Sen. Schumer says NFL's Bills won't leave Buffalo

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has spoken to the owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills regarding rumors that the financially strapped team is considering a move to Los Angeles.

Majestic Realty Co., a Los Angeles-based company, has reportedly contacted several teams, including the bills, about moving to a proposed new stadium in Southern California.

The New York senator, however, said that Bills owner Ralph Wilson assured him that the team is not considering moving from Buffalo and that no talks have occured between the team and the company.

"The Bills are part of the very fabric of western New York, and in western New York they will stay," said Schumer according to Buffalo Business First. "Ralph Wilson is committed to Western New York, has had no contact with any purported suitors, and flatly told me that the Bills are staying in Buffalo. Period."

For several years, the Bills have been rumored as a candidate to change cities. The team has had trouble drawing revenue in economically struggling western New York. The Bills played an early December home game in nearby Toronto, Candada, fueling further speculation they might leave Buffalo.

The 91-year-old Wilson has said he will not move the team but that his estate will put it up for auction after his passing.

Schumer isn't the only Washington heavyweight to have backed the Bills. The late host of NBC's "Meet the Press" and upstate New York native Tim Russert was a longtime Bills fan.

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