Gov. Kathy Hochul got a tepid response from a crowd at this week’s ribbon-cutting for the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium, trying and failing to start a chant in support of the team as she took the podium.
The Buffalo native, clad in a Bills hat and a blue-and-white blazer and shirt combo, enthusiastically took the stage at the newly completed Highmark Stadium Tuesday, kicking off her remarks with a fervent “alright let’s get this party started, let’s go!” to a response of what could charitably be called a trickle of applause.
Undeterred, the fired-up governor belted out an earnest chant of “Buffalo, let’s go!” – attempting to get the audience to join in the call-and-response, and even pointing to either side of the crowd to give them their cue.
She was met with such deafening silence she aborted the effort and called them out for their lethargy.
“Alright, seriously? You want to win a championship season with that kind of enthusiasm? Men and women of labor you know what I’m talking about,” before, improbably, again trying to rouse the audience from their slumber with another botched chant attempt.
When it became clear nobody was biting, she said “We gotta give this place some good karma, right?”
The $2.1 billion, 60,000-seat stadium will be the home of the NFL franchise for the next 30 years.
Groundbreaking began in June of 2023.