New York New York

I could talk about the Bulls’ 109-104 loss last night to a woeful Knicks’ team (redundancy noted), or I could comment on news of a stadium deal for the Buffalo Bills. The need for sanity leads me to option #2. Erie County and the state of New York have agreed to contribute $800 million of the estimated $1.4 billion cost for a new 62,000-seat facility across the street from the Bills’ current home, Highmark Stadium; the NFL will kick in a $250 million loan, and the Bills will make up the rest. As ever, the devil is in the details, and sports’ reporters hate money details, unless it’s tied to a team’s salary cap. Is the NFL going to charge the Bills interest on the loan? None of the stories I saw could say. Where will the Bills get their share of the cost? Again, not a word written on that, as far as I know. What about the lease agreement, which is supposed to run thirty years? How will rent be figured? Do the Bills get to keep all concessions? Will there be a rent subsidy? Not a word. And why a 62,000-seat capacity? That’s about 10,000 seats less than Highmark? The team released a PR statement touting this “public-private partnership,” but, if I’m a Bills’ fan, I’d want to know why ownership is content with fewer fans around on a Sunday afternoon. If state legislators approve the deal, it would be more accurate to say public is getting the short end of a stadium deal, yet again.