Peekskill resident Sarah Peterson recently joined the ranks of a coveted group. On Feb. 9, she and her husband Thomas attended Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, part of Peterson’s prize package after she won a costume contest last August.

Peterson, who works as a high school teacher, has been a diehard Buffalo Bills fan her whole life. Peterson watched and dreamt of going to the Super Bowl ever since the Bills’ first appearance in the championship game in 1991. Unfortunately, Peterson, like many fans, has had to settle for watching the Super Bowl at home. (USA Today reports that the average ticket price for this year’s Super Bowl was $6,645.)

“I just wasn’t able to spend the money necessary to attend the Super Bowl. When you’re a teacher and you have little kids – it’s not your top priority,” said Peterson.

Last year, all of that changed. At Fanatics Fest NYC 2024, after wowing everyone with her costume of a Buffalo Bills fan jumping through a table, Peterson won seven all expense paid trips to the biggest championship sporting events in the United States. Her prize includes tickets to the NFL’s Super Bowl, Major League Baseball’s World Series, NBA’s basketball finals, National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup, MLS Cup soccer final, WWE Wrestlemania, and a mixed martial arts UFC fight. 

​Costume Contest of a Lifetime

Last year was the first time Fanatics Fest was held. As a true blue Bills fan, Peterson was excited about meeting other fans, famous athletes, and searching for a rare sports collectible. The week before the festival, Peterson received an email from the organizers about a costume contest.  

Peterson recalled, “When I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! This is an insane prize,’” referring to the year’s worth of trips someone could win. 

Luckily, she had a lot of experience dressing up at her job. “I’m in the math department and during halloween, we usually go all out.”

Since Peterson was going to meet some of her favorite Buffalo Bills players at Fanatics Fest, she knew she wanted her costume to be Bills-inspired. With that in mind, she played with the idea of her costume as an ode to the Bills Mafia, as Bills fans are affectionately called, and their crazy tailgate parties. 

Peterson, with the help of her husband Thomas and some friends, created a costume that depicts a Bills fan jumping through a beer pong table. To accomplish her vision, the team attached fake legs and a real table to the costume.

When the day finally arrived, on Aug. 18, 2024, Peterson knew she had a chance to win the minute she arrived at the convention.

“It was really exciting because as soon as I got out of the car on the day of the festival, everybody on the street said, ‘You are going to win.’” On top of this, Peterson revealed that several fans came up to her throughout the day asking for photos and recorded their encounters with her. Soon, Peterson’s costume had gone viral on social media. 

As the festival wrapped up, Peterson’s hopes of winning began to dwindle. Just as her husband started to pack up the car, Peterson received a text from the Fanatics Fest staff asking if she was still around. CEO of Fanatics Michael Rubin declared Peterson the costume contest winner. Rubin uploaded a video of Peterson receiving the news.

“It was a dream come true. My hips were kind of banged up because the table kept hitting me all day but it was a hundred percent worth it,” said Peterson.

If winning the contest wasn’t enough, Peterson got to go home with her costume signed by her childhood heroes on the Buffalo Bills, Pro Football Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas.

Parties, concerts, and football, of course

After waiting patiently for six months, Peterson and her husband finally embarked on their Super Bowl journey on Feb. 7, 2025. That morning, Peterson performed her duties as a teacher in the morning, and flew out of JFK Airport in the afternoon with her husband.

As part of the mega prize, Fanatics took care of the couple’s first-class flights, hotels, travel accommodations, and event tickets.

After landing in New Orleans and checking into their hotel, the couple made their way to Shaq’s Fun House, an annual music festival, carnival, and circus, hosted by NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.

The couple had VIP tickets to see Ludacris, John Summit, and several DJs live. The Petersons also enjoyed the games that were offered.

“Every game you played, you won a prize. It was pretty funny,” recalled Peterson.

The following day, Saturday, the couple attended an exclusive Fanatics Super Bowl party, where they mingled with sports media personalities and actor Keegan-Michael Key. In addition, Peterson and her husband saw live performances by Latto, Don Toliver, Ciara, Ludacris, Sexyy Red, and Travis Scott.

But Peterson says the most memorable part of that day was interacting with Michael Rubin, the Fanatics CEO who made her dreams come true. 

“He was so gracious and sweet,” recalled Peterson.

Later in the day, when the couple arrived at their hotel, they were greeted with a welcome package from Fanatics Fest, full of Super Bowl merchandise, a bag, snacks, boxes of trading cards, and even a Buffalo Bills vest.

When Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 9) rolled around, the Petersons couldn’t believe they were about to experience the Super Bowl in person. Around 1 p.m., Peterson and her husband arrived at Caesars Superdome for the Super Bowl LIX Tailgate Concert. At this pre-game show, the couple watched Post Malone perform live and enjoyed free food and drinks.

As game time approached, Peterson and her husband made their way into the stadium. The atmosphere was unreal, recalled Peterson. “It seemed like a normal event at first. But when you saw how many people were on the field, like celebs, it was crazy.”

“There were tons of Kansas City fans, tons of Eagles fans — they really came out and showed up for their team. It was amazing.” Nearly 66,000 people attended the game. 

The Kansas City Chiefs took on the Philadelphia Eagles at this year’s Super Bowl. The Chiefs had the opportunity to become the first team in National Football League (NFL) history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. However, the Philadelphia Eagles demolished the Chiefs, 40-22.

Reflecting on the game, Peterson said, “It was shocking. I’ve watched a lot of Kansas City games and [that day] they just looked horrible.” She noted that a lot of the Chief fans in her section left early.

Since the Chiefs were the ones that sent the Bills home this year, Peterson said she was happy that the Eagles won.

Undoubtedly, the best part of the evening for Peterson was Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance. She enjoyed all the symbolism Lamar had in his performance and the addition of actor Samuel Jackson as Uncle Sam.

From the minute Lamar started performing, Peterson was up out of her seat having a great time. A video of Peterson and her husband enjoying the show has gone viral on social media. Peterson also recorded different parts of the weekend to share with readers; below is a short audio diary of her trip.