SF Bills Fan

I'd be seriously worried about relocation if he bought them.

Yeah- I saw his son is chairman. Easy transition.

I wonder what their succession plan is? I don't think they will be in play for sale.

Cannibal Corpse guys. Uniforms would be awesome.

I view this as positive. I have a friend that is pretty close with Golisano so I knew he had interest. The bills are very safe with Golisano as the owner. His intent is to prevent them from leaving. He had offers to sell the Sabres to out-of-towners and refused. People forget that as owner of the Sabres they were a few defensemen away from getting to and likely winning the Stanley Cup. They had very competitive teams when he owned them. There were some botched player transactions later in his ownership but you can't fault him completely. I think we would be good with him as owner.

I hate to say it, but Buffalo would never get a Super Bowl. we probably would not want it anyway. There would be too much scorn too much negative press.

70's probably. The league had matured after the merger and was starting to take off in popularity on TV and with Monday Night Football. It was still very affordable and blue collar and not that corporate. The players made less than many fans. I was a little kid but remember going to games at Rich Stadium. The Bills were not great that decade, but the league was getting great.

This is the most compelling argument that I have heard for downtown. I'd be interested to see if either site is on the short list the stadium committee has.

Nothing but a bunch of hot air. If the Bills had Jacobs up as owner and a new stadium in the works, I would bet he supports it.

^ you are right- the Jags have an even more iron clad lease agreement that makes it extremely hard to move- far more so than the Bills. Sadly, that is the team that SHOULD be moving. I agree, I think the Chargers are completely safe in San Diego and the rumblings from ownership are just an idle threat. San Diego is a great market very wealthy it would be stupid to leave there. I live in the Bay Area and I can tell you the Raiders already have 1 foot out of the door here. They're never going to get a new stadium over in the East Bay and Mark Davis is already jealous of the Niners new stadium down in Santa Clara. They will be in LA in two years- mark my words.

If there was a danger that they would move, we would know about it. There are so many people monitoring this that it would be sniffed out and exposed. Shumer and Cuomo would be making threats about suits etc. The fact is, this lease situation scared off the outsiders. Nobody wants to buy the team and sit on it and lose hundreds of millions for 6 years while they wait to move the team to a city. The NFL doesn't want a barren stadium and a hostile fan base. It would be a PR nightmare. Another market may not even be available when the time is right. what would some LA fat cat do if he bought the team and planned to move them there and then the Raiders go back? Too much risk. Even Thurman Thomas said last week that Ralph had a plan in place. I believe the owner is already identified. The process is in motion. I'm 99% sure they stay put. The real unknown here is where does the new stadium go?

The Bills will stay because the lease makes it extremely prohibitive to move. In addition, there are somee heavy duty power players in NYS that will make it even harder to try to move them and they will make it easier for an owner with local interest to operate them in Buffalo. Lastly, there appears to be enough wealthy guys that are willing to step up to buy them to keep them in Buffalo.

I would bet that Milstein is out because there is another stronger candidate that is a front runner and he doesn't want to compete. He probably also realizes his consolation prize will be a fat new stadium on his NF land.

We will have a new stadium in 10 years. Nothing is pie in the sky at this point. It needs to be done right like Pilot Field and First Niagara.

Ebron is my choice.

I am thinking that the person that they are most seriously considering is in place. If they are talking July with owner approval in October, they already have a plan. Once that investment bank is identified, things will be moving quickly.

This thing seems to be hitting a critical mass quickly. I can't see anybody outside of Buffalo even having a chance. Too much political power too many bug time players with local interest. I'm 99% sure they are safe.

I realize, but they could easily put together the cash.

Yep- Guggenheim and I made a mistake- it's 210 Billion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_Partners

I get a little nervous when you read about Magic Johnson interested in buying an NFL team and you see that he and his backers have about 200 billion. Overpaying for the Bills and any fines would be chump change. I think the Raiders will be back in LA before anyone can buy and relocate a team. That is why we have heard little about any LA interest. No stadium, too many what ifs. Looking at May Day 10's tiers, I bet that the bidding won't move outside of tier 1.

Golisano gets a bad rap sometimes but Golisano told his management that he wanted an exciting team and that if they were going to lose at least wanted to score a lot of goals while doing it. Let's not forget that if for the fact that we lost all of our defenseman in that series against the Hurricanes, we very likely would've won the Stanley Cup that year. If we had, there would be a statue outside of the arena of him and everybody would bow to it as they walked in.

It sounds like there were complications at the time and had more to do with the Cookes rather than the NFL. His net worth is far bigger now than in 1991.

In my mind, he is at the front of the line. I can't see any barriers in his way. I feel like the other owners would be pleased to have him join the ranks. Lets face it, Trump has huge uphill battles and Jacobs has some things in the way (Bruins and gambling). He could easily get a new stadium done with all his ties. I believe that he is also a Jim Kelly friend. Please let this happen.

This would be the best scenario for us. He is certainly wealthy enough and is connected and powerful in NYS. He owns lots of land in WNY. Something tells me this is going to end up being the guy. http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/2014/05/01/howard-milstein-buffalo-bills-sale-billionaire-real-estate-developer/8564737/

I would imagine any local owner will be given preferential treatment as far as cheap land and tax breaks, if not significant funding when a new stadium is needed. I would bet that if Jacobs or another local interest buys the Bills, they will agree to stay at the Ralph for 10 years (they have to), but somewhere toward the end, the favors will be called in. Hopefully, it is not a situation where there is bad blood because a stadium is promised and never materializes and the team is moved.