THE LOT

Abbott Road, Orchard Park

• The famous traditions on this page do not happen in the team's lots. They happen in private lots across the road.
• Hammer's Lot is at 4170 Abbott Road. In 2026 it charged $80 a vehicle, first come first served, with no reservations. It opened at noon for the home opener.¹
• The owner has run it for about 40 years, and roughly half the lot are regulars.^{2 3}

The bowling ball shot

• It started in 1990 at the red Pinto tailgate, after a shot glass broke and somebody joked about using the thumb hole of a bowling ball.⁴
• The drink is a Polish cherry liqueur. The thumb hole holds about two thirds of a shot.^{4 5}
• You drink from the hole, drop the ball, and blow a horn as hard as you can. The shots are free.^{1 6}
• In 2010 the league made the tailgate stop serving them on team property. It later moved to a private lot and carried on.^{7 1}

Ketchup and mustard

• About 90 minutes before kickoff, the host works his way through a crowd of 800 to 1,000 holding a burger with nothing on it.⁵
• People on the roof of a van fix that with 64-ounce ketchup bottles and mustard loaded into caulk guns. He wears a white shirt for it.⁵
• It grew out of friends squirting ketchup at his burger from arm's length in the 1980s.⁸

Lunch at the Pinto

• The kitchen is built around a red 1980 Ford Pinto wagon.⁴
• The cookware: a hand saw across the coals for burgers, a shovel for pancakes and omelets, an army helmet for wings, a rake for hot dogs, a hubcap for stir fry, a filing cabinet for pizza, and a toolbox for kabobs.⁴

The tables

• Jumping through folding tables is usually dated to around 2015.⁹
• In 2018 the county sheriff said table slamming would not be permitted and could get you ejected or charged.¹⁰
• The new stadium has a 20-foot monument of a broken table inside it anyway.⁹

Rules in the team lots

• Every team lot needs a parking pass bought ahead of time.¹¹
• Your tailgate space is 9 by 10 feet behind your car, and it ends at kickoff. Tents are fine. Stakes are not.¹¹
• Selling food or drink in the lots is banned as of 2026.¹²
• The stadium opened in 2026 with no roof, about 60,000 seats, and a canopy over most of them.^{13 15}

Shoveling out the stadium

• When it snows before a game, the team hires fans to shovel the seats. Recent calls paid $20 an hour.¹⁴
• You can bring your own shovel. Food and breaks in a warm area were part of the deal.¹⁴

1. Yahoo Sports tailgate guide, Sept. 2026. sports.yahoo.com
2. WKBW, 2024. wkbw.com
3. Spectrum News, 2022. spectrumlocalnews.com
4. Pinto tailgate history. nycbbb.com
5. The Takeout, 2022. thetakeout.com
6. The Ringer, 2019. theringer.com
7. Associated Press via Fox News, 2010. foxnews.com
8. WKBW on the 500th game. wkbw.com
9. Sports Illustrated, July 2026. si.com
10. Yahoo Sports, 2018. sports.yahoo.com
11. Team parking page, 2026. buffalobills.com
12. Yahoo Sports, July 2026. sports.yahoo.com
13. NBC News, Aug. 2026. nbcnews.com
14. NBC New York on the call for shovelers. nbcnewyork.com
15. Pollstar, July 2026. pollstar.com