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The
county is the landlord for the Buffalo Bills and Rich
Stadium. County Executive Gorski and team owner Ralph
Wilson have agreed to a two year, $23 million renovation
of the stadium. Improvements for the 1994 season include
the largest video replay scoreboard in the NFL, more
restrooms, luxury suites, club suites and resurfacing
of the stadium parking lots. Funding will come from
the Bills and parking and ticket surcharges on those
going to games.
As
part of the renovation agreement, the Bills and the
county are beginning talks designed to extend the team's
lease well into the next century.
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Ralph
Wilson Stadium is a football stadium located in the
town of Orchard Park, a suburb of Buffalo, New York.
It is the home stadium for the Buffalo Bills
National Football League football team. It was
originally named Rich Stadium.
The Bills’ home field was known as Rich Stadium when
it opened in 1973. The team had previously occupied
War Memorial Stadium, a spartan facility known to
generations of upstate New Yorkers as “the Rockpile.”
The Bills defeated the New York Jets, 9-7, in the
first regular-season game in their new home,
foreshadowing the franchise’s later success. The
stadium was renamed in honor of Bills owner Ralph
Wilson Jr. and has undergone several growth spurts
since its debut with the addition of luxury boxes,
indoor club seats and a JumboTron scoreboard that
was the largest in the country at the time of its
installation in 1994. A seven-month renovation
project in 1999 added even more seating, including
6,000 heated seats for those who want some relief
from the chilly weather.
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American
football team based in the Buffalo, New York,
metropolitan area, playing their home games in the
suburb of Orchard Park. They are currently members
of the Eastern Division of the American Football
Conference (AFC) in the National Football League
(NFL). The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a
charter member of the American Football League and
joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.
The Bills won two consecutive AFL titles in 1964 and
1965, but the club has not won a championship since
the merger. Buffalo is also the first and only team
to win four consecutive American Football Conference
Championships, though they failed to win any of the
subsequent Super Bowls.
The only team to win four consecutive AFC
Championships
Some Buffalo Bills history: The Bills built
powerful teams in both the now-defunct American
Football League (AFL) and the NFL. The team won
consecutive AFL titles in 1964 and 1965 with teams
that starred running back Cookie Gilchrist and
quarterback Jack Kemp. During the 1970s Bills
running back O. J. Simpson became one of the most
prolific rushers in professional football history,
breaking nearly every NFL rushing record. Buffalo
appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls from 1991
through 1994 with teams starring linebacker
Cornelius Bennett, quarterback Jim Kelly, defensive
end Bruce Smith, and running back Thurman Thomas.
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