- April 21, 2022
- Posted by: SportsV
- Categories: Home News, Industry News, News, Press Releases
The Buffalo Bills and Legends have announced an expansive partnership for the data-intelligence fuelled global premium experiences company to lead planning, project management, sales and partnerships for the new Bills stadium project. The Bills recently secured a signed Memorandum of Understanding with New York State and received NFL approval for G-4 funding; both significant steps towards final approval of the stadium.
Legends has been involved in the Bills new stadium project for the past year, working closely with the team and Pegula Sports & Entertainment on the feasibility study for the project and more recently, conducting valuable initial focus groups and surveys to help inform stadium design and sales.
In addition to its work on the new stadium project, Legends currently handles e-commerce for the Bills.
Ron Raccuia, Bills Executive Vice President, said:
As we continue toward our goal of constructing a new stadium for our team, our fans and the Western New York community, having the right partners in place is critical to our success. As we have seen in recent years at SoFi Stadium and Allegiant Stadium, the team at Legends brings an incredible level of expertise, success and understanding around NFL stadium development as well as sales and partnerships. We are proud to partner and get to work with them on our new stadium project.
Shervin Mirhashemi, CEO, Legends, said:
Legends is proud to partner with the Buffalo Bills and Pegula Sports & Entertainment to apply our data-intelligence fuelled 360-degree service solution to bring their fans a new, modern stadium that will dramatically enhance the game day experience. Our seasoned execution team will apply their vast experience and institutional knowledge working with NFL teams on project development, sales campaigns, PSL programs, naming rights and founding partner engagements to deliver a stadium that is unique to Buffalo.
Legends and Populous were recently appointed to work on the redevelopment of Manchester United’s Old Trafford Stadium, with KSS working on the club’s training facilities. All three are regular participants at ALSD International events, with Populous a Presenting Partner Sponsor for the 2022 edition, being hosted at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this September 19-20th.
Legends has provided its holistic solution powered by data and analytics to a number of high-profile stadium and venue projects that have opened in the past few years. Most recently, Legends provided planning, project management, sales and partnerships, including naming rights, for the Los Angeles Rams’ and Chargers’ SoFi Stadium, the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, Hollywood Park’s YouTube Theater, Los Angeles Football Club’s Banc of California Stadium and the Columbus Crew’s Lower.com Field.
Looking forward
In a recent interview on the Bills’ website, Raccuia said:
We have hired Legends to work with us both as our project manager and as our sales and marketing agent to sell the assets of the new stadium. We have hired Populous to be our architect of record. We’re in the process of finalizing our construction manager.
We’ve hired the best companies not just in stadium development or the United States, but the world. Their level of experience is unmatched. And we’ve made sure to surround ourselves with experts in every field going forward.
With respect to the project and the ultimate goal in terms of the kind of stadium the Bills are looking to build and how much different will it be than Highmark Stadium, Raccuia said:
We’re going to build the best football stadium we possibly can for the Buffalo Bills and our fans. It will be state of the art and will have a great deal of modern amenities that we currently lack at Highmark Stadium. We do, however, want to maintain the intimacy, great sight lines and the amazing home field advantage and energy we currently have at Highmark Stadium. It will be a football specific stadium and we want to take advantage of all of the modern amenities, comfort, and technology available to us as we develop our plan with the architects.
Source: Legends
Sports Venue Business organises & delivers ALSD International, the leading event for the Premium Seat & Hospitality sector, with a focus on optimising revenue through New Builds, Renovations & Service Expansions, on behalf of the Association of Luxury Suite Directors…
…the 2022 event will feature a high-level conference, an exhibition showcasing industry-leading products & services, networking events and a behind-the-scenes tour of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, sponsored by Levy UK + Ireland.
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