The Bills will play “O Canada” before the Sept. 27 opener at new Highmark Stadium, using a 90-second pregame gesture to reassure a crucial Canadian fan base.
Southern Ontario accounts for about 18% of personal seat license deposits, and roughly 8,000 Canadians held season tickets last year—important support for the NFL’s smallest-capacity stadium.
The move comes as the team tries to protect demand after complaints over nearly $2,200 family-of-four costs, obstructed sightlines, tailgating limits and a late turf replacement.
Cross-border travel has also weakened: Canadians made about 7.1 million fewer U.S. trips in 2025, down 25%, and spent roughly C$3.3 billion less, raising the stakes for Buffalo’s retention effort.
The Bills are framing the anthem less as politics than customer service, extending a practice already used by owner Terry Pegula’s Buffalo Sabres to a football audience.