Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Several members of "Bills Mafia" are ready to take London, England by storm this weekend, as the Buffalo Bills get ready to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
While some will eventually make their way across the pond and others may already be in London for this weekend's game, a group of 54 Bills fans boarded a tour bus on Thursday to head to Toronto, Ontario, where they will fly out on a one-way trip to London courtesy of AAA of Western and Central New York.
The plane will land in London on Friday, where Bills fans will have four days to enjoy what England has to offer, while also cheering on their favorite NFL team in the process.
For many of the fans making the trip to London on Thursday, the excitement levels were as high as they can be.
"Right now, probably about 100%. I'm pretty excited to go," said Bills fan Mike from Lancaster. "I've never been to London, and to see a Bills game there, it's pretty exciting."
"I'm about ready to burst. I can't get on this bus faster. Let's go Bills!," exclaimed Bills fan Diane Peterson from Corfu.
For Bills fan Sandy Silver from East Amherst, she was looking to plan a special trip somewhere to celebrate her sister's birthday, Jackie Hooper from Orchard Park. She says when the Bills were announced to play in London, it was nearly a no-brainer.
"We didn't know if we were gonna do it, and it was on a Friday when they called. I was like, 'I don't know, I don't know.' But then we talked on Sunday, and I said on Monday, 'I'm calling,'" said Hooper on Thursday. "So I call and there was only five left, and some of them were only singles. We were going together, we're sisters, so then I said, 'Oh my God, let's just do it.' So we did, and then I got one of the last couple that were left. So this is great."
Peterson also signed up for the trip to London as a surprise birthday gift to her husband, Ralph. While Ralph has been to Great Britain in the past, this trip holds a different amount of significance.
"I was surprised, and I'm glad I'm going," said Ralph Peterson before boarding the bus. "I go to one Bills road game every year anyway, so she mentioned it, and she's never been to Great Britain and I've been there before. I thought it'd be a good trip for us to go."
When Bills fan Norbert Bukowski from Springville heard about the team playing a game this season in London, he says it was an experience he and his sister wanted to share together.
"When I heard they were going to London, I was like, 'OK, it's either going to be Wembley [Stadium] or Tottenham,'" said Bukowski on Thursday. "Then my sister and I were driving to theatre one night and she said, 'You still thinking about London?' I said yeah, and she says, 'I want to go.' So that was it. The next day we booked, and we're off to London."
While watching the Bills play a game in London is already enough of an experience, Bukowski, like many others, are excited to see the team playing in a stadium that is likely to share plenty of similarities to the new state-of-the-art football stadium under construction right now in Orchard Park.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was opened in April of 2019 after a three-year construction period that saw one of the premier soccer stadiums being built in England. The 62,850-seat stadium was designed by the architectural and design company Populous, which happens to be the same company who was hired to design the elements of the Bills' new stadium along Abbott Road.
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"It's gonna be the prototype of our new stadium, so I'm very anxious to see that. I've always been interested in stadium architecture," Bukowski said.
"It's specifically built for the NFL and international soccer, and that's what's coming to us. Two years ago, I was watching the European soccer championships and saw the stadium, and I said, 'Why don't they build stadiums like this in our country?' And then five months ago, the Bills announced this is the company they chose to build it. Very exciting."
The architecture is also going to be a focus of Mike, as he's very keenly interested on what it's all going to potentially look like for future Bills games in Orchard Park.
"Part of it's covered, I'm kind of interested in that," he said. "I know we have an open-air stadium replicating that, but I was not a fan of the dome to begin with, so I'm excited to see what this is going to look like for our region."
For season ticket holders like the Petersons, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will hopefully give them a good idea of what could be in store for the new football stadium coming for Western New York by the start of the 2026 season.
"I'm interested to see how they cover the seats, because my complaint is sitting in the rain," Ralph Peterson said. "Supposedly, most of the seats are covered so you're not getting the rain, so I'm interested to see how that is. And also just moving around in the concourses and the spacing of the seating, all the little things that our stadium is kind of outdated for. I'm anxious to see what that's going to be like."
Meanwhile, Silver is also a Bills season ticket holder, and she's hoping with the nice weather forecast for Sunday in London, that will also give her an idea of how the overhanging roof/canopy will potentially work for the new stadium in Orchard Park.
"We sit on the sunny side. Sometimes it's great, because you're nice and warm. Days like last Sunday, it was really hot," Silver said. "I'm kind of hoping for some more overhang, whether it's heaters for the cold games and then shade for the sunnier games. I know it's gonna be a few less people that they're gonna be able to seat, we have great seats right now, so we're hoping to get similar great seats. That's what we're really hoping for."
So aside from Sunday's game, what else are Bills fans looking forward to experiencing during their time in London?
As part of the trip package from AAA, Bills fans will be getting the chance to experience some time touring Windsor Castle and the Tower of London, while also taking in a dinner cruise on the River Thames with other Bills fans. However, some fans will get a chance to explore the city on their own time.
"Monday we have a shopping trip at the Fortnum and Mason store, and that's where we're going to have afternoon tea in the evening before we head back to Western New York," Bukowski said.
For sisters Sandy and Jackie, they're looking forward to exploring some of the historical music settings that London has to offer.
"I can't wait to see Abbey Road and some of the other Beatles-type things or Rolling Stone things. So yeah, I'm excited," Silver said. "My husband wants a sweatshirt from the Rolling Stone store, so I've gotta look for that."
As for the Petersons, Diane is looking forward to seeing everything she possibly can on this trip with her husband. As for Ralph, it won't be so much certain attractions or locations he's looking forward to seeing. It's going to be how London will welcome and handle the influx of "Bills Mafia" taking over the city for a weekend.
"Their culture is so contrast to ours, and Bills fans go to have a good time. We don't really care whether you enjoy us having a good time or not, but we're going to have a good time," Peterson said. "We're not going to bother anybody, we're just going there to have a good time. That's going to be probably difficult for some of them to handle for the few days we're going to be there. I guarantee you there'll be some people making sure we're in our cabs or on our bus to catch the plane to go home on Monday."
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