BALTIMORE — The Ravens head up north to freezing cold Buffalo this weekend. But they aren't going alone; hundreds of fans are making the trip too.
"Oh, we’re gonna flood the city with purple. I’m so ready for it," Katia Mohr from Jimmy's Famous Seafood said.
For the staff at Jimmy's, this isn't their first rodeo when it comes to organizing a bus trip to an away Ravens game. But they've never seen turnout like this.
"We started with one and then one got sold out very very fast, not even a day. Then we started with two, then three, four; we ended with five, and we're all sold out with five buses," Hannah Sligh said.
More than 200 fans will fill those buses, and even more are coming to Buffalo to join Jimmy's tailgate.
"The amount of tickets that we have of people just driving up there is insane. So yeah, it's awesome to see all the Ravens flock together," Mohr said.
And in enemy territory, there's strength in numbers. They'll be joined in the tailgate lots outside Highmark Stadium by close to 600 die-hards with the group, "BMORE Around Town."
"I think one of the cool things that you’ll see is that “oh” in the National Anthem. It’s always a really good telling way to see how many Ravens fans have traveled," Brian Snyder, owner of BMORE Around Town, told WMAR-2 News.
Snyder booked people on flights for the whole weekend, with a pep rally at a downtown Buffalo bar called Rec Room on Saturday night, and a big tailgate before the game.
"Going into these away cities, it’s all in what you make it. Obviously you see some of the negativity but our experiences over the last 14 years of doing these trips have been 98% positive," Snyder said. "It’s a lot of fun to go out there and represent your city. I am excited to go up there and watch Buffalo break a couple of tables, and then as we come out, boo us out of there because we're heading into the next round."
There are still seats available on the bus, for what's sure to be a long day to Buffalo and back.
"You'll be able to hop on the bus; we'll have breakfast for you on the bus, get to Buffalo, tailgate, get to the game, and then come right back and get back home to work."
To get a seat on the BMORE Around Town bus, click here.
If you're staying in the area, Jimmy's is hosting a watch party. For tickets, click here. The party takes place in the banquet room, but all three bars will still be open to the public.
"All of the bars, all of the rooms will be packed," Sligh said.
If you're still on the hunt for tickets to the game, experts at fraud management company, Riskified, warn fans that scammers are also on the prowl. He says the ticketing industry is ripe for fraud, especially for high-demand events with high prices.
"It’s so easy to get your hands on and it’s so easy to sell it, so this is just a fantastic opportunity for bad people," Eyal Elazar, head of market intelligence for Riskified, told WMAR-2 News.
They suggest skipping social media and only buying from an authorized platform like StubHub or Gametime.
"If it seems to good to be true, it usually is," Elazar said. "In the past, you could've ID'ed something that doesn't sound right. Today, with ChatGPT and all these AI models, it's so easy to have scams look authentic. You have people doing it for a living, and it's just so hard even for professionals to detect fake profiles and to detect these scams."
Elazar also suggests using a credit card, so you can ask your bank to reimburse you if something does go awry.
"And after you buy the ticket, you are not necessarily safe. It’s not just about getting a real ticket or a fake ticket. There’s a chance you just gave your credit card details to someone who’s gonna use it. So I say even after buying a ticket, make sure you stay alerted. You track your bank statement, you look at your credit statement. You see if you have any suspicious emails, suspicious SMS. Don’t click anything that seems suspicious. Make sure you have a strong password."
