BUFFALO, N.Y. — A video of a Buffalo Bills fan being told to cover up their pro-Donald Trump t-shirt went viral on social media after it was posted Sunday night on Facebook.
Dave Buffamonti, a 30-year season ticket holder, tells 2 On Your Side that shortly after taking his seat in the 115 section of Highmark Stadium he noticed several security guards looking at him.
"I'm sitting there, a security guard comes up to me. He's staring me down a little bit," Buffamonti said. "I said, 'is this going to be a problem,' or something like that."
Buffamonti was wearing a t-shirt supporting Donald Trump, and also had a mini-flag that supported the Republican candidate for President.
"[I] had that out for maybe about 20 seconds, and they said 'No, that you can have the flag, but the shirts okay.'"
A few moments later, according to Buffamonti, security once again came over and told him to cover up the t-shirt.
"I didn't know there was rules and regulations, and didn't go to the game intention to break any rules or regulations," Buffamonti said. "But they said that they got a call from up above, and they instructed him to inform the me that I couldn't wear it."
That's when veteran and season ticket holder James Raymond, who sits near Buffamonti, began filming the incident.
"I immediately was appalled," Raymond said. "Around the stadium yesterday, there were multiple Trump hats, multiple political shirts that I saw. I was just surprised that it was happening in front of me for a rule I have never heard about."
According to the video posted by Raymond, security said that apparel with political messaging of any kind is no longer allowed inside Highmark Stadium.
In the current list of prohibited items on the Buffalo Bills website, one of the bullet points indicates "clothing or material with profane language or obscene graphics or anything political in nature" are not allowed.
But this appears to be a recent change, within the last month.
According to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, a tool used for tracking changes to websites, the Buffalo Bills did not have "anything political in nature" on the prohibition list as of October 7.
2 On Your Side reached out to the Buffalo Bills for a comment about the policy change, but have not received a response. WGRZ also reached out to the NFL for clarification on league policies, but have not received a response.
Several fans can be heard in the viral video saying that this is a violation of their first amendment rights.
Joe Finnerty, an attorney and partner at Finnerty Osterreicher & Abdulla, says that it's a complicated area of first amendment law.
"Generally speaking, if a place is a public forum, then you've got to allow freedom of speech," Finnerty said. "But if the bills have a leasehold interest that allows them to set these kind of rules, then they can create reasonable restrictions."
Finnerty says that when a fan buys a ticket to a Bills game, they're agreeing to the terms of the stadium policy established by the team—which is akin to signing a contract.
"If you buy the ticket to go into a privately controlled premises, it may be that you are deemed voluntarily to have abridged in some way your first amendment rights," Finnerty said.
A spokesperson for Erie County confirmed that the current lease agreement allows the Buffalo Bills to freely change the prohibited items list without county approval.