Beyond the Xs and Os

"Beyond the X's and O's is the previously unpublished story of how a long-term stadium lease was negotiated and signed by New York's Erie County, the state, and the Buffalo Bills football team. Told by Mark C. Poloncarz, the elected executive of the community that owned the stadium, we are given a rare glimpse into the long, difficult, but ultimately rewarding effort to successfully conclude negotiations between an NFL franchise, the National Football League, and a multitude of players from the political arena including Governor Andrew Cuomo and US Senator Chuck Schumer. Poloncarz discusses the financial side of sports and reveals how the county was able to navigate what proved to be often turbulent waters. Complicating negotiations was an on-going frenzy in the local news media, hungry for any news about the new lease, and Bills team owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr., who was 92 and had said the team would be sold upon his death. In the end a new lease was signed and the Bill remained in Buffalo at time when a number of other cities watched their teams relocate to other cities"--.