Just three months into the build of the Buffalo Bills' new 60,000-seat stadium, the team appears to already be in a financial quagmire.
According to the Associated Press, the Bills are already on the hook for as much as $300 million in cost overruns.
Initial estimates released in March of 2022 put the cost of the stadium at about $1.4 billion, but that increased to $1.54 billion just months later. The project is now slated at $1.65 billion and approaching $1.7 billion, according to four people with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke to the AP.
The Bills reach a tentative deal with Erie County 16 months ago based on the $1.4 billion price tag. The AP cites increased labor and material costs for the increase.
Newly appointed Bills COO John Roth called the projections premature and speculative at best.
“We don’t know enough yet to confirm this,” Roth told the AP on Wednesday, noting only a small percentage of the contracts and bids have been completed.
One of the people who spoke to the AP said that overruns were expected even before negotiations began based on the Bills' $1.4 billion projected cost.
