ralph wilson

The Buffalo Bills are frustrated, and it has nothing to do with recent headline-grabbing events involving the Bills-in-Toronto series or the controversial Terrell Owens signing.
The Bills are fed up with the ongoing Erie County financial flap that has stalled more than a year and a half’s worth of county-funded stadium improvements at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
At issue are about $2.9 million in improvements the county is obligated to fund each year under its lease with the Bills.
It’s early spring, the traditional launch of the construction season, but no huge repair crews are poised to descend on the stadium, less than five months before the Bills host two preseason games in August.
None of this year’s $2.9 million in improvements has gone past the wish-list stage. And the Bills still are waiting for almost $2 million worth of capital improvements — that were supposed to be done last year.
The Bills insist they’re frustrated, not angry. They’ve talked with all the parties involved, and they’re not mad at any one person. They’re just fed up with the situation.

An ongoing dispute between the county and its state-appointed control board has stalled the selling of about $89 million worth of bonds for capital-improvement projects across the county.

“We’ve talked with the control board,” Bills Treasurer Jeffrey C. Littmann said. “We’ve talked with the comptroller. We’ve talked with the county executive. They’re all supportive. They all understand. This is not a Bills issue. This is a county issue, and we’re caught up in it.”

As Littmann pointed out in two phone interviews while he was in California for National Football League meetings, the Bills are hardly alone waiting for capital improvement projects.

Also being held hostage on this list, county officials say, are road and bridge work throughout the county, replacing the Erie County Holding Center roof, roof repairs at the county correctional facility in Alden and capital improvements at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, the Botanical Gardens and all three Erie Community College campuses.
“There have been a lot of independent third parties that have been impacted by this,” County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz said.

What does it mean for the Bills?
No stairway is about to crumble, but the Bills consider the annual $2.9 million in capital improvements a key element in keeping the 36-year-old Ralph Wilson Stadium a viable NFL playpen, while some other teams have grandiose, spanking- new structures with all the amenities.
A couple of years ago, Littmann asked Joe Frandina, the Bills’ vice president of stadium operations, how long Ralph Wilson Stadium could last.
“Is the assumption that we control the maintenance, and she’s taken care of the way she should be taken care of?” Littmann remembers Frandina asking him.
Yes, Littmann answered.
“Then she’ll outlast you and me,” Frandina replied. Poloncarz noted that the county has advanced cash for about one-third of the 2007 and 2008 capital improvements throughout the county, $28 million out of $89 million worth. The Bills say that includes more than $750,000 of their stadium work.
The almost 30 capital improvements never done from last year’s list at the stadium include reconstructing parking Lot 1, repairing the Section 104 seating area, remodeling some restrooms and repairing the fieldhouse roof from storm damage.
“The goal now is we hope to get last year’s work done now,” Littmann said.
Poloncarz still holds out hope that the issue could be resolved soon, either through an agreement with the control board or through legislation in Albany.
“I would love to get this done as soon as possible,” he said.
Littmann also was asked about recent news that the Bills could play a second regular-season game in Toronto each year, starting in 2010.
While saying that’s only speculation at this point, Littmann said it’s all part of the Bills’ current plan to market their brand farther from Buffalo.
The Bills can’t compete with 2-million-square-foot “Taj Mahal” stadiums — Ralph Wilson Stadium is about 890,000 square feet—or with NFL franchises that sell personal-seat licenses or $500 club seats.