The Austin Bills?

Noted for the record.

Maybe they’re negotiating. But in any negotiation, the negotiators need to be willing to act in order to have any credibility.

As to the negotiation between the Bills and Buffalo that has begun with the Bills wanting taxpayer funding to pay the full price of a new stadium, an impasse could lead the Bills threatening to move — and potentially moving — elsewhere.

Citing an unnamed ownership source, Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com reports that Austin is a possible destination — or threat — as one of the cities to which Bills ownership was referring when telling government negotiators that “there are other cities elsewhere that desire an NFL franchise and would pay handsomely for it.”

San Antonio was one of the leverage destinations for the Raiders before they moved to Las Vegas, and the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans weren’t believed to be thrilled about the possibility of a third team coming to Texas. Presumably, they wouldn’t want a team in Austin, either.

Hard to know how seriously to take this. I suppose the reason Austin is being dangled as an alternate for the Bills and not San Antonio is that Austin doesn’t have an NFL-ready stadium at hand and would have to build one, which is clearly what the Bills’ owners want. San Antonio has the Alamodome, which was used by the Saints in 2005, but is presumably not up to date with the latest luxury items that a typically avaricious NFL owner desires, so it would not do. San Antonio, which has in recent years spent a bunch of money on Alamodome-related projects, may be less interested in financing a brand new playpen. Who knows? Anyway, if this particular item gains traction in the coming months, you’ll know that this is where it all started. CBS Sports, KXAN, Reform Austin, and the Statesman have more.

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3 Responses to The Austin Bills?

  1. David Fagan says:

    Austin kicks all the homeless off the streets, then gets a tax payer funded football stadium, sounds about as ‘liberal’ as you can get.

    Just say no to tax payer funded sports stadiums. Let the Buffalo Bills be the homeless ones, Buffalo would be better off without them.

  2. Bill Daniels says:

    I agree with David, and I suspect this issue is going to find others in the OTK peanut gallery agreeing, too.

    The days of taxpayers funding playpens for sports teams needs to come to an end. If they think they can profit on it, let the NFL build stadiums. Look at Houston…..how much property tax revenue is generated by all of our stadiums? Nothing sound about right? I also seem to remember when the taxpayers were called on to actually MAKE bond payments when stadium revenue wasn’t enough. One wonders if these facilities, the Toyota Center, Minute Maid, and NRG generated enough revenue to cover the bond payments when political leaders had them shut down. Who made the bond payments last year? Did the teams pony up?

    The whole reason the Astrodome is a hulking, expensive albatross is because HCSA built an unnecessary stadium…..right next to the perfectly functional Astrodome.

  3. C.L. says:

    Austin taxpayers didn’t pay for the soccer stadium – Precourt Sports Ventures privately financed the construction. I can’t see Austinites being okay with taxpayer-funding of a football stadium…

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