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- Mar 16, 2019
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The Bills don’t have a new stadium, but they do have a new stadium name.
Bills Stadium is changing names to Highmark Stadium after the team reached a 10-year agreement for naming rights with health insurer Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York, the Sports Business Journal reports.
The team announced the deal shortly after news broke.
The 48-year-old stadium located in Orchard Park originally was called Rich Stadium. It changed names to Ralph Wilson Stadium from 1998 to 2015 before New Era bought naming rights for seven years and $35 million in 2016.
But the struggling hat manufacturer requested a release from its naming rights and sponsorship deal last summer, and the team played last season in Bills Stadium.
The Bills were seeking $6 million annually last year, SBJ reports, but it is not known what Highmark paid for naming rights.
The team is seeking to upgrade the stadium, which is owned by Erie County, via a lease that runs through 2023, according to SBJ.
Highmark was known as HealthNow New York Inc. until March when it affiliated with Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health and assumed its name.