A Buffalo bobsled. (Provided photo — Olympic Regional Development Authority)

The state Olympic Regional Development Authority will travel to Orchard Park in Buffalo on Sunday to showcase the “Buffalo Bobsled” — an authentic bobsled decked out in Buffalo Bill colors and logos — before the football team plays its second-to-last regular season home game.

The bobsled will be at the Billevard Fan Zone outside of Highmark Stadium prior to kickoff of the Bills’ game against the New England Patriots at 4:25 p.m. Sunday.

The inception of this unique Bills memorabilia started locally.

During a Jan. 7, 2024 Sunday Night Football game between the Bills and Miami Dolphins, NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth coined the term “Buffalo Bobsled” live on the air after Bills quarterback Josh Allen picked up critical yards several times through a “tush push” play.

This is a play where the ball is snapped to the quarterback, the offensive line gets a low center of gravity to overcome the defensive line, and other offensive players shove the quarterback forward, through the wall of athletes, to pick up a few yards.

Collinsworth commented on how the play looks similar to the start of a bobsled race, where athletes push the sled to build momentum at the top of the track. During the NBC coverage of the game, footage of bobsled pushes from the Olympics were shown on the broadcast.

Once on that night, the Bills got a first down on 3rd and inches on their 35-yard-line while they were down 7-14. The Bills went on to win the game 21-14.

NBC commentator Mike Tirico also gave an on-air shout-out to Saranac Lake native John Morgan, a U.S. National team bobsledder and sportscaster for many years. They know each other from years of working in the broadcast booth together.

“My phone lit up,” Morgan said.

Morgan sent Collinsworth and Tirico a note about the “Buffalo Bobsled” play that said, “The only way that works is if it’s straight-ahead.”

Morgan said a bobsled start and a tush push operate on the same principles.

“The greatest bobsled pusher, in my opinion, was Herschel Walker,” he said.

Walker was a member of the U.S. bobsled team in the 1992 Winter Olympics, a Heisman Trophy winner in college and a seasoned running back with the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants.

“He wasn’t famous for going around the end,” Morgan said of Walker’s football running. “He was famous for going straight ahead … Everything’s straight-ahead. Energy.”

Soon after the Jan. 7 game, “Buffalo Bobsled” merchandise started popping up. Morgan moved quickly. He had previously worked with the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, which put NASCAR drivers inside bobsleds. The challenge ended in 2010, and Morgan said they still have five sleds from it left.

So he got a NASCAR graphic artist to do the Bills-themed wrap. They were set to debut it during last season’s playoffs, but the next week, the Bills got eliminated from the playoffs by the eventual Super Bowl winners Kansas City Chiefs.

This year, they’re bringing the Bills sled to the 11-3 team’s last two regular season home games and into the playoffs. The Bills will take on the New York Jets at 1 p.m. on Dec. 29 at Highmark Stadium.

The Bills have clinched a playoff spot and are the number-two seed in the AFC behind the 13-1 Chiefs.

Five of Allen’s 11 rushing touchdown’s this season have been on the “Buffalo Bobsled” play, including four in the last two weeks against the Los Angeles Rams and the Detroit Lions.

Morgan has been hired to do marketing for World Bobsled Championships, and he saw this as a great promotion opportunity for the competitions, which are coming to Lake Placid in March for the 11th time since 1949. Morgan said they’re still using the same trophy since the championships started in 1930.

On Sunday, as the Bills prepare to take on the New England Patriots, Morgan will be at the stadium running ticket giveaways and giving people photo-ops in the bobsled.

“Hey, you’ve seen that bobsled in front of Zig-Zags (Pub in Lake Placid). How many times have you been by there and seen people get in there to get their picture taken?” Morgan said. “I bet you we get a few people sitting in that (Bills) sled.”

Following the recent news that Lake Placid has entered into targeted dialogue as the Plan B backup for sliding events during the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games, the display invites fans to sit in a professional bobsled to learn about sliding sports and upcoming events in Lake Placid, including the upcoming IBSF World Championships at Mount Van Hoevenberg, March 6 to 16.

“The IBSF World Championships is the premier event of the bobsled and skeleton season — the Super Bowl of the sport — annually crowning champions and creating career-defining moments for the best sliders in the world,” according to an ORDA news release on Wednesday. “Mount Van Hoevenberg has established a reputation as one of the most technical and iconic tracks in the world. The 2025 World Championships takes on added significance and notoriety as athletes and enthusiasts set their sights on the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.”

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Enterprise Sports Editor Parker O’Brien contributed to this report.