New Era Asks To Be Released From Their Stadium Naming Rights Agreement
It looks like New Era is trying to cut ties with Buffalo. They closed a plant, laid off a bunch of workers & now want out of their naming rights agreement with The Bills.
What started out as such a great story for a local company is becoming more and more sour by the day.
It all started when New Era started hitting it big. They got contracts with Major League Baseball, then football, then other sports. It was a proud moment for Buffalo. But somewhere along the line, things have gotten bitter.
First came the closing of the manufacturing plant in Derby. Many people lost their jobs that day. It started to look up again when New Era struck an agreement with The Buffalo Bills to have the naming rights to their stadium. People started to really believe that there was a "new era" coming for The Bills. We had a new coach, a new general manager, and soon after got a new quarterback named Josh Allen.
Recently, however, things took another turn for the worse as over 100 people in the downtown headquarters were laid off.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz even said the other day that he refused to call the stadium where the Bills played "New Era Field." He said essentially that the field was owned by the taxpayers of Erie County and as long as New Era kept laying them off, he would refuse to call it by that name.
Today, New Era has asked to be released from their naming rights agreement with The Buffalo Bills:
There was never a reason given as to why they were choosing to pull out of the agreement, but The Bills say they are in the process of pursuing a new naming rights partner for the stadium.