Some Good Reasons Why a Downtown Bills Stadium Isn’t Happening

The Buffalo Bills are just 11 days away from the start of the 2021 regular season, but it's off-the-field news that has dominated talk between fans lately.

In case you missed the big news on Tuesday, the Buffalo Bills reportedly have a $1.4 billion stadium proposal for Orchard Park to begin playing in by no later than 2027, as first reported by John Wawrow of the Associated Press.

The capacity for the new "open-air" stadium in Orchard Park will be 60,000, which is about 12,000 less than Highmark Stadium.

The stadium will be reportedly built across the street along Abbott Road if all goes as planned and the team, state and county can agree on a deal.

Many are wondering why a new stadium wouldn't be built downtown? After all, it's been talked about a lot over the last several years and really, over the last decade or two.

Hannah Buehler of WKBW is reporting that Pegula Sports and Entertainment considered a downtown location, but they found that the "infrastructure cost" would be much higher and that highways might have had to be reconfigured.

The highway that would have had to "potentially" be reconfigured would most likely be the I-190, which runs through Buffalo -- or one of the main routes near the I-190.

I would have loved to see a downtown stadium, but considering how little space down is available down there, buildings would have had to be knocked down and the cost would be far higher.

Considering reports that this will be a private-public cost partnership, then higher costs are out of the question and a new stadium in Orchard Park will do.