Was watching nrl and they showed the new buffalo bills stadium under construction next door to the current one. Mentioned Current one was built in 1977 for $44mill US. In today’s money that would be $148mill US. The new stadium is costing $2.1billion, 95 times the price! Stadium construction is nuts.
Expectations around the quality have contributed to those cost blow outs.
Highmark Stadium as an example (which was actually built in 1973 for $22m which converts to $156m today) wasn't much more than a bowl with a few buildings put at one end.
The second tier on the sides would have been the most difficult part and even still they're sitting a fair way back and offer almost no protection.
You compare that to the new stadium, which is multi-tiered, the stands on top of the other, an actual roof, significantly more amenities, etc its like comparing the costs for building a granny flat to a house.
If expectations for new builds were potentially lowered, maybe more venues could get upgrades, though it feels like no one is up for that, especially the builders, suppliers & primary tenants of the venue getting upgraded with government funds.