Small, Insignificant Group of Buffalo Bills Fans Upset About New Vaccine Requirement
The Buffalo Bills lost their home opener to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in front of 67,000 people, a few thousand short of a sellout. That was before Pegula Sports & Entertainment and Erie County announced that by the time the Bills play their next home game against the Washington Football Team on September 26th, all fans over 12 must have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine to enter Highmark Stadium.
A small but vocal group of Western New Yorkers are not happy about this.
WIVB found some of those people, including a woman named Kylie who will now be forced to sell her Eric Church floor seats because fans will be subject to the same protocols at KeyBank Center starting on the 25th. “Those that are going, I hope they enjoy the concerts and those that can’t, stand your ground and do what you think is right for yourself," said Kylie. If you know Kylie, let her that Church thinks she should get vaccinated.
As for Bills fans, well, they're doing their own research with dozens(!) calling a local attorney. Via WIVB:
Attorney Corey Hogan says his office is now considering legal action based on the flood of calls he’s received over the vaccine requirement at both Highmark Stadium and KeyBank Center.
“Probably have now received between 75 and hundred calls from obviously very upset disgruntled fans feeling that the Bills have pulled the rug out from underneath them in terms of what their expectations were,” Hogan told us.
It is likely that many Bills tickets and concert tickets will sell for less than market value over the coming days because of this new rule and the uncertainty of refunds.
While 75-100 phone calls must seem like a lot to the people answering the phone at Hogan's office, it's actually a very small percentage of people who have purchased tickets. In fact, 100 people out of the 71,000 seats available for every Buffalo Bills game is just .0014%, which is less than the .002% (1 in 500) of Americans who have died from COVID. Guess what? If we're supposed to shrug off that amount of death, we can sure as hell shrug off that many selfish Western New Yorkers being "disgruntled."
Two people who are not OK with fans getting less than market value for their tickets are Bills players Cole Beasley and Reid Ferguson who are offering to buy people's tickets. Hopefully, they will keep this up all season to prove how strong their convictions are.