BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — With so much excitement for the Buffalo Bills Monday Night Football game, Erie County is offering you a "once-in-a-lifetime" chance to invest in the news Bills Stadium in Orchard Park.
“This is special. This is a once in generational opportunity," declared Kevin Hardwick, comptroller, Erie County.
Erie County is offering you an investment they think you might be interested in buying Bills Bonds. It’s a chance to invest in the new Buffalo Bills Stadium under construction in Orchard Park.
"It's an investment opportunity, but it also has an emotional attachment to it,” commented Hardwick.
“They will not own the stadium, but they will have done an investment in the stadium to help us build it and also make some money off of it in the long run,” remarked Mark Poloncarz, Erie County Executive.
I caught up with Erie County Executive Poloncarz Monday, the same day the Bills Bonds hit the local market.
"Hopefully a lot of people will take advantage of it. They’ll help in some ways in the short term with the money upfront for the construction, but in the long term they get all their principle back and make interest on it, so they will be making money on it,” stated Poloncarz.
The Bills Bonds went on sale Monday, they go on the market to outside investors on Tuesday.
Comptroller Hardwick is making the big push to sell $125 million worth of bonds. That would help pay off the county's commitment of $250 million for its share of the stadium project.
I asked Hardwick what you would need to do to buy the Bills Bonds. He says you should start by going on to Buybillbonds.com.
"What you'll need to do is — you'll need to set up a brokerage account. If you have one already, you probably should speak to your financial adviser,” explained Hardwick.
"And it's a minimum of $5,000?” I questioned. “Minimum of $5,000. People said why can't you do it lower than that then it gets really unwieldy,” replied Hardwick.
If you buy the Bills Bonds you will get interest back on your investment, but right now buyers won't know the interest rate until after the bond sale closes and that's not until October 8.
"Erie County taxpayers are going to be paying back these bonds over the years. They're going to be paying back the $125 million principal. They're also going to be paying interest on that. This gives people an opportunity to get in on the other end of this and receive some of that interest,” responded Hardwick.
The bonds are tax-free, exempt from both state and federal taxes.
You can watch our full report from Sunday with Hardwick below.
“It just doesn't make sense,” replied Dan Niles, Bills fan.
Niles was already tailgating late Monday morning across from the new stadium in Orchard Park. He's a long-time Bills fan but isn't interested in buying Bills Bonds.
"I do quite a bit of investing, in fact, Eileen, and I’ll be honest with you, I wouldn't touch them. I would not touch them for the simple fact that I don't know what they are -- you don't know what the interest rate is,” responded Niles. “Yes, it's tax-free. I understand that, but why would you buy something when you don't know what the return is going to be?"
“That's how a bond sale goes, and this is where the general public normally does not get involved in the purchase of bond sales,” explained Poloncarz.
Poloncarz tells me the interest rate will be set once all orders are in.
“The orders are taken, and then they price it on a particular day and then the interest is known. They will generate interest. It's not going to be eight percent — I can tell you that,” described Poloncarz.
But Poloncarz says it's not a risky investment.
"But if the corporation goes belly up — you get zero — the government is not going belly up. We pay our debt,” Poloncarz noted.
I did reach out to some other avid Bills fans for their reaction to buying these bonds. They declined on-camera interviews, but one told me he would want to know the interest rate before purchasing them. Another Bills fan told me just because you’re a Bills fan doesn't mean you should buy them, and make sure to do enough research ahead of a purchase.
