Buffalo Bills

For other uses, see Buffalo Bills (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Buffalo Bill, Buffalo Bill's, or Buffalo Bulls.

Buffalo Bills
Current season
Buffalo Bills logo
Buffalo Bills logo
Buffalo Bills wordmark
Buffalo Bills wordmark
LogoWordmark
Established October 28, 1959; 65 years ago (October 28, 1959)[1]
First season: 1960
Play in Highmark Stadium
Orchard Park, New York[2]
Headquartered in the ADPRO Sports Training Center (Orchard Park, New York)[3]
League / conference affiliations
American Football League (1960–1969)
  • Eastern Division (1960–1969)

National Football League (1970–present)

Uniforms
Team colorsRoyal blue, red, gray, white, navy blue[4][5][6]
         
Fight song"Shout"[7]
MascotBilly Buffalo
Websitebuffalobills.com
Personnel
Owner(s)
General managerBrandon Beane
PresidentTerry Pegula
Head coachSean McDermott
Team history
  • Buffalo Bills (1960–present)
Team nicknames
Championships
League championships (2)
Conference championships (4)
Division championships (14)
Playoff appearances (23)
Home fields
Team owner(s)

The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills are the only NFL team to play their home games within the state of New York.

Founded in 1959 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL), they joined the NFL in 1970 following the AFL–NFL merger.[8][9] The Bills' name is derived from an All-America Football Conference (AAFC) franchise from Buffalo that was in turn named after western frontiersman Buffalo Bill.[10] Drawing much of its fanbase from Western New York[11] and Southern Ontario,[12] the Bills are the only NFL team that plays home games in the state of New York.[a] The franchise is owned by Terry and Kim Pegula, who purchased the Bills after the death of the original owner Ralph Wilson in 2014.[13]

The Bills won consecutive AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965, the only major professional sports championships from a team representing Buffalo. After joining the NFL, they struggled heavily during the 1970s before becoming perennial postseason contenders from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Their greatest success occurred between 1990 and 1993 when they appeared in a record four consecutive Super Bowls, an accomplishment often overshadowed by the fact they lost all four. From the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, the Bills endured the longest playoff drought of 17 years in the four major North American professional sports, making them the last franchise in the four leagues to qualify for the postseason in the 21st century.[14][15] They returned to consistent postseason contention by the late 2010s,[16] although the Bills have not returned to the Super Bowl. Alongside the Minnesota Vikings, their four Super Bowl appearances are the most among NFL franchises that have not won the Super Bowl.[17][b]

  1. ^ "Buffalo Bills Team Facts". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  2. ^ "Highmark Stadium". BuffaloBills.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on July 15, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  3. ^ "ADPRO Sports Training Center new name for Bills fieldhouse and admin building". BuffaloBills.com (Press release). NFL Enterprises. June 17, 2014. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  4. ^ Ferrara, Kyle (November 11, 2015). "A look back at Bills uniform changes". BuffaloBills.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on July 1, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  5. ^ Miller, Dallas (April 5, 2015). "April 5 in Bills history: Charging Buffalo introduced as Bills logo". BuffaloBills.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  6. ^ "Buffalo Bills Team Capsule" (PDF). 2022 Official National Football League Record and Fact Book (PDF). NFL Enterprises. July 20, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  7. ^ Baker, Kelly (April 25, 2019). "Band Together. Press Play". BuffaloBills.com. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  8. ^ "Team Facts". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  9. ^ "Other football leagues of the past". ESPN.com. December 12, 2008. Retrieved July 31, 2024 – via ESPN Research.
  10. ^ "Important dates in Bills history: How the Bills got their name". BuffaloBills.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. November 30, 2015. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  11. ^ Meyer, Robinson (September 5, 2014). "Here Is Every U.S. County's Favorite Football Team (According to Facebook)". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  12. ^ Thomas, Thurman. "Canadian Bills fans converge on Toronto for first-ever 'Bills for the Six' event". Buffalo Bills. Archived from the original on September 14, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  13. ^ Sessler, Marc (October 8, 2014). "Bills sale to Terry, Kim Pegula unanimously approved". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  14. ^ Bergman, Jeremy (December 31, 2017). "Bills clinch first playoff spot since '99 with Ravens loss". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  15. ^ "Bills End Their Playoff Drought, and Tears Flow". The New York Times. Associated Press. December 31, 2017. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  16. ^ Lasting, Dante (January 11, 2021). "Bills Today | Bills reached these five milestones in their playoff victory". BuffaloBills.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  17. ^ Boclair, David (February 7, 2021). "Twelve Teams Have Never Won a Super Bowl. Which Ones Are Close?". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on February 7, 2021. Retrieved February 10, 2021.


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