BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Buffalo-based New Era Cap announced Wednesday that Bills quarterback Josh Allen now has an “investment stake in the company.”
Details of Allen’s equity were not disclosed, but the company noted the reigning MVP is their first brand ambassador to receive an investment stake.
As part of a promotional launch on 716 Day — the local holiday celebrated on July 16, when the date matches Western New York’s area code — New Era gave Allen the title of “Director of Billustration” and a LinkedIn page.
Allen will wear nine different “Billustration” hats during his stadium arrival at each Bills home game this season that were customized by patients at Oishei Children’s Hospital. The hats will be auctioned off after the game to benefit The Patricia Allen Fund — named for Allen’s late grandmother — which supports the pediatric critical care team at Oishei.
The first hat in the Billustration line on sale now features Allen’s humorously bad hand-drawn Bills logo for $35.
Allen drew the logo, now known to Bills Mafia as the potato, in 2018 when the league asked rookies to try to draw their team’s logo from memory. As seen in the video, Allen picked up a blue sharpie and went to work, commenting after that his drawing looked “a little chunkier” than the team’s actual logo. He rationalized, “I like to eat, so…”
The hat comes in two colors: Allen’s original blue drawing on a white hat, and a reversed version in white on a blue cap. Keen observers may not feel the second hat is true Bills Mafia canon since it doesn’t match the original, but white hats can be hard to keep clean. They can take it up with the Director of Billustration.