Buffalo on the Hudson

By Stacey Lastoe

Diana King, one of the owners of Fulton Ale House, wasn’t sure how many people would show up to her Bed-Stuy sports bar for Sunday’s Buffalo Bills game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. Instead of the typical Sunday afternoon start time, kick-off for the exhibition game was at 9:30 a.m. Not exactly prime drinking hours. Though, in a nod to her native Buffalo, Governor Kathy Hochul, via special permitting, allowed bars to open — and start serving — as early as 8.

It turns out King had nothing to worry about. Plenty of fans were up bright and early. “It was standing room only, basically, by the time I got there, which was, maybe, 9:45 or 9:40 a.m.,” says Sean Connelly, who doesn’t get out to watch the games much these days with 14-month-old twins at home.

On any given Sunday, fans congregate in one of several Bills-friendly bars across the borough. At least three of them — Fulton Ale House, Redd’s Tavern, and Bull’s, Beers, Bullseyes — are listed as official Bills Backers Chapters on the Buffalo Bills’ website. But they’re hardly the only Brooklyn bars where Buffalo fans gather each week: Bonnie’s Grill in Park Slope, Shenanigan’s in Kensington, WingBar in Carroll Gardens and Greenwood Park in South Slope are among the many that routinely screen games and welcome diehard fans — also known as the Mafia.

Connelly, who grew up going to games in Buffalo with his dad, is reluctant to call himself a member of #BillsMafia (“I’m almost 40!”) but nonetheless appreciates the community available to him in his adopted Brooklyn. Game day means crushing Labatt Blue with fellow hopeful fans and singing the “Shout” song, a staple of Bills fandom since 1987. (The Isley Brothers’ classic was rejiggered and sung by Scott Kemper and includes such lines as, “The Bills make me wanna shout, kick your heels up and shout, throw your hands up and shout.…”)

In addition to playing the anthem at her bar, King, a Buffalo native who moved to the city in 1984 for school, says Fulton Ale House also sounds a horn on every third down. “We try to make it as much like a stadium experience as you get.”

‘You gotta get here early for a seat’
Redd’s Tavern also plays the Shout song and all of their TVs — plus two projection screens in the bar’s backyard — are tuned in to every game. Opened by Meghan Nelson, a Buffalo native who still tends bar during Bills games, the 21-year-old Williamsburg bar has been registered as a Backers chapter since 2017. Nelson is proud to serve Labatt Blue by the pitcher ($12) in addition to “sick merch,” including hats and T-shirts. They do raffles and giveaways on game day and opened at 8:30 a.m. for the Sunday game. They were full by 8:45. But then again, that’s true for every Bills game, Nelson says. “You gotta get there early for a seat. And everyone knows it.”

Bonnie’s Grill on 5th Avenue in Park Slope was open for the London game as well (a game the Bills lost, in spite of the Buffalo-filled crowd in blue and red gear) and was at capacity. Steven Rodriguez, who only took over ownership of the bar/restaurant in December, says he wasn’t initially planning to open early, but after the fifth person inquired, he decided he had to make it happen.

“It was amazing,” he says of the recent Sunday game. “I did not think everybody was going to show.”

Rodriguez, who had a fourth TV installed outside where there’s an area for outdoor dining, says, “When the Bills are on, every TV is on the Bills.” Likewise at Fulton Ale House, when Buffalo is playing, all seven television sets are tuned to it.

Maddie and Taylor Wood are sisters from Upstate who both work nights and weekends at Greenwood Park, a sprawling beer garden in South Slope, to supplement their public school day job incomes. They got into the Bills several years ago and have grown more passionate with each passing season. Having the games on while they’re working doesn’t hurt — nor does the increasing number of Bills fans showing up each week. “Each year, we’re getting more and more Bills fans,” says Taylor. “So hopefully, that stays true so we can continue to keep the Bills Mafia strong.”

As far as the “Shout” song goes, Greenwood Park doesn’t play it over the loudspeakers (only Jets and Giants games get audio on the dozen or so TVs inside and out at the bar — for now), but both Wood sisters say they do their part to try to get a little sing-a-long going. “A lot of times,” says Maddie, “fans will follow.”