{"id":202459,"date":"2026-09-09T19:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/202459\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T19:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:28:08","slug":"bills-to-play-o-canada-at-home-opener-amid-strained-cross-border-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/202459\/","title":{"rendered":"Bills to play \u2018O Canada\u2019 at home opener amid strained cross-border relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A general, overall view of Highmark Stadium before a preseason NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, NY., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar)Gene J. Puskar\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The Buffalo Bills are taking a page out of the Sabres\u2019 playbook when it comes to cross-border relations.<\/p>\n

The NFL club says both O Canada and The Star-Spangled Banner will be performed before its Sept. 17 home opener against the Detroit Lions, the first regular-season game at the new Highmark Stadium.<\/p>\n

Canadian band Barenaked Ladies will perform O Canada, while actress and singer Auli\u02bbi Cravalho will perform the American anthem.<\/p>\n

The move comes as Canada-U.S. relations have deteriorated amid an escalating trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s repeated threats to Canadian sovereignty.<\/p>\n

The NHL\u2019s Sabres perform both national anthems before every home game, regardless of opponent, a tradition tied to Buffalo\u2019s proximity to the border and its strong Canadian fan base. In April, fans helped finish O Canada after the singer\u2019s microphone failed<\/a> during a Stanley Cup playoff game against Boston.<\/p>\n

The Bills also have deep ties north of the border, with the team saying last year that Canadian residents accounted for an average of 10 to 15 per cent of its season-ticket base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A general, overall view of Highmark Stadium before a preseason NFL football game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":["post-202459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}