Buffalo Bills Honor Memory Of Charlie Kirk With Pregame Video
Buffalo crowd stands as team plays video tribute to Charlie Kirk
Week 3 of the NFL season has begun and there are teams that did not host games last week following Charlie Kirk's murder that are now at home this week. The Buffalo Bills are one of those, and they honored the slain founder of Turning Point USA prior to their Thursday night game.
Bills Played Video On Scoreboards
The Bills welcomed the Miami Dolphins to Highmark Stadium and prior to Thursday's game, the club in Western New York played a 20-30 second video of Kirk on its big screens throughout the stadium.
It's not clear if the Bills asked the crowd to stand and acknowledge Kirk, but the sellout crowd did so organically.
And that changes the so-called scoreboard of NFL teams that did and did not honor Kirk following his assassination last week.
Now 10 Teams Have Honored Kirk
Last Thursday night, the NFL mandated a tribute during the Thursday night game between the Washington Commanders and Green Bay Packers. But that's where the league left it.
The rest, the league chief spokesperson told OutKick, would be up to individual home teams.
And we kept track of which did. And which did not.
So the current tally, including the Bills, is 10 teams did mention or actively acknowledge Kirk's passing. Seven teams did not. Amazon Prime, which showed the NFL tribute in Green Bay, did not air the Bills video tribute.
And this is where geography matters, folks.
It makes sense for some teams to acknowledge Kirk because they're in red states or red towns where conservatives sort of expect this. And there are teams in blue cities and states that might have decided to do nothing based on their fan base.
Bills And Jets Spurn Politics
The New York Jets honored Kirk and that team plays in blue New Jersey and represents blue New York City.
The Bills?
They are actually New York state's only legitimate team. Buffalo is a blue city. And Western New York has been a Democrat Party stronghold for nearly a century.
That merits extra recognition for those two teams. They did something that is perhaps politically unpopular in their area by honoring a conservative icon.
That's something.