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State and county taxpayers will be asked to commit $850 million in public funds towards the construction of the new Buffalo Bills stadium, as part of a 30-year lease agreement reached Monday.
The state has project the total price tag of the project to be about $1.4 billion.
New York state will commit $600 million in funds, which will be included in Gov. Kathy Hochul's budget when it is submitted Friday.
Erie County will commit $250 million towards the project.
The NFL and the Buffalo Bills will commit $550 million.
The state figure is considered the largest public commitment for an NFL facility in history. If all goes according to play, the deal will keep the Bills in Buffalo for decades to come. The new stadium — which will have a capacity of over 60,000 — will be built across the street from the Bills' current stadium.
While taxpayers are bearing a significant burden of 60 percent of the costs of the stadium, per the agreement, the Bills will be responsible for covering any costs that run over the budget.
NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, explained in a press conference that the Bills' presence in western New York is "a point of pride" for the region. She added that the deal "made sense for our taxpayers in terms of our commitment and our return on the investment, which will be paid off in the next 22 years."