Bills welcomed for clarifying community investment conditions

But it turns out that it is actually a 33-year contract.

So how come the deal was suddenly extended?

It all hinged on a closer look at the terms of the deal by the Bills’ legal team and their determination that the deal would not take effect when the stadium opened, but rather once the lease was signed. It’s a legal turnaround that Erie County’s top attorney admits he didn’t see coming.

“I want to put on the record that the team deserves credit for their intervention … and for reaching a conclusion that, quite frankly, I missed,” said Erie County District Attorney Jeremy Toth.

And that means more money – more than $9 million – will be injected into the community under the terms of a community benefits agreement that is expected to inject more than $100 million into initiatives supported by the agreement over the next 33 years.

As part of the initial agreement, the team committed to reinvesting that more than $100 million into the community over what was initially considered the life of the stadium lease.

It turns out the CBA term began on March 29, 2023, and ends at the end of the stadium’s 30-year lease, and it was the team’s lawyers who brought that to Erie County’s attention.

The initial expectation was that the Bills’ annual investment would be allocated to community initiatives and would occur in tandem with the start of the stadium’s new 30-year lease in 2026.

That’s how the county’s legal team originally interpreted it in the agreement, as it was originally drafted.

But when the deal was reviewed by the Bills’ new legal team, which includes Terry Gilbride and Toni Cannady, they determined that the language regarding community funds was actually tied to the start of stadium construction, which began last year.

Nearly all of the Bills employees who negotiated the original deal for the new stadium are no longer with the team — those on the business side, including the legal department.

Gilbride came from Buffalo law firm Hodgson Russ earlier this year to become the Bills’ senior vice president and general counsel, and Cannady serves as the team’s deputy general counsel.

Toth said it’s not unusual for a fresh pair of eyes looking at a contract to notice something that “everyone had taken for granted, up until that point.”

“I think the Bills’ lawyers just read what we drafted and what we wrote, and what we agreed to was that the initial investment was proportional to the execution of the documents, and so there’s the construction period, and then there’s the 30-year lease period,” Toth said.

It also partly explains why the New Stadium Community Benefits Oversight Committee, which oversees community investment, was unable to review the team’s allocation in the first year of the stadium deal. The group also formed too late in the process.

“That’s why, at the beginning of all this, there was a little bit of a scramble,” Toth said.

Going forward, committee members said at a meeting Monday that they want to make sure area residents have more say in how bills allocate those millions of dollars in the years to come.

“We’re going to help with the distribution of those funds now,” said the Rev. Mark E. Blue, chairman of the committee. “We didn’t have a say this time, but we’re going to work out a formula for how things can be done and the funds allocated in the future.”

“I’m not saying that these acts were committed unjustly or unfairly, but we don’t know that,” he added. “Now that we know, we will be more proactive.”

The team is confident that it has allocated at least $3 million in funding to continue and implement new initiatives in the community and as part of workforce development efforts from March 29, 2023 to March 28, 2024.

The committee does not yet know exactly what these investments were used for. Details of where the money went will be documented in an annual report to be published on July 29.

“This will highlight not only where community investment has been made, but also all the efforts that are being made to ensure the team remains active in the community and supports different spaces and needs,” said Penny Semaia, vice president of stadium relations for the Bills.

Once the report is released, Toth said, committee members will evaluate and respond to the Bills’ community investments. The committee is scheduled to meet Aug. 12.

Blue said the committee will develop a system to ensure the money is allocated properly, which will include involving the public in the process to better understand the most pressing needs. But bills have the final say in determining where the funds are allocated each year.

“Will they be disappointed? Will they be excited? I don’t know,” Toth said.

“And how does that play out next year?” he asked. “It’s important for the public to understand that the committee has no direct authority over that money, but the Bills are not going to ignore that. We put this in place with the expectation that the Bills would not be interested in fighting with a group of community members.”

Toth said no other NFL team has a setup like this and he believes if both sides work together toward a common goal, the results could be “extraordinary.” But the process will take at least a few years to evolve because there is no blueprint for it, he added.

“If this works effectively, it will be a partnership between this community group and the Buffalo Bills, and as long as there’s goodwill and good faith on both sides, I think it will be a really exciting and interesting development for this community,” Toth said.