To Make the Buffalo Bills Stadium Deal, Kathy Hochul Squeezed the Seneca Nation

New York governor Kathy Hochul recently orchestrated the second-largest public stadium subsidy ever for the Buffalo Bills. To close the deal, she froze the Seneca Nation’s tribal bank account, forcing them to pay up on a disputed casino revenue sharing debt.

Current NY Governor Kathy Hochul Faces Off Against Gubernatorial Challengers In Debate

New York governor Kathy Hochul debates in the race for governor at the studios of WNBC4-TV June 16, 2022, in New York City. (Craig Ruttle-Pool / Getty Images)


New York governor Kathy Hochul (D) recently orchestrated one of the biggest taxpayer stadium subsidy deals of all time — using tribal funds to finance the pact, which could ultimately benefit her husband’s employer.

The arrangement doesn’t merely illustrate Hochul’s penchant for prioritizing business interests over marginalized New Yorkers. It is also the latest iteration of New York siphoning revenues from the Seneca Nation and trampling the tribe’s exclusive gaming rights.

In the New York state budget passed in April, Hochul earmarked more than a billion dollars in public funding to build a new stadium for her home city football team, the Buffalo Bills. The deal, struck between Hochul and the billionaire Pegula family that owns the team, will be the second-largest taxpayer contribution to a sports stadium in history. Of the project’s $1.4 billion in projected construction costs, New York’s government is putting up $850 million, or 60 percent of the total. Hundreds of millions of dollars more were inked for upkeep of the stadium throughout its thirty-year lease, bringing the public’s total projected expense to more than $1.1 billion.

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