Roger Goodell Says 'It's Time' For Bills to Get a New Stadium in Buffalo

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell believes the Buffalo Bills are in need of a new stadium.

"You've got to think long-term here," Goodell said Monday, per Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. "This has been going on for decades and it's time to get a new stadium done that we can make sure the Bills are here and successful for many, many decades going forward.

"We're focused on keeping the Bills [in Buffalo] in a new stadium in a public, private partnership. That's what this is all about and that's where we're focusing."

Now known as Highmark Stadium, the Bills have been in the same venue in Orchard Park, New York since 1973. The team's current lease ends in 2023, and owners Kim and Terry Pegula are looking to build a new $1.4 billion stadium to replace it.

Tom Precious of the Buffalo News previously reported ownership is asking for the public to cover an "unprecedented" 100 percent of expenses for the new stadium.

The owners said in 2018 they couldn't afford to fund the new project themselves.

"We don’t have a billion-and-a-half dollars sitting around," Kim Pegula told Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News. "We used it to buy the team."

The Pegula Sports & Entertainment ownership group purchased the team in 2014 for $1.4 billion.

The ownership team now must work with Erie County to help fund a new stadium, especially with renovations to the current one out of the question.

"We're certainly beyond that," Goodell said. "I think a new stadium is what's needed. I think it's going to require a public, private partnership. I think the Bills, the community and the NFL are all going to have to come together and do that in a smart way."

As Louis-Jacques noted, the owners have threatened moving to other cities if a deal can't be reached.