Erie County offers “Bills Bonds” for residents to invest in new Bills stadium

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Erie County is giving Bills fans the chance to become private investors in the construction of the new stadium with “Bills Bonds.” 

To date, Erie County has paid half of the $250 million dollars they promised to shell out towards construction. The remaining $125 million dollars of that obligation will be covered through bonds. 

In a rare twist, fans will have the chance to buy municipal bonds before institutional investors swoop in.

Fans would have to invest a minimum of $5,000 dollars. The interest payments are exempt from federal tax and state tax, if you're a New York resident.

Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick said this is not an average investment opportunity. 

“It’s a once in a generation, maybe once in two generations opportunity, and it's the Buffalo Bills and it means something to people and I think it's worth it,” Hardwick said.

“It's just not like institutional investors in China or Japan or Texas that are buying our bonds, it's individuals that live in our community and they get money back and they make interest off of it,” said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. “Not only you're helping to contribute for the construction of the stadium, but you're going to make some money off of it over the life of the bond and it's something we've never offered before.”

If you're interested, you'll want to start planning ahead now. You'll want to talk over the benefits and risks with a financial professional.

Hardwick said it's still up in the air whether it will take 25 or 30 years for the bonds to mature. The final interest rates will not be decided until after the end of the order period. 

The tentative date to get an order in is Sept. 23. For more information, visit buybillsbonds.com.

To see WIVB News 4's past coverage of the new Bills stadium, click here.