Bills Central

Massive downtown Josh Allen poster saga takes very Buffalo turn

A massive poster of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was recently installed on a downtown Buffalo building. Its legality is now being questioned.

Kyle Silagyi

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Few figures throughout Western New York’s proud history with professional sports have been more beloved than current Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, so much so that fans almost unanimously celebrated when an 11-story poster displaying a black-and-white image of the franchise signal-caller was installed on the facade of the downtown Statler building this past weekend. The Buffalo quarterback now stoically watches over Niagara Square and, more broadly, the city, a physical manifestation of the almost superhero-like figure he’s evolved into throughout Western New York.

This story has taken a very Buffalo turn, however, as WIVB’s Dillon Morello reports that Douglas Development, the company that owns the Statler building, did not have the necessary permit to install the enormous poster. The city, per Morello, plans to let the poster remain hanging because it’s not a “permanent fixture,” but the Buffalo permit commissioner noted to the outlet that the company technically wasn’t allowed to hang the banner “because the zoning board is currently in recess and couldn’t issue a permit yet.”

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Douglas Development has reportedly been planning the installation for roughly a month and is currently working on obtaining the proper permit. The matter will be further discussed at an October board meeting, per WIVB.

It’s a humorous, but not unexpected turn for a saga like this to take, as the story, from a 30,000-foot view, serves as a fitting microcosm of the city of Buffalo: a developer installed a massive poster of the Bills’ quarterback on their building, but the act is now being questioned because of bureaucratic red tape. They’ll figure it all out later.

WIVB reports that the poster “will remain in place for the time being.” The banner serves as an advertisement for Gatorade as part of the sports drink manufacturer’s recently renewed “Is It In You?” campaign, which Allen was revealed as a face of in May; the company recently released a 30-second Allen-centric commercial chronicling the quarterback’s road to the NFL. It was played during the Amazon Prime broadcast of Buffalo’s Week 2 Thursday Night Football win over the Miami Dolphins.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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