DURSO | Guy Lafleur’s family is honored to see Highway 50 renamed in honor of the former player. An honor that adds to the many others received over the past year.

“We didn’t see the year go by,” said Lise Lafleur, one of the Blond Demon’s four sisters. There were several tributes and ceremonies in his honor.”

“We don’t realize he’s gone. However, when I’m home alone, I think about it and tell myself we won’t see him again. That’s when it comes to get me.”

“It looks like despite everything that’s going on, he’s still here. Sometimes I wonder where he is.

Seeing that Highway 50 was renamed in her brother’s honor fills her and her family with pride.

“It’s happening in our hometown and in our region,” she said. We’re used to Guy receiving honours, but this is big. We won’t be there anymore, but the Autobahn will still be there. It’s hard to do.”

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At the side of Martin Lafleur, he still experienced special emotions at this ceremony.

“It’s an emotional but positive day. It’s an amazing tribute to have a highway named after my father.

“It’s really a source of pride for us.”

The provincial government quickly considered highlighting Lafleur’s career and contribution to Quebec society. The Lafleur family was approached shortly after the legendary hockey player’s death. In order to establish the rules of toponymy, a period of one year had to be observed before proceeding with the ceremony, which took place on Tuesday.

“We quickly agreed that Highway 50 would bear my father’s name.”

He still thinks and talks to his father every day.

“It was difficult for me to mourn. By attending events in his honor, I can keep him close. It helps me a lot and relieves the pain.”

He also has a miniature replica of the Thurso statue at home.

“We talk to each other very often. I ask him all sorts of things. Only good things.”

Alliance of Lima lost 2-0 to Atlético Mineiro on the third matchday of Group G Libertadores Cup 2023. In this duel Angelo Campos had a great performance and avoided a bulkier result. However, the international goalkeeper would have picked up a serious injury in that game that would keep him off the field for several weeks.

According to Líbero journalist Marcello Merizalde, the ‘Mono’ would suffer a torn muscle and miss the next three intimate games in the inaugural Betsson 1 League 2023 tournament.

“Alianza Lima returned to training at EGB this Friday thinking about his duel against Carlos A. Mannucci. He will do the same tomorrow in Matute and then stay focused. Ángelo Campos has a tear and will be out this Sunday. His return is against Freedom scheduled for May 23,” the communicator wrote on his official Twitter account.

YOU CAN SEE: Di Benedetto thanked the ‘U’ fans who fill the monumental: ‘They make us feel strong’

How many points does Alianza Lima have in League 1 and Copa Libertadores?

Alliance of Lima has 4 points in Group G of Libertadores Cup 2023 and takes second place. Furthermore, the blue and white team has 27 units in the inaugural Betsson League 1 2023 tournament and sits second in the table, just 1 point behind leaders Universitario de Deportes.

The Confidants meet Carlos A. Mannucci the next day of the local tournament, this Sunday 7 May at 20:00 at the Alejandro Villanueva de Matute Stadium.

Many months after the franchise, state and county thought their deal was done, the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium project was — finally — given the green light to proceed.

The final dirt digging step came on Thursdaywhen the Erie County Legislature approved the $1.54 billion proposal to build the Bills’ new playpen, along with a three-decade lease.

The deal was controversial. The state contributes $600 million; The county gives $250 million. Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula will pay the rest, but the public subsidy has angered many people that the stadium will remain in the suburbs and have no dome.

Even so, calendar pages have passed since those details were finalized, and observers have fallen asleep wondering when the pact will be cemented.

Bills Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Ron Raccuia spent time with The Athletic to explain the negotiation process and where everything stands as a colossal deal progresses.

Erie County’s vote Thursday to approve the new stadium project was a formality, but there is symbolism as construction can begin in earnest. How does it feel to finally reach that point?

It wasn’t unexpected, but it still feels great. It was a long process, but we did the work. There were many moving parts. It was very complicated. The fact that it’s finally done allays any concerns that things may have gone wrong.

GO DEEPER

Construction of Bills’ new stadium is set to begin

What particular aspects of the stadium were you most looking forward to?

I can’t wait to be in the seat pan. We’ve talked about the stacked design of our decks, how intimate and intense the action will be for our fans. But there are some seats that I think are the best seats in the NFL to watch a game. If that’s important to you, then you’ll love this stadium. You’re at the top of the field. Your pitch and angle and how close the seats are… the upper deck is significantly closer to the field than our current upper deck. The noise from the canopies and stacked design will be amazing.

The final point to making this a place primarily for watching football: when you are in the halls there is nothing preventing you from seeing the field. In our current stadium, you never see the pitch from the hall and you don’t hear what’s happening because the tunnels are so long. In the new stadium everything is pushed to the outer wall. So you can wait in line for whatever, but you’re still watching the game live, and the noise will be felt. Kim and Terry have always said they want this to be a place where players want to play and every opponent hates. We think the design achieves that.

How literal are the renders and designs we’ve seen so far?

They are close to the final. Now they’re never quite finished because you tweak a few things even during construction. But the vast majority of what we’ve shown so far is what the stadium will look like when it opens.

A rendering of the Bills’ new stadium. (Courtesy of Buffalo Bills)

Now that the deal is in place, what can you reveal were your biggest concerns about coming here?

I think we all wish it had been buttoned up sooner, but there are plenty of legitimate reasons it’s taken so long. We are all responsible for this taking longer than we thought. But my biggest concern was the unknown. What will happen in our world or in our lives that could possibly derail this. Unfortunately, these are real concerns in today’s world. Could we be caught in court or mired in political discourse like the new Peace Bridge that was never built? I was confident that all controllable elements were in tune and properly managed, but time is not always your friend and fear of the unknown was pervasive as this went on.

Most concerns were phantoms, just fear, but that’s the reality of today’s society: you never know. Look, when we started this process, we had a different governor. We weren’t dealing with Governor (Kathy) Hochul. (Andrew Cuomo’s Resignation) is a monumental example of the unknown. Take a look at what has happened to our community and organization over the past 12 months. We couldn’t foresee so much of what happened.

What impact did the arrival of Governor Hochul, a native of western New York, have on your negotiations?

It was the turning point to close the deal. Relationships already existed. The willingness to discuss joint solutions was greater. She understood the urgency. She understood the importance of the Bills to western New York. She had the strength to pull it off, especially when the negotiations were difficult. I don’t know how it would have turned out with the former governor, but obviously we didn’t have a good start. I don’t know if that was part of his negotiating style and we would have gotten somewhere good eventually, but we never got to that point. Governor Hochul deserves a lot of credit for keeping the Bills in Buffalo for the next 30 years. We were lucky.

What can you say about how close the Bills came to actually considering a move now that negotiation, posturing or political shenanigans are no longer required to finalize the stadium deal?

I don’t think we ever wanted to think about it. Our goal was to close a deal and luckily we made it. There were some darker days than others, but we never strayed from our ultimate goal.

What made them dark days?

When you’re exchanging suggestions and after weeks of talking about progress you haven’t made any progress, these are dark days. When other things get in the way through no fault of your own, at some point your priorities can shift and conversations slow down. These days make it difficult to keep focus and steer everyone in the right direction. This will happen in the course of two years of negotiations.

Cases of smaller teams getting new stadiums without threats of relocation are rare. Why didn’t you really have to play that card where other clubs have to?

I’m hesitant to talk about other teams, but I can say that in our case, it’s thanks to everyone involved, from Kim and Terry to Gov. Hochul to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. There was so much mutual respect on a personal level between everyone. We have known each other for a long time and these relationships have taken hold. We could always rely on this foundation. Nobody wanted to go down a bad path.

Though negotiations only concluded on Thursday, they were completed months ago, and yet some fans still seem to believe there’s still time to spend a few hundred million more and build a retractable-domed stadium downtown. How did you deal with the complaints?

We have said from the beginning that we will only present the facts. When we told the public about the need to replace our current stadium because it would simply cost too much to keep it running – more than half what it would cost to build a new one – we knew transparency would be effective . We didn’t want to ruin this community. I am from here. I know that’s not possible.

I respect the opinions of those who disagree. As long as they listen to our facts, they can come to any conclusion they want without resentment. The frustrating part was when people didn’t look at the facts and basically made up their own. It was tiring listening to people who claim to be experts and insiders but absolutely didn’t know what they were talking about or cared to know the details of what we were trying to do. But it was also a great learning experience.

GO DEEPER

Should another move prompt the Bills to consider building a domed stadium?

We were very consistent and open with our message. I spoke to the Rochester Chamber of Commerce two weeks ago and either the first or second question after I finished speaking was, “Why no dome?” I gave him the exact same answer I gave two years ago. This has helped us overcome some of the resistance to building in Orchard Park.

There’s a big difference in your job as Bills’ Executive Vice President and COO compared to your days as an agent for popular players Fred Jackson and Brian Moorman, as well as Coy Wire and Terrence McGee. How did you deal with being the face of a controversial project where, despite the public funds, fans don’t feel like they’re getting everything they wanted and are forced to pay for personal seat licenses for the first time?

It wasn’t such a big transition. Growing up in this community and being active in this community from a business and athletic perspective, I’ve had a lot of these personal-professional relationships. I deal with people who are friends, family, western New Yorkers. I also felt that Kim and Terry did so much for this community and did so much to put the Bills franchise in the right place – and now the Sabers franchise as well – that it was my job to give them to help move it forward.

This stadium will be a significant part of your professional legacy. As a graduate of Canisius High and Canisius College, as a lifelong Buffalo sports fan, how does it feel?

I refuse to answer this question until it’s built.

OK.

That’s the truth.

Superstitious?

Some of it, yes, but there’s also just a lot to do. There is a lot of time to think, time to look back. But I prefer to focus on getting the job done so we can have that moment once the stadium opens.

What types of eye-catching constructions will we see next?

If you drive down Abbott Road today, you will see construction sites. The ECC football stadium no longer exists. There are huge piles of dirt and whatever because there are huge holes. There is fencing. Many devices and materials were deposited on the site. With each passing day, people will see more and more. Our construction manager (Turner Construction vice president and senior operations manager) Joe Byrne says we’ll have big yellow toys on the property very soon. That sounds pretty cool.

When will passers-by notice that a stadium is being built here?

This is difficult because it will take a few months to dig this huge hole. Only in winter you will see how steel is placed. But that hole will be there in June and you will know something huge is going on there.

How will construction work affect the fan experience in 2023, be it transportation, parking or tailgating?

Unfortunately, our parking space for mobile homes will only be available once the construction work has been completed. So we’re trying to work with our neighborhood community partners on solutions to relocate them, but we’re going to lose that. Lots 3 and 4 will adjust a bit. The bus and limousine parking lot will be moved from the west side of Abbott Road to the east side. But overall parking shouldn’t be affected much in 2023 except for the campers. We will lose places, but not for our fans. We will compensate by changing our staff parking spots so fans are not inconvenienced.

What’s the news on the reveal of how personal seat licenses will work?

Hopefully in August or early September at the latest, the sales and experience center will open at Tony Walker Plaza (in Williamsville). Every season ticket holder, suite holder, club seat holder or corporate sponsor comes through this center to choose where to sit, how to experience Bill’s football, anything to park, what gate to enter, any amenities they want seek. It’s an immersive experience. You’ll make those decisions using technology, virtual reality, models of the stadium, and a historical perspective of the journey from War Memorial Stadium to Rich Stadium to the present day. A sitting suite is being built. This is all to explain the experience we are building for you. Currently under construction. Once that’s open, it gets fast and furious.

Pricing isn’t finalized yet, but some of the price ranges reported out there were pretty accurate (a survey sent to current Bills season ticket holders found that $500 for reserved seating and up to $16,500 awarded for premium seating). But it’s not final yet. I’m hoping that’s pretty close by the time the sales center opens.

Now what about the renovation of the KeyBank Center for Sabers fans?

(laughs) I have enough worries with one stadium.

(Top Photo: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)