Buffalo Bills: Support growing to name stadium after Marv Levy
The Buffalo Bills are currently in the process of finding a new name for their stadium and support among fans is growing to name it after the Hall of Fame coach.
Last month, the Buffalo Bills announced that they would be looking for a new sponsor for their stadium after agreeing with New Era to end their agreement. The move came after harsh criticism from Mark Poloncarz, who is Erie County Executive, after New Era announced layoffs in their local office.
Since then the Buffalo Bills have been looking for a new sponsor. They did get an offer from Tushy, a bidet company, however that offer didn’t appear to be legitimate.
One avenue that appears to be picking up steam, especially among fans, is to name the stadium after Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy. As of this article, the petition has nearly 3,000 signatures.
Marv Levy joined the Buffalo Bills in 1986 and was their head coach through the 1997 season. During that time, he had a record of 112-70, won six AFC East titles, four AFC conference titles and had a playoff record of 11-8. He also is famously known for being the head coach to lead the Bills to four straight Super Bowls.
Prior to joining the Bills, Marv Levy at the collegiate level, CFL (where he won two Grey Cups) and was even the Kansas City Chiefs head coach from 1978 to 1982. He would finish with a 31-42 coaching record for the Chiefs.
Marv Levy did return to the Buffalo Bills in 2006 and spent two years as the team’s general manager. While it has been over 10 years since he served an official role with the team, he is still a big part of the Buffalo Bills. He recently congratulated Sean McDermott on his contract extension.
https://twitter.com/BuffaloBills/status/1294713397746061314
The naming of stadiums is very lucrative for NFL teams. These type of sponsorship deals total in the hundreds of millions but as Richard Luchette, the petition organizer, notes in the description the former Bills head coach is a living legend.
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There is also some precedent as the Buffalo Bills stadium previously was named after the franchise’s first owner, Ralph Wilson, from 1998 to 2015. It remains to be seen exactly what the next stadium name might be but there is no doubt that Marv Levy Stadium has a nice ring to it.