Buffalo Bills consider Austin to be possible relocation destination amid stadium negotiations

BEXAR COUNTY (KTSA News) — Former San Antonio city councilman Greg Brockhouse once told KTSA News that San Antonio was always the bridesmaid, but never the bride when it came to major league teams considering where they were moving to.

Now, it appears San Antonio isn’t even in the wedding party.

ESPN reported Sunday that a source within the Buffalo Bills ownership said that Austin would be a possible destination for the team to relocate to.

More specifically, “Austin is a possible destination—or threat—as one of the ‘other cities elsewhere that desire an NFL franchise and would pay handsomely for it,'” ESPN’s Seth Wickersham reported on Twitter.  It’s not clear what other cities would be considered those with a desire for an NFL franchise or those that “would pay handsomely for it.”

The Buffalo Bills have been negotiating with the State of New York for a new stadium there, which the team reportedly wants the state to foot the entire bill to construct it along with renovations to the arena that hosts the Buffalo Sabres — owned by the same ownership.

The likelihood of the Bills moving to Austin is not clear — it’s not even clear if Austin would be at the top of the team’s list or just on it.

The then-Oakland Raiders used San Antonio as a negotiation ploy in a deal that eventually saw the team end up in Las Vegas.  Since then, San Antonio proved it was capable of being a strong home to a top-tier professional football team when the San Antonio Commanders led the short-lived Alliance of American Football in attendance.

And even from an NFL standpoint, it’s not clear if the league — or the owners of the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans — would support a move to Austin.

Last week at Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California, team owner Jerry Jones waxed poetic about San Antonio and what the Alamo City means to the Cowboys.

“I love everything about San Antonio when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones told San Antonio Sports Star (ESPN 1250 AM and 94.5 FM) Thursday.  “We have the same percentage of Cowboy fans in San Antonio that we have in Plano, Texas.”

He went on further, saying San Antonio is a beautiful example of the nation, both in terms of pure beauty and in culture.

What his comments mean for football in the future — in San Antonio or Austin — isn’t completely clear; nor is Buffalo’s full intentions of whether they stay in western New York or relocate elsewhere.