On October 8, 2014, Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula received unanimous approval to acquire the Bills during the NFL owners' meetings, becoming the second ownership group of the team after team founder Ralph Wilson. The rise of the division rival New England Patriots under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, along with numerous failed attempts at rebuilding in the 2000s and 2010s, helped prevent the Bills from reaching the playoffs in seventeen consecutive seasons between 20, a 17-year drought that was the longest active playoff drought in all major professional sports at the time. After being pushed to the brink of failure in the mid-1980s, the collapse of the United States Football League and a series of highly drafted players such as Jim Kelly (who initially played for the USFL instead of the Bills), Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith and Darryl Talley allowed the Bills to rebuild into a perennial contender in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, a period in which the team won four consecutive AFC Championships the team nevertheless lost all four subsequent Super Bowls, records in both categories that still stand.

Alongside the Minnesota Vikings, their four Super Bowl appearances are the most among NFL franchises that have not won the Super Bowl.įollowing the AFL–NFL merger, the Bills were generally mediocre in the 1970s but featured All-Pro running back O.

They returned to consistent postseason contention by the late 2010s, although the Bills have not returned to the Super Bowl. From the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, the Bills endured the longest playoff drought of 17 years in the four major North American professional sports, making them the last franchise in the four leagues to qualify for the postseason in the 21st century. Their greatest success occurred between 19 when they appeared in a record four consecutive Super Bowls, an accomplishment often overshadowed by their losing each game. After joining the NFL, they struggled heavily during the 1970s before becoming perennial postseason contenders from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The Bills won consecutive AFL Championships in 19, the only major professional sports championships from a team representing Buffalo. The franchise is owned by Terry and Kim Pegula, who purchased the Bills after the death of the original owner Ralph Wilson in 2014. Drawing much of its fanbase from Western New York and Southern Ontario, the Bills are the only NFL team that plays home games in the state of New York. The Bills' name is derived from an All-America Football Conference (AAFC) franchise from Buffalo that was in turn named after western frontiersman Buffalo Bill.

The team plays its home games at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.įounded in 1959 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL), they joined the NFL in 1970 following the AFL–NFL merger. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. AFL championships (pre-1970 AFL–NFL merger) (2).

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