Vaccinations Could Be Required For Fans At Bills, Sabres Games

BUFFALO, NY — There's no pro football fan experience quite like the one shown by supporters of the Buffalo Bills, and the team could become unique in another way as the only one mandating its in-person fans to be fully vaccinated from the coronavirus.

Surely the members of the self-described "Bills Mafia" — known for jumping through tables, and in a few instances, through fire — can withstand a pair of vaccine shots. They will need to if a plan outlined by officials in Erie County, New York, this week is implemented before the 2021 season starts in the fall.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz outlined a plan that would allow full capacity attendance at Bills games at Highmark Stadium and Buffalo Sabres home games at the KeyBank Center as early as this fall, WGRZ was among the first to report. The plan comes with the stipulation that all fans must prove they have received the coronavirus vaccine.

"No vaccine = no entry," Poloncarz wrote on Twitter in a description of the plan.

The county executive said he wants to see the Bills home field "full" as the team comes off their most successful season in nearly two decades.

"I know the Bills want to see that stadium full. We want to return fans to the stadium," Poloncarz said in the WGRZ report. He said the vaccination proof can be done by using the state of New York's "Excelsior Pass" app, the first so-called "vaccine passport" to be approved in the United states.

The only safe way to have a full house for @BuffaloBills and @BuffaloSabres games this fall is if all are vaccinated. Do your part, #GetVaccinated and then cheer on our teams in person this Fall!

Get an appointment here: https://t.co/WIdYJfoCjA or here https://t.co/YpNhJGQz9k pic.twitter.com/9rRKBPo4q0
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) April 13, 2021

Although all details and possible exceptions haven't been ironed out, the possibility of this policy received some immediate pushback from some fans. Most notably, Rachel Bush, the wife of Bills strong safety Jordan Poyer, called it "unconstitutional" in several tweets made opposing the mandated vaccinations for fans possibility.

"We have pregnant wives. Wives who are breast-feeding. Wives who have already had Covid (so it’s dangerous to get vaccinated now) etc etc.," Bush wrote in one tweet, later sharing a Change.org petition opposing Poloncarz' vaccination plan that has garnered more than 2,000 signatures in 24 hours.

"NONE of us are comfortable with getting the vaccine. NONE of us should be forced to do so in order to watch our own husbands play live," she added.

Poloncarz said in the WKRG report that mandating vaccinations as a way to get full capacity at pro sporting events is "to ensure the safety of our public."

"You have no guaranteed right in the Constitution to inflict illness on other people just like you have no guaranteed right in the Constitution to attend a Buffalo Bills football game," he said. "It's a license when you buy a ticket. It's granted. You can be removed at any time."

The Bills said they would comply with any state or local decision regarding fans, according to WGRZ. The team went without fans during the entire 2020 regular season, but did allow a small capacity of attendees at the team's two playoff home games, wins against the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens.