The Buffalo Bills Won’t Honor OJ Simpson In Their New Stadium, Even If He Was The First Name On Their Wall Of Fame.

The Buffalo Bills Won’t Honor OJ Simpson In Their New Stadium, Even If He Was The First Name On Their Wall Of Fame.

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Focus on Sports / Focus on Sports

By Jerome London

OJ Simpson was the first name inducted into the Bills’ Wall of Fame back in 1980, and his name remained on display there for decades through the years of debate.

That culminates in the $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, where franchise legends are honored in a family-friendly, public, park-like outdoor area with three large bison statues and illuminated plaques of Wall of Fame members. The family-oriented framework makes COO Pete Guelli’s words more difficult: Simpson “doesn’t deserve to be shown inside our new platform with the family,” he told PEOPLE. According to ESPN, his name may be the only name from the old Wall of Fame that will not be inducted, and the debate over his induction was still ongoing as recently as this spring.

Buffalo Bills running back OJ Simpson wearing a blue number 32 jersey, holding a helmet, against a red background in the early 1970s.
Wearing his number 32 jersey, OJ Simpson takes an official photo as a Buffalo Bills running back in the early 1970s. Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images.

He is still in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Bills are enshrining him in their honor while the National Hall of Fame keeps him in.

OJ Simpson in a black suit and blue patterned tie walking in front of a brick wall.
OJ Simpson, wearing a black suit and patterned tie, arrives at a Nevada court during his 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping trial. Photo by Judy Eddy / WENN.

ESPN and Buffalo CBS affiliate WIVB broke the news on June 27, just four days after the stadium’s grand opening. Guelli’s statement to PEOPLE followed a day later.

OJ Simpson and his girlfriend Christina are sitting together smiling at a restaurant with drinks on the table.
OJ Simpson smiles next to his girlfriend Christina at the Astor restaurant in South Beach, Miami, on September 24, 1999. Photo by Manny Hernandez / WENN.

Simpson was the first overall pick by Buffalo in the 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft and played nine seasons with the team in 1978 before ending his career with the 49ers. He became the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season in 1973, finished with 2,003 in a 14-game streak, and was named NFL Player of the Year three times in the ’70s. He was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman in 1995 but was later convicted in a civil court, served nine years for armed robbery, and died in 2024 at the age of 76.

OJ Simpson in a black suit and striped tie walks on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, carrying papers.
Holding documents under his arm, OJ Simpson leaves a Santa Monica courthouse in 1997 during a public hearing. Photo by Mega Agency.

Highmark Stadium officially opened on June 23. The Bills play their regular season opener there against the Detroit Lions on September 17.

Black and white portrait of a smiling, bearded OJ Simpson wearing a newsboy cap and an open collar patterned shirt.
A bearded OJ Simpson laughs during a sit-down interview with the Toronto Sun following a Buffalo Bills practice in Buffalo, NY, in October 1975. Photo by Michael Peake / Toronto Sun / QMI Agency.

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