Bills Mafia organized for large gatherings in Denver: ‘Bills fans will buy their tables at Walmart’
Wide receiver Elijah Moore was with the Buffalo Bills for just nine games this season, but that was plenty of time for him to get a good look at their fan base.
“Those fans are crazy,’’ said Moore, now on the Broncos’ practice squad. “They’re crazy, loyal fans. What you see is what you get.”
The fans long have been known as Bills Mafia, and plenty will be on hand Saturday when Buffalo faces Denver in a divisional playoff game at Empower Field at Mile High.
With ticket prices on the secondary market ranging from $400 to $6,800, it remains to be seen how many thousand Bills fans will make it inside. Regardless, there will be plenty of them outside the stadium.

Mark Sarnowski, president of the Colorado Bills Backers club, said there will be two large, organized Bills tailgate parties. One will be at the Ironworks event venue near the stadium and the other will be in a stadium parking lot that Sarnowski is running through Fans of Buffalo, a national organization.
At the Fans of Buffalo gathering, Bills supporters can buy a ticket for $89.50 for unlimited food and drinks, including alcohol. Sarnowski estimates about 700 Bills fans will be on hand.
“We stay strong,’’ said Sarnowski, 56, who has lived in Denver for 32 years after growing up in the Buffalo area. “Our heart is always with Buffalo and we always show up. No matter where you are, you are always from Buffalo.”
Sarnowski said there are about 5,000 members of Colorado Bills Backers and about 500 regularly watch Bills games in Denver at Jackson’s LODO bar. He figures that number could swell to 1,000 for Saturday’s game, which gets underway at 2:30 p.m.
In the stadium parking lot, Sarnowski expects some breaking of tables. It has become a tradition for Bills fans to jump onto and crush tables.
“If I’m a betting man, there definitely will be some broken tables,’’ Sarnowski said. “Some fans will show up with them. But you got to buy the right ones. Some are built with a crossbar, but they will hurt your back.”
Sarnowski said he bought about 15 tables for the season at about $80 apiece, and a number have been broken by jumpers in the patio at Jackson’s LODO.
Avid Bills fan Ken Johnson said the breaking of tables became big in Buffalo about 10 years ago but has slowed down in recent years in games at Highmark Stadium.
“Most tailgaters stopped doing it because tables cost $100 and it was hurting their budget a lot,’’ Johnson said.
Johnson, though, said the tradition has remained big at Bills road games.
“You’ll see table breaking on Saturday,’’ Johnson said. “Bills fans will go to Walmart and buy their tables.”
At least that could benefit the Broncos in one way. Owner Greg Penner is the chairman of Walmart.

One thing fans won’t see on Saturday, though, is Johnson performing the antics that have made him famous in Buffalo. Johnson will attend the game, but said he will be just a “regular tailgater” at the Fans of Buffalo event.
How regular he will be is debatable.
“I’m extremely well known in Buffalo,’’ said Johnson, 68, a longtime software engineer in Rochester, N.Y., who retired two years ago. “I’ll be mobbed the whole time with people saying hello.”
Johnson, you see, is known at Bills games as “Pinto Ron.” Since 1989, he has been attending Bills home games in a red 1980 Ford Pinto to tailgate. He grills meats on the hood of his car on objects that include an army helmet, shovel, saw, mailbox and tool box. He has turned a filing cabinet into a grill.
Johnson, who said he spends about $8,000 a season giving out free food and drinks, also invites tailgate attendees to drink shots out of the thumb hole in a bowling ball. And he has a regular gig in which fans cover him with ketchup and mustard.
Johnson has attended 522 consecutive Bills home and road games since the start of the 1994 season, excluding ones he couldn’t go to in 2020 due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
Johnson’s antics have been filmed and written around plenty. He became known as “Pinto Ron” in the late 1990s when Athlon Sports did an article on him for its NFL yearbook and miswrote his first name as “Ron” rather than “Ken.”
“I’ve always been up to tailgate shenanigans,’’ Johnson said. “I don’t think much of my celebrity status. It wasn’t like in one minute it became viral. It just slowly happened a little at a time.”
Even Moore learned all about “Pinto Ron” in his 2025 stint with the Bills before he was waived Nov. 26 and joined Denver’s practice squad on Dec. 2.
“He’s an interesting person with a lot of energy,’’ Moore said of Johnson, who flew to Denver on Thursday.
Johnson does bring his bowling ball and parts of his show to Bills road games when they are within driving distance. While that won’t be the case Saturday, there still should be plenty of Bills excitement in the parking lot before the game.




