Bills Mafia Will Watch the Patriots Game From a Swim-Up Bar in Tulum

La Zebra, a beachfront hotel, will host a Buffalo Bills weekend in Tulum from December 3 to 7, led by former Bills guard Richie Incognito and timed to the December 6 Patriots game.

Incognito played guard for Buffalo from 2015 to 2017 and was named to four Pro Bowls over his career, three of them as a Bill. Chelsea Lovell, whom the event page describes as an Emmy Award-winning journalist and a personality on Daytime Buffalo, will serve as master of ceremonies and host.

The pitch is aimed squarely at Western New York in December. The hotel is selling packages that bundle lodging with five days of Bills programming, including question-and-answer sessions with Incognito and beachfront mixers, for fans willing to swap a frozen tailgate in Orchard Park for warm sand on the Mexican Caribbean.

"Bills Mafia doesn't take days off, even in the Caribbean," Incognito said in the announcement. "We're going to swap the snow for the sand, talk some football, and show Tulum exactly how Bills Mafia celebrates."

Beef on weck tacos and Buffalo sauce guacamole on Friday

The weekend opens Thursday, December 3, with a welcome reception at the hotel's beachfront sports bar, which the event page bills as an official Bills Backers bar.

Friday night is a "Taste of Buffalo in Tulum." The menu crosses two kitchens: guacamole made with Buffalo wing sauce and tacos built on beef on weck, the roast beef sandwich on a salt-and-caraway kummelweck roll that Buffalo claims as its own. The event page also lists a wing-and-guacamole challenge. Tropical cocktails and local beer round out the night.

Guests who want a break from football can book add-on excursions the same day, including golf at PGA Riviera Maya, deep-sea fishing, and private cenote tours.

Anchor Bar wings, Sahlen's hot dogs, and folding tables on Saturday

Saturday is the centerpiece. The hotel plans a full beach tailgate with barbecue, hot dogs from Sahlen's, the Buffalo meat company, and wings from Anchor Bar, the restaurant widely credited with inventing the Buffalo wing in 1964.

Flag football on the sand and a beer pong tournament are on the schedule, according to the event page.

So are folding tables. The announcement promises "plenty" of them, a nod to the Bills Mafia habit of leaping through tables in stadium parking lots.

A 4:25 p.m. kickoff in Foxborough, and the same hour in Tulum

The Bills play the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Sunday, December 6, with kickoff at 4:25 p.m. Eastern on CBS, according to the NFL's published schedule. It is Week 13 and the second meeting of the season between the division rivals, after the Patriots visit Buffalo on October 4.

Fans in Tulum lose nothing to the clock. Quintana Roo stays on UTC-5 all year, which matches Eastern Standard Time in December, so kickoff on the beach is also at 4:25.

The day starts with a pregame tailgate brunch on the sand and moves to the sports bar for the game. The hotel says the bar has 85-inch HD screens, a pool with several televisions of its own, a swim-up bar, and Labatt-branded rafts for anyone who wants to watch the fourth quarter from the water.

Monday, December 7, is set aside for recovery, with spa treatments on the event page's itinerary.

Rex Ryan and Michael Vick checked in before Incognito

La Zebra says it has hosted a run of football names before this one, including former Bills head coach Rex Ryan, Terrell Owens, Michael Vick, and former LSU coach Ed Orgeron.

The hotel sits on the beach road in Tulum's hotel zone and is part of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. It says Travel + Leisure recently named it among the 15 best luxury hotels in Mexico. It offers beachfront suites that open onto the sand, rooms with private plunge pools, a spa with Maya-inspired treatments, and a restaurant built around local ingredients. Its sister properties are Mi Amor by La Zebra and Mezzanine by La Zebra.

Paul Cohen, CEO of Colibri Boutique Hotels, borrowed a line from Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy, who led the Bills to four straight Super Bowls, to sell the idea.

"Where else would you rather be in December than right here on the beach in Tulum right now?" Cohen said.

Weekend packages sold only on request

The hotel has not published a price. Packages cover lodging and all scheduled events; availability is limited, and the resort is steering buyers to its events team for group bookings and custom options. Inquiries go to concierge.lazebra@colibriboutiquehotels.com, and the full itinerary is posted at lazebratulum.com/bills-weekend.

The last item on the calendar is Monday's spa day. How much recovery it requires will be settled Sunday, somewhere around 7:30 p.m., when the final whistle blows in Foxborough.

Would you rather watch the Bills at Patriots game from a snowy Orchard Park parking lot or a swim-up bar in Tulum? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.