You are reading

Several Queens Legislators Announce Opposition to Hochul’s Plan to Advance $600M to Buffalo Bills

Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, New York (Photo: Dan Schoedel CC BY 2.0)

April 1, 2022 By Christian Murray

Several Queens legislators have signed on to a letter calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to scrap her plans to advance the Buffalo Bills $600 million to pay for a new stadium.

The letter comes just four days after the governor announced that she would include $600 million in her executive budget that would go toward the cost of a $1.4 billion new stadium. The funds, she said, would be part of a deal to keep the franchise in Buffalo for another 30 years, which the state would more than recoup in tax revenue.

But many state legislators have come out against the subsidy and were outraged that it was announced just four days before the April 1 budget deadline. The criticism is believed to be a factor in why the budget deadline was not met—along with potential changes to bail reform and the opening of casinos in New York City.

“We, the undersigned, write to oppose the Executive’s proposed public financing for a new Buffalo Bills stadium. This proposal, negotiated in secret and only announced days before the final budget is due, would represent the largest public subsidy to an NFL team in history,” the letter to Hochul read.

The letter was signed by 20 state legislators, including Assembly Members Brian Barnwell, Zohran Mamdani, Ron Kim, Jessica González-Rojas, Khaleel Anderson and State Sen. James Sanders.

“This proposal is a giveaway to Bills’ owner Terry Pegula, an individual who already has $5.8 billion in net worth,” according to the letter. “Buffalo is in need of significant economic revitalization that cannot be achieved through a billionaire giveaway.”

The legislators argue that funds would be better spent on low-income New Yorkers, noting that 2021 census data showed that nearly thirty percent of Buffalo residents live in poverty. They also said that there are 92,000 homeless people in the state.

“New Yorkers in and outside of Buffalo need real investments in this year’s budget; Terry Pegula does not need support for his ownership of an NFL team.”

Other Queens officials, such as State Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose name wasn’t on the letter, have also announced their opposition to the subsidy.

Hochul said that the deal makes fiscal sense and that it was struck after months of negotiations. The deal involves the construction of a $1.4 billion stadium, with $600 million from the state, $250 from Erie County and a combined $550 million from the NFL and Bills.

Hochul said that the construction of the stadium would create 10,000 union jobs and that the investment would be recouped by the economic activity the team generates over 30 years.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Suspect wanted for shoving E train rider onto the tracks at Sutphin Boulevard station in Jamaica: NYPD

Police from the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica and Transit District 20 are looking for a suspect who shoved an E train rider onto the tracks at the Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue–JFK Airport subway station on Thursday morning.

The 39-year-old victim was standing on the southbound platform at around 4:40 a.m. when a stranger approached him and pushed him onto the track bed below in an unprovoked attack, police said Friday. The suspect fled the station onto Sutphin Boulevard and ran off in an unknown direction. EMS responded to the scene and transported the injured man to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.

Bellerose man arrested in fatal collision that killed his neighbor on Jericho Turnpike in December: NYPD

A Bellerose man was arrested and booked at the 105th Precinct in Queens Village on Tuesday, May 20, five months after he struck and killed his 78-year-old neighbor with his vehicle at the intersection of Jericho Turnpike and 91st Avenue.

The fatal collision occurred just after 6:40 p.m. on Saturday, December 14, 2024, as Benjamin Jean-Baptiste, 39, of Ontario Road, was behind the wheel of a 2010 Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling northbound on 91st Avenue.

Robbery suspect flees courthouse mid-trial, convicted of holding woman at knifepoint in Flushing: DA

A Flushing fugitive failed to return to court before trial and was convicted in absentia on Monday for a violent armed robbery of a young woman at her Parsons Boulevard apartment with two accomplices in 2022.

Michael Fan, 25, of Farrington Street, was found guilty of multiple burglary and robbery counts and an unlawful imprisonment charge before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gary Miret on May 19.