Longtime Bills radio voice John Murphy denied press box credential, suspects it’s tied to critical column

John Murphy called Buffalo Bills games for 34 years, and this season, he can’t even get into the press box at the team’s new stadium.

According to Buffalo News writer Alan Pergament, Murphy believes the exclusion stems from a column he wrote in August that singled out rookie head coach Joe Brady as the biggest threat to the team’s season. Two days after it ran, Murphy says WIVB-TV sports director Josh Reed told him the station couldn’t obtain credentials for him or his longtime photographer, citing a policy against issuing them to part-time contributors.

Murphy stopped short of connecting the dots definitively, but he didn’t hide his suspicions either.

“I think so, but I don’t know,” he told the paper.

The circumstances make that explanation hard to take at face value. Murphy says Bills VP of marketing Chris Jenkins had assured him in mid-July that his credential was secure for the season, even walking him through where he’d sit for a preseason game. The Brady column, published more than a month later, became his last piece on WIVB’s website. A follow-up column predicting a 10-win season never ran, and a digital producer reportedly told Murphy the site had been instructed to hold it under pressure from the team.

Murphy spent 16 years as the team’s color analyst before moving into the play-by-play chair for 19 more, earning the “Voice of the Buffalo Bills” moniker along the way, until a stroke in late 2022 abruptly ended his run in the booth. He formally retired from broadcasting in 2024, and owner Terry Pegula, in a statement, called him a Western New York institution and said he hoped Murphy would stay connected to the organization.

He still found a seat in the WGR radio booth last season, though he’s unsure whether the station or the team granted him that access.

The press box at the new Highmark Stadium is reportedly small, which may have made it hard for Murphy to find a seat even without the column. But short of an explanation, Murphy isn’t chasing one down, telling the Buffalo News he has no plans to press the Bills or the station and would rather just watch the games from home.

“They didn’t fight for me,” he said. “It wasn’t that bad. I am insulted. But I don’t care anymore. I’ll watch on TV. That’s fine. I don’t want people feeling sorry for me.”