The Buffalo Bills are making the move to their new Highmark Stadium after five decades at Ralph Wilson Stadium. They aren’t taking O.J. Simpson with them.
Simpson, the first inductee of the Bills’ Wall of Fame at their old home, will not be included in any of Highmark Stadium’s new displays inside or outside the stadium, team officials told WIVB News 4. That includes the Family Circle, an outdoor plaza that will feature plaques honoring Wall of Fame inductees.
From WIVB:
“We have made an organizational decision that he is not a fit to display inside our new stadium and family circle.” said Pete Guelli, chief operating officer for the Bills, in a statement on Saturday.
The Bills’ reason for doing this should hopefully be obvious. Simpson, who died in 2024, spent the final three decades of his life as a public pariah following a murder trial in which he was found not guilty for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
While he avoided prison over the matter, Simpson did not avoid repercussions in the court of public opinion or in a civil trial brought the families of Brown and Goldman. The effort to collect on the latter continued after his death. Simpson also did end up going to prison later in life after being found guilty in a separate armed robbery and kidnapping case.
The Bills kept Simpson on their Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium through all of that, but have apparently opted to clean the slate at their new home. It’s not a surprise, considering they didn’t even acknowledge Simpson’s death.
Simpson played nine of his 11 seasons with the Bills, earning NFL MVP honors in 1973 after becoming the league’s first player to break 2,000 yards in a single season. He retired second on the NFL’s all-time rushing list behind only Jim Brown.
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