On Thursday, the Buffalo Bills announced that they have a new name for their stadium after jointly agreeing with New Era to remove their name from it earlier the offseason. The new name is, albeit, a temporary one.
That name? Bills Stadium.
An easy way for NFL clubs to make a buck is off naming rights. Sell them to a company, perhaps not New Era, and that’s a few million in your pocket.
But going the route of Bills Stadium makes it appear that the club did not receive any realistic bids for naming rights at this time. New Era and the Bills had their split back in July. It makes sense considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused an economic downturn. However, it appears there might have been one bid that’s at least en route.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said via Twitter that his company plans to make a bid for the naming rights on the Bills’ stadium:
After a brief conversation with those who matter I am here to say we are very serious about buying the naming rights of the @BuffaloBills stadium and will enter the process.
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 20, 2020
Barstool Sports, and Portnoy specifically, has had a grudge with the NFL for several years. The outlet’s most-popular podcast, “Pardon My Take,” does often interact with the league’s players and employees. They’ve had Bills quarterback Josh Allen and even general manager Brandon Beane on for interviews.
But the show, along with Portnoy, has attempted to sneak into league events, such as the Super Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine in that past and have been kicked out by security. The feud runs even deeper than that, so it remains to be seen if there’s an actual attempt by Barstool Sports at any sort of naming rights.
Not a bad play though by Barstool Sports. Some free publicity, at minimum, with a simple social media message. Portnoy likely knows any bid from him would be immediately rejected and would not be accepted due to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s personal stance against the blog/company.
The only minimal chances the company could have at the naming rights is if it went with Penn National as the name instead. Penn National Gaming has an ownership stake in Barstool Sports and Portnoy did make a reference to having their name on a potential bid as well:
Barstool Sports/Penn National Stocks Only Go Up Stadium @BuffaloBills
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 20, 2020
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