The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle football reporter Sal Maiorana has a story up today about how fan misbehavior in the parking lot outside Buffalo Bills games is concerning team execs — Bills fans were apparently rated #1 in drunkenness in 2015, which is impressive both because of the baseline and as something that can actually be measured — which naturally enough segues into a discussion of how Buffalo could solve this by building the team a new stadium with fewer parking lots:
Of course, much of the nonsense in the parking lots would go away if and when the Bills build a new stadium in downtown Buffalo because with so little space to park, the tailgate experience would almost cease to exist.
However, that’s not happening anytime in the near future. [Bills president Russ] Brandon said the issue of building a new stadium has been pushed to the back burner, going so far as to say that the New Buffalo Bills Stadium committee that was formed in 2014 has, for now, been “suspended.”…
“With the lease being up when it is (2023), there’s going to be very thoughtful conversation in both the private and public sector down the road if that’s the route we go,” said Brandon.
If this bizarro argument sounds familiar, it’s probably because you remember when SBNation’s Bills blogger said pretty much the exact same thing less than two months ago. It’s tough to guess from this distance whether “Aging stadium causes football fans to get drunk and act stupid” is a meme that someone in Bills management is trying to plant in the sports media, or just something that sportswriters have come up on their own in hopes of having something to write about in the offseason, but here we are. Can we maybe somehow blame the Buffalo accent on it, too? Crazier arguments have been made!
What if they just turned the current stadium parking lots into, say, moat filled with fire or boiling oil? Wouldn’t that potentially also solve the problem?
Building a new stadium seems like a rather expensive way of dealing with “drunk and stupid”. Building a new stadium in a location that offers insufficient parking also seems like a questionable idea.
Football stadiums belong somewhere out in the boonies, where there’s plenty of space for lots. Like the location of Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Seems like “confined downtown location with few places to tailgate” was one of the many complaints thrown at the Edward Jones Dome.
Being that the at home experience is superior to actually going to a game , doesn’t it make sense to get drunk and stupid in order to mask the misery of Buffalo in the winter.
Rooting for the Bills, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
*insert obligatory people tailgate at Gillette & don’t act nowhere as insane post here*
As a former Chicagoan, I must point out that Chicago Cubs fans getting drunk and acting stupid is a perennial issue despite the fact that Wrigley Field has essentially no parking. In fact, getting drunk and acting stupid is often the primary draw.
I have to imagine the same is true in Buffalo and taking that away would negatively impact attendance. I mean if you can’t get drunk before the game, you’d have to watch the Bills sober.
“Fat, Drunk and Stupid is no way for a Bills Cult Member to go through life!”
By this logic, wouldn’t the Roman Colisseum be the drunkest and stupidest place on earth?
Only the parking lot.
Regarding:
‘“With the lease being up when it is (2023), there’s going to be very thoughtful conversation in both the private and public sector down the road if that’s the route we go,” said Brandon.’
If the public sector conversation is thoughtful, it willl be short and sweet and the message to the private sector will be:
“You want a new stadium, you pay for it 100%.”
Reminds me of the Islander fan who praised the move to Brooklyn because “you can drink on the train ride to the game”. Okay, heals the pain of no playoff series won since 1993.
Syria is Disneyland compared to the oft-renovated Ancient Greece Olympic Stadium.
This parking lot is hell on Earth. A true hotbed of hate.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/18/article-2088384-0F83C8C700000578-825_634x446.jpg