Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul, Buffalo Bills and Erie County Mark Major Construction Milestone at New Highmark Stadium With Steel Topping Out Ceremony

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul, the Buffalo Bills and Erie County celebrated the topping out of the new $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium at the construction site in Orchard Park. A major building milestone, topping out celebrates the lifting and placing of the last major roof module for the stadium structure. The state-of-the-art stadium design includes cutting-edge technology, inspiring art and an array of amenities designed to enhance the customer experience — making it a world-class entertainment venue that will boost the economy of Western New York for decades to come. The project is about 50 percent complete and is slated to be finished prior to the 2026 NFL season.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page has photos of the event available here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Oh, how sweet it is to have left Albany during budget season. And I'm sure the press will give me a hard time, but my meeting is at two o'clock this afternoon, I'll go to two in the morning, so don't worry about that. But this is where I needed to be, right here, right now. Thank you, Marv Levy. Because this symbolizes the greatness of our state and its people.

And I also want to say this – I'm going to nominate Terry Pegula, Kim Pegula, and the entire family as Buffalo’s own MVP, ourselves. They're our MVPs. They have made this magic happen. They have brought hope back to this region, a sense of pride in all of us, and it feels so good. Because I remember those days in 1972, my grandfather just retired after spending a lifetime at the steel plant where he worked with his sons, my father – the hard work and the coal blast furnace. But all he wanted to do when he retired, not go to Florida, but get season tickets to the Buffalo Bills. And that's what he got from all of us. And he was at the very first season in 1972 when we started here.

So this is in my DNA, I remember Jack Kemp. No one here is old enough to remember Jack Kemp. Do you? Okay. Harry and I remember Jack Kemp, he was kind of the Josh Allen of our time, but didn't really jump over defenders and do things like that, but he was really a big deal to us, right? So I've been watching this sport since I was a little kid. You couldn't come to dinner at the dinner table with all my brothers and my dad and not know the statistics and the trades and how we were doing against the Packers and everybody else. It was how I was raised.

So I am proud to be the first Governor from Buffalo since Grover Cleveland. I'm proud to be the first woman Governor, but I'm also proud to be the biggest Buffalo Bills fan that the Governor's Office has ever seen.

So to all my colleagues in government, I thank you. This was an effort that had to happen not just in our offices, but also on the legislative floor. And I want to thank Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes for being a great champion and helping get it through. Our Senator Sean Ryan is here, Senator April Baskin is here, Mayor Chris Scanlon is here, and of course, Mark Poloncarz, who was at the negotiating table with me from the very beginning. I want to thank that partnership that found the resources to help make this happen. So thanks to all of them.

But Terry's absolutely right. Politicians can do so much, but as the people wearing the hard hats that made this happen, and I know just as he was saying, you will go by here and bring your kids and grandkids and maybe even their kids to the games here and say, “I was a piece of that. I helped make this happen. At a time — sometimes — when people start giving up on our cities and our regions.” And yes, we're in for some tough times in the next few years because I can feel it already. But one thing I know about Buffalonians and people from Western New York — we are tough, we are resilient and nothing keeps us down.

And the men, women in labor make it happen. Let's give another round of applause to all the hard workers. They work through horrible ice storms and blizzards and floods and all the things that Mother Nature threw at you, and you kept showing up day after day so we could play ball on time next season.

So I'm so proud. I'm a little excited, as you can tell. I feel like I'm at a game, right? But I'll tell you this, lastly, what this team and this stadium have done is something that's really hard to say happens in other parts of our country, and that is to unify people, to make people feel, regardless of your political affiliation. I know when I walk through the crowds, as I did just back in January and my State Police detail has a heart attack because I'm walking right down, high fiving everybody talking to everyone. It doesn't matter who's a Democrat, Republican, or non-affiliate, it doesn't matter because we all have a common bond and that is our love for Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills, and that is enduring, and we need to see more of that.

Whether I'm at my sports bar in New York City, where I tell you I have converted more fans to this team than anybody in history. And I tell them, and I know I get in trouble for this. It's the only team that plays in New York, right? The only team that plays no — Jet and Giants fans love you. But when your team is not playing the Bills, I know you are a Buffalo Bills convert because I can feel it throughout this state. And all I want to do is unify this state. And we did it around this amazing team and all the amazing people made this happen. I'm so proud.

Congratulations, and I cannot wait a year and a half from now when we go to that stadium and march in there and say, “We've got the greatest facility in all of America and it is our own in Buffalo.”

Thank you, everybody.