In addition to the $850 million in public funds the Buffalo Bills are getting toward their new $1.7 billion stadium, the team is receiving a tax break worth tens of millions of dollars on the sale of personal seat licenses.
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While ticket sales for Bills games are subject to sales tax, the stadium deal the team struck with the state is structured in a way that allows the Bills to avoid paying those taxes on the PSLs they are now selling to season ticket holders.
And with the team expecting to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of PSLs, dodging the 8.75% sales tax can quickly add up to an additional subsidy of $25 million or more for the team.
It’s another way the state, which will provide $600 million of that taxpayer money for the project, is providing subsidies for the construction of a new stadium in Orchard Park, which is projected to be open in 2026.
The value of that sales tax exemption depends on how much money the team raises on the licenses being required for what will probably be more than 50,000 season tickets sold in the approximately 60,000-seat stadium.
The deal allows for PSLs to avoid sales taxes by technically making the state the entity that is selling the licenses, not the team. However, it is the team, and not the state, that is setting the prices for the PSLs and running the sales process.
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