Getty Josh Allen celebrates after a win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Josh Allen is welcoming back Canadian fans back to Buffalo in style.
The Buffalo Bills quarterback sent a message to the team’s up-north fans, who after two years are finally able to cross the border to support their team. Travel restrictions between the United States and Canada have finally been loosened enough to allow for non-essential travel, meaning Canadian fans can come to Orchard Park for the first time since the end of 2019. Allen and the team had a special message to welcome back their Canadian supporters.
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Allen Gets Dressed Up to Welcome Back Fans
In a message posted by the team on Saturday, Allen wore a pair of hockey gloves and a denim jacket — known by many as the “Canadian tuxedo” — to officially welcome Canadian fans back over the border and into Buffalo. The California-born-and-raised Allen adopted his best Canadian accent to deliver the message.
“Oh hey there Canada, sorry we missed ya,” Allen said, leaning hard into the Canadian pronunciation of “sorry” before dropping his hockey gloves and cracking open a can of Labatt’s beer. “Welcome back, Canada.”
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As Matt Warren of SB Nation’s Buffalo Rumblings noted, there are still some barriers for fans from the Great White North planning to travel to Highmark Stadium. While officials now allow for non-essential travel — trips to see Bills games were not seen as “essential” — those crossing the border still must have a negative COVID-19 PCR test to re-enter the country.
But Warren noted that the Bills are now able to get a sizeable chunk of their fanbase back into the stadium. The team notes that close to 20 percent of season-ticket holders are from Canada, and Canadian fans are so integral to the Buffalo sports scene that both the American and Canadian national anthems are played before every Buffalo Sabres home game.
A Long-Awaited Return
While it was difficult for many Bills fans to watch the stellar 2020 regular season with no chance to watch the team in person, it was particularly difficult for the Canadian fans frozen out when the team opened up limited seating for season-ticket holders during the two home playoff games. The border remained closed at the time, which had some fans considering extreme measures to see their beloved Bills. Canadian Wayne Kretz told the CBC last January that he was considering taking advantage of an expensive loophole just to see the team again.
“There’s a company doing helicopter trips to fly you over the border,” he said. “It crossed my mind but I think this is a team that could go all the way.
“If they go to Tampa [site of this year’s Super Bowl] I will seriously consider flying down and quarantining and doing all that . . . I’m that big of a fan.”
Canadian fans can return to #Bills games, but many are choosing not to travel to the U.S. due to cost of returning home
While the Bills fell just one game short of playing for the Super Bowl in Tampa, Kretz and other Canadian fans will be able to attend the rest of their games this season — as long as they’re willing to pay the roughly $150 to $200 for the required COVID-19 test.
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