The OJ Simpson era will not be part of the Buffalo Bills' next chapter. As the franchise prepares to open its new Highmark Stadium, team officials have confirmed that the Hall of Fame running back will not be included among the franchise legends recognized in the venue's new "family circle" history exhibit, making him the lone omission from the club's former Wall of Fame.
According to ESPN, the Bills' new outdoor gathering space is designed to celebrate the team's history and its connection to Western New York, featuring displays honoring franchise icons alongside the club's three signature bison statues. While nearly every player previously recognized on the Wall of Fame will appear in the new installation, team leadership decided Simpson would not.
"We have made an organizational decision that he is not a fit to display inside our new stadium and family circle," Bills president of business operations Pete Guelli said in a statement.
Behind the scenes, the Bills reportedly weighed whether to include Simpson as recently as this spring, with designers preparing plans for either outcome before the organization reached its final decision. His name had remained on the Wall of Fame at the team's previous stadium since its creation in 1980, despite years of public debate surrounding his place in franchise history.
The decision closes the book on one of the most complicated legacies in NFL history. Buffalo selected Simpson with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1969 AFL-NFL Draft, and he spent nine seasons with the franchise, becoming one of football's most dominant offensive players.
In 1973, he became the first running back in league history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season, finishing with 2,003 yards in just 14 games while earning NFL MVP honors.
He was later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1985. Simpson also helped define Buffalo's famed "Electric Company" offensive line era, a period still remembered by longtime fans.
Simpson's football accomplishments were eventually overshadowed by decades of legal controversy. He was acquitted in the widely watched 1995 criminal trial stemming from the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman after what became known as the "Trial of the Century."
Two years later, a civil jury found him liable for their wrongful deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages, though Simpson consistently maintained his innocence.
His legal troubles continued in 2008, when he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping charges tied to a Las Vegas sports memorabilia incident, and later served prison time before being released on parole in 2017.
Simpson died from cancer in April 2024 at age 76. At the time, the Bills notably chose not to issue a public statement acknowledging his passing.
