{"id":900474,"date":"2026-09-18T13:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/900474\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T13:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:24:17","slug":"buffalo-bills-home-opener-barenaked-ladies-sing-o-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/900474\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Bills home opener: Barenaked Ladies sing ‘O Canada’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadians cheering on the Buffalo Bills heard a familiar tune before the game on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

For the first time in the team\u2019s history and amid trade tensions between the two countries, \u201cO Canada\u201d was sung ahead of the Bills\u2019 home opener against the Detroit Lions at the newly constructed Highmark Stadium.<\/p>\n

Canadian rock band The Barenaked Ladies performed the bilingual version of the Canadian national anthem. Cheers were heard in the stadium after.<\/p>\n

Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer, who is from Brampton, Ont., was seen getting emotional during the anthem, wiping away tears.<\/p>\n

A giant Canadian flag was also on the field side by side with the American flag.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lions Bills Football Barenaked Ladies sing the Canadian national anthem before an NFL football game at Highmark Stadium between the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions in Orchard Park, N.Y., Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo\/Sue Ogrocki) <\/p>\n

Auli\u2019i Cravalho, the voice actress of \u201cMoana,\u201d performed \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many Canadian fans that join us every single game day north of the border,\u201d said Kate Husman, chief strategy officer for the Buffalo Bills, in an interview with CTV News on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bills are Canada\u2019s team, and we felt like this was a meaningful gesture as a border town, as a neighbour town, to honour those Canadian fans who have supported the Bills for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Husman told CTV News that 12 per cent of Bills season ticket holders are Canadian, and the organization estimates between 15 and 20 per cent of fans at home Bills games are Canadian.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had fans travelling across the border for generations,\u201d said Husman.<\/p>\n

The move comes in the midst of an escalating trade war between Canada and the U.S.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 8, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders that effectively banned the import of a number of Canadian products, including alcoholic beverages, dairy products, and motorcycles.<\/p>\n

The move came hours after<\/a> Ottawa placed counter-tariffs on roughly 700 American products.<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, the gesture carries particular significance for some Canadians, including Brian Beaulieu of Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very special for us. This is a beautiful gesture,\u201d Beaulieu said in an interview with CTV News.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bills fan Sept.17 Bruno Beaulie spoke in an interview with CTV News’ ahead of tonight’s game. <\/p>\n

He said he has been a Bills fan for 35 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bills is a family. And to sing the national anthem for us, for Canada, it\u2019s going to be very emotional tonight. Maybe my daughter is gonna cry. Maybe me too,\u201d said Beaulieu.<\/p>\n

At the Keybank Centre, home of the Buffalo Sabres, the Canadian anthem is nothing new. In May, fans sung \u201cO Canada\u201d<\/a> during a playoff game between the Sabres and Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s game is set to kick off at 8:15 p.m. EST.<\/p>\n

With files from CTV News Toronto\u2019s Sean Leathong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadians cheering on the Buffalo Bills heard a familiar tune before the game on Thursday evening. For the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[712,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-900474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-apple-news","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}