Jul 15, 2020 2 min read

New Era pulls out of naming rights deal

New Era Field will no longer be the name of the Buffalo Bills home stadium, after the global sports headware and clothing apparel company asked to be released from its naming rights and sponsorship agreement.

No reason was provided for the move, announced Wednesday, though it comes a little over a week after New Era Cap Company laid off 117 employees at its Buffalo-based headquarters.

The layoffs drew criticism from Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who questioned the decision after New Era accepted between $5 and $10 million in a Paycheck Protection Program loan to retain nearly 500 jobs.

Wallace crashed out

Bubba Wallace was wrecked out of the qualifying race for NASCAR’s annual All-Star event, ruining his shot of racing for the $1 million prize.

One driver advanced into the All-Star race through a fan vote and Wallace had been leading when results were last updated by NASCAR a week ago. After he crashed 17 laps into Wednesday night’s qualifying race — which awarded three additional slots to stage winners into the 20-driver All-Star field — he was no longer eligible to win the fan vote.

It didn’t matter, anyway. Clint Bowyer was named winner of the fan vote and NASCAR said he received the most votes even with Wallace eliminated. Aric Almirola advanced by winning the first stage, William Byron for winning the second stage and Matt DiBenedetto for winning the third stage.

Baffert suspended

Two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert was suspended for 15 days on Wednesday by Oaklawn Park stewards and two of his horses were disqualified in Arkansas after testing positive for a banned substance.

His horses Charlatan and Gamine each tested positive for lidocaine in two rounds of testing after winning races at the Hot Springs, Arkansas, track May 2. The stewards disqualified both horses and stripped them of their purse earnings. Charlatan’s owners lost $300,000 in purse money; Gamine’s owners forfeited $36,000.