BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz did not seem very optimistic Friday when it came to making a new stadium deal in the timeline Gov. Kathy Hochul was hoping for.
Earlier this month the governor said she would like to finalize a plan before her budget is due in April.
On Friday, the county executive was asked about an updated timeline on the stadium deal, and here's what he had to say.
"You've heard me say this before: it's a very complicated transaction. There's lots of moving parts," he said. "We've had lots of talks in the past few weeks, I'm not going to say we're going to get it done based on any particular time associated with what the governor wants, but I think we've made a lot of progress in the most recent weeks."
When Governor Hochul gave her state of the state earlier this month, no state money was put toward a new Bills stadium, simply because no price tag has been determined.
However, if there is a final price tag before the new fiscal year in April, state money can be put into the final budget, which still needs to get approved.
The Erie County Legislature held three public hearings in December, all of which were open to the public, about the new stadium talks.
There, all Western New Yorkers were encouraged to attend and speak their mind about a potential new location and possible construction costs for taxpayers of a new Bills stadium.
A location is in the City of Buffalo was considered, but the team plans to stay in Orchard Park.