our $3 million investment went.”
Semaia said the annual report is scheduled for release on July 29 and will be discussed at August’s community benefits oversight committee meeting.
“We'll look and see how things were done, it could be a great system, a great process but we're going to look at that and see what we can do to help,” said Committee Chairman Reverand Mark Blue.
"We want to make sure that we do our due diligence and make sure that concerns of the community are being addressed."
The CBOC has asked the public for their input but thus far, has had limited participation at meetings. Only one community member offered public comment on Monday.
Pastor Charles Walker said the committee could do more to inform the public.
“The community needs to know about these meetings because as you can see it's not filled,” Walker said.
The committee set a consistent schedule Monday for future meetings which will be held on the second Monday of every month. If that day falls on a holiday, the meeting would be on the second Tuesday. Chairman Blue also said the committee may consider different locations and times to improve accessibility. The two most recent meetings have been held at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.
Both Chairman Blue and Pastor Walker said they look forward to engaging more community members who could benefit from the stadium project, whether by working on it or benefitting from the $3 million annual investment.
“I don't have all the right answers and neither do they but together a little bit here and a little bit there and we can come up with a viable solution and we can lift this. We really can,” said Walker.
The Buffalo Bills post regular updates regarding stadium construction and the Community Benefits Oversight Committee on their website for those looking to get up to date.