Jacksonville, Fla. (WBEN) - If there's one thing "Bills Mafia" knows how to do is party and celebrate the Buffalo Bills as a family. And it's no different among Bills fans, no matter where you may be in the country or even the world.
Over the last several weeks, Bill Koch - originally from Angola - has been watching the standings and preparing for a potential playoff trip for the Bills to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. Following Buffalo's win on Sunday and securing the 6-seed in the AFC standings, the Bills will take on the 3-seed Jaguars in the AFC Wild Card Round.
"We were hoping it was going to come down to this," said Koch, who serves as the vice president of the Bills Backers of Jacksonville group. "It's not very often the Bills come here to play Jacksonville, and it's been a while since they've been down here. But we're prepared, the owner of our club is prepared. ... We're being overwhelmed by Facebook and text messaging by everybody and anybody that's coming to Jacksonville, wanting to know where they can go."
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The last time the Bills were in Jacksonville to face the Jaguars came back in 2021, just out of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While that year still saw several Bills fans flock to Jacksonville for the game, Koch is anticipating this time around to substantially more crowded.
"The owner of Players Grille and his businesses, he's got a couple clubs downtown at some of the major hotels down there. And because the fact he's 100% in on our Jacksonville Bills Backers, he is going out of his way to make sure there's plenty of advertising and whatnot to bring in as many people we can to Jacksonville," Koch mentioned with WBEN. "The flyers are already circulating through Buffalo, and I think it's going to be the biggest event in history down here in Jacksonville, besides the Super Bowl."
Even the last time the Bills faced the Jaguars in the playoffs, it came back in 2018 in Jacksonville, just after Buffalo had snapped its 17-year long playoff drought in dramatic fashion the week before. That playoff game saw Jacksonville become a party hub for "Bills Mafia", and Koch expects much of the same in 2026.
"Everybody's anticipating it being bigger," Koch said. "We have several people reaching out to us that say, 'Hey, look, I went to that last event we had, and it was big.' It got to the point where there were so many Bills fans, they had to shut some things down, because you know how Bills fans are. We're 100% 'Mafia' and we're there for the team, but I think with all the advertising we have right now, we've had several contacts from TV stations and radio stations - not only in Buffalo, but in Jacksonville as well - wanting to know what's going on and when it's happening. So I think the event is going to be bigger."
On a normal football weekend in Jacksonville, Koch says Bills fans get together for every Bills game, whether it's a Monday, Thursday or Sunday. He adds himself and president Mike Chacinski are constantly taking reservations to ensure they can take people for a given week.
"There are a lot of Bills Backers clubs here in Florida, and people passing through, they just want to know where to go. So it's weekly - from Monday through Sunday until the game starts - trying to take care of all the out-of-towners and even the people in Jacksonville," Koch noted. "Jacksonville is a big city, and we have a big population of people from Buffalo. I don't know what it is that Jacksonville has that Buffalo likes, but we have a big population of people from the Buffalo area down here. So we're always constantly busy trying to make sure that the event is a success on every game."
So what's in store for Bills fans this weekend planning the trip to Jacksonville for the playoff game against the Jaguars?
"Our Bills Backers club is at a place called Players Grille, which is in Mandarin. The owner also owns a Prudential Club downtown, and then he also owns another Players Grille as well downtown. So there's events happening at all three," Koch noted. "Friday, they're going to do 7 p.m.-to-9 p.m. karaoke, live music at the Players Grille in Mandarin. We have live music at the Prudential Club. Saturday's an all-day party at all three locations for any Bills fans that want to go. It's big."
Koch appreciates how the hype is already so big, and that people realize this is a big game for not just the Bills, but also the Backers club.
"I just appreciate the fact that people are reaching out and want to make this thing happen as much as what we and the fans in Jacksonville want to happen," he said.
