The era of New Era Field in Buffalo, is over. And to start the new era for stadium naming rights at the team’s Upstate New York facility, a county executive has a very patriotic idea: Veterans Stadium.
“Now that the Buffalo Bills and New Era have agreed to part ways regarding the name of the football stadium in Orchard Park, considering the facility is publicly owned, my preference would be to not name the stadium after a private sector entity but to simply call it ‘Veterans Stadium’ to honor the men and women who have served our nation,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a statement obtained by the Buffalo News.
The Bills stadium wouldn’t be the first to have that name. The Eagles and Phillies shared a stadium with that name from 1971-2002. While naming the facility Veterans Stadium would likely be a hit with the patriotic and (at least relatively) socially conservative fans that one finds in Upstate New York, not signing a corporate sponsor to a naming rights deal would hurt the teams revenue.
Not to mention, in a time when all things patriotic and historic are being attacked and torn down, the name might draw the ire of the Antifa/Black Lives Matter movement.
Still, despite the financial and potential political problems such a move would present, a new Veterans Stadium is exactly what this country and the NFL needs right now.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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