$850 Million of Public Funds to Build New Stadium in Jeopardy
By Dan Murphy
The United States Supreme Court has accepted a case filed against the State of New York by Four NY Residents, objecting to the use of public, taxpayer funds to help pay for a new football stadium for the Buffalo Bills.
The lawsuit, filed by Westchester resident Tony Futia, Bob Schulz and two other New Yorkers, argues, whether the State of New York ($600 Million) and Erie County ($250 Million) violated the NYS Constitution, in the use of public funds for the stadium.
Article VII-Section 8.1 and Article VIII, Section 1, of the New York State Constitution, which “prohibits the giving or lending of State and County money “in aid of any… private corporation … or private undertaking ….”, is the key argument in the case.
New York Courts have rejected this argument, with a lower court dismissing the case and -NY Appeals Courts denying the motion to reargue.
The USSC asked for a rebuttal to Schulz and Futia’s filing to the State of New York. Barbara Underwood, the Solicitor General for NY, filed a document waiving New York’s right to submit a response.
While this is good news for Futia and Schulz, it is still not clear whether or not the Nine Justices on the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on this case, and when that would be if they agree to hear the case.
“In my 45 years of working on these types of cases, I have never felt so confident. The USSC only hears cases that are unique, where important Constitutional rights and arguments have not yet been made. I feel very confident that they are going to hear the case,” said Schulz.
The USSC has put the case on a docket with court #-231058. Now they must decide whether to hear arguments and when. If they decide to hear the case, they will ask for briefs from both sides and then an oral argument before the court. Nobody knows when that might happen. If time is of the essence, the Justices might hear the case before their summer recess. Or they could decide to hear it next year or decline to move forward.
The case may have some urgency because work has already begun to build the new stadium for the Bills in Orchard Park. “Any public funds that have gone into the new stadium may have to be replaced. This will require a shifting of resources, to the owners of the Bills. They may have to cut back,” said Schulz.
One theory has the Justices interested in hearing a case that involves the overreaching by government. And the current makeup of the court has a conservative majority more inclined to believe in strict adherence to the Constitution and opposed to the unlawful overspending or misuse of taxpayer funds.
What is also noteworthy is that many New Yorkers of different political views oppose this use of public funds for private use. Schulz and Futia are conservatives, but progressives also do not want their tax dollars going to subsidize the billionaire owners of the Bills, Terry Pegula.
New York Unions have also objected to the giveaway to the Bills, instead preferring the money be used for state employees.
Bills fans are also outraged after hearing that they will have to pay between $15,000 to $50,000 for a personal seat license fee. This gives you the right to purchase your Bills home game tickets, and nothing else.
So, if you are a longtime Bills fan, with season tickets in your family for generations, and you have 4 good ticket locations, at $50,000 per PSL, that’s $200,000. We wonder how many Bills fans will be able to afford this.
And why are they charging PSL’s after the State allocated $600 Million and Erie County $250 Million?
The State funding for the new stadium was included in last year’s state budget.
Futia, who we have featured in our newspapers and online during his ongoing battle with the IRS, said most New Yorkers do not understand that the public financing for stadiums used for private use is illegal in our state.
