CodeMonkey Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 I'm not anti-Pegula -5th grade speaking skills notwithstanding. Out of curiosity, what is your opinion of the speaking skills of say Wilson, Nix or Gailey?
Buftex Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 I remember hearing Kelly mentioning having never even met Pegula before, so I doubt that's who he has in his plans to buy the team. Â I don't know if Peugla is Kelly's guy, but I remember reading previously, when all the Pegula rumors started in regards to the Sabres, there was an interview with one of Pegula's business associates, asking about "what kind of guy" T-Pegs was. His interest in buying the Bills came up...and according to this person, Pegula would "definitely be interested when/if that time came" for the Bills to be up for sale. Â I realize Pegula denied interest at the PC yesterday, but I think he was just being pc, because it would be rude to make those type of comments, particularly in the setting. He is speaking as the new owners of the Buffalo Sabres, not as a prospective future owner of the Buffalo Bills.
San Jose Bills Fan Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 As Buftex and Promo have stated, Pegula would never comment on the Bills owership situation while Ralph is alive, especially not at the news conference where he was being introduced as the new owner of the Sabres. Â That said, he is now on our radar screen for involvement in any group of investors interested in keeping the Bills in Buffalo. It's immaterial if Kelly has spoken to him or not. He should and he probably will. Â Â Â
bbb Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 That's not a loser mentality. That's a winner mentality.
ICanSleepWhenI'mDead Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 Thanks very much for this info....I wonder what motives there might be for Ralph to do it this way. If it were me, I would let it be known, and instead of being viewed upon more negatively than positively lately, he could be alive while he is adored by this whole region. Â I spent a little time trying to search online for any NFL rules on ownership transfers. I could not immediately find the text of any NFL rule or bylaw, but did see articles making reference to the fact that a vote of the owners is required to approve the sale of even minority interests in any team's ownership. While I suppose that it's possible for the other owners to approve the sale of a minority interest in some sort of confidential session and keep it a secret, it just seems to me like the chances of that actually happening without something being leaked to the press are pretty low. Â I suppose Wilson could grant someone an option to purchase the team after some future triggering event (like Wilson's death) without requiring a league vote right now, but that might be inconsistent with the second hand reports here that Wilson has said that the Bills would be sold after his death. I never saw the text of what Wilson actually said - - only the second hand reports here. Did he say that after his death the team would be "sold to the highest bidder" or simply that it would be "sold." One phrasing precludes anybody already owning an option to buy the team after his death - - the other doesn't. Â Does anybody have a link to what Ralph Wilson actually said about selling the team after his death? If so, thanks in advance. Â What if the existing Toronto deal is renewable for say another 5 years at the Canadians' option, but also gives the Canadians an option to buy the team outright after Ralph's death conditioned upon the new owner always playing at least some specified number of Bills' games in Buffalo? Would that be inconsistent with anything Ralph has publicly said?
San Jose Bills Fan Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 BTW, reading all the Buffalo News coverage of the ownership change/press conference, it's great to know that Pegula is a Sabres fan through and through.
May Day 10 Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 Ive heard various interviews. He seems very well educated on the history of the team along with anecdotes from his own experiences watching/listening to the team. If he isnt a pretty big fan he is going through a ton of trouble and doing a heck of an acting job to appear so. Â Schopp also has made the point numerous times that in the time Pegula was looking for a team, many other teams have been for sale for a lot cheaper. He waited for and chose the Sabres and spent a lot more money to buy them.
Doc Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 Ive heard various interviews. He seems very well educated on the history of the team along with anecdotes from his own experiences watching/listening to the team. If he isnt a pretty big fan he is going through a ton of trouble and doing a heck of an acting job to appear so. Â Schopp also has made the point numerous times that in the time Pegula was looking for a team, many other teams have been for sale for a lot cheaper. He waited for and chose the Sabres and spent a lot more money to buy them. Other NHL teams were sold for less? Golisano took $70M less from Pegula to keep the team in Buffalo.
May Day 10 Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 Tampa sold for $110 million, Phoenix $150 million (less if you consider the public bonuses), Atlanta could be had for cheap, Dallas is always for sale, etc... Â That $250 million offer was just Jim Balsielle being belligerent and attempting to make an offer an owner cant refuse.
BuffaloBill Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 NFL franchises are nearing the neighborhood of $1 billion. Â If the Bills are to stay in Buffalo, it most likely won't be just one owner buying the team. It will probably be an ownership group. Â I wouldn't be surprised if Pegula was a part of that group. Â Â Agreed. The primary question is who would be the majority owner and by how much? I doubt the NFL will allow for a highly diluted ownership scenario.
shrader Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 Detroit = Hockeytown  Buffalo = Hockey Heaven -Pegula  Received a few phone calls from family & friends after the presser 'All Shook Up!' "Ya goota see this! Greatest day in Buffalo sports history!!'  I watched it and here's my take. For a self made billionaire, he has serious problems speaking! Comes across as a Dolt! Crying seeing Perrault? IDK, perhaps it was real but I don't think so and here's why.  I'm a bigger fan of the Sabres than he is. I and many my age and older were fans for life in '69 with the news we'd be getting an expansion NHL team. He said he became a fan in '75. '75?!? He's just a freakin' bandwagon jumper! '75 was our first Cup year. He's from Pittsburgh -where his true loyalties rest- and we were playing the defending Champs from -wait for it- Philly. To know PA is to know there's no love lost between the 2 city's. It's likely he has no idea the roulette wheel spin that gave us 1st overall from Vancover landed on 11, not 1 as previously reported. That #11 became Gilbert Perrault. He wasn't here to see Eddie the Enteratiner -though he eventually found himself in Pittsburgh in a trade for Robert. He didn't feel the horror and grief we all did when Tim Horton crashed and died on the QE. He likely knows nothing of Jim Schoenfeld's double album featuring the best brawl in Sabres history. He jumped on the Sabre bandwagon cuz we were playing Philly..  The difficulty speaking really didn't seem like much of a big deal to me. He's very new to this forum. He'll figure it out soon enough.  The rest of your post really bugs me though. I just did a quick search and I saw that he moved to Olean in '75. Do you really expect someone living in a completely different part of the country to be a fan of a team from an area he has never actually been to? Sure, it probably helps that the team was where they were when he happened to move to the area, but in the end, that's just coincidence. This whole idea that someone can't be as big of a fan as someone else if they weren't there as long is a bunch of BS. The vast majority of the fanbase wasn't there from the start, so I guess that makes most of us bad or lesser fans.
San Jose Bills Fan Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 After reading all there is to read and watching the press conference, there's no doubt that Pegula is a true blue Sabres fan.  He would park on a raised overpass when he was in Pittsburgh so he could get radio reception to listen to Sabres games.  On his honeymoon, he took his wife to watch the Sabres play at the Montreal Forum.  When out of town on the night of Sabres games, he would call a friend who would leave the telephone receiver next to a radio so he could listen to the Sabres broadcasts.  He broke down in tears at the press conference at the sight of Gilbert Perreault, telling Les Gros, "You are my hero…"  IMO, there's no way Pegula is not a Sabres fan.  One of the reason's he had a hard time talking is because he was so overcome with emotion.  This is a non-issue, IMO.
bbb Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 The difficulty speaking really didn't seem like much of a big deal to me. He's very new to this forum. He'll figure it out soon enough. Â The rest of your post really bugs me though. I just did a quick search and I saw that he moved to Olean in '75. Do you really expect someone living in a completely different part of the country to be a fan of a team from an area he has never actually been to? Sure, it probably helps that the team was where they were when he happened to move to the area, but in the end, that's just coincidence. This whole idea that someone can't be as big of a fan as someone else if they weren't there as long is a bunch of BS. The vast majority of the fanbase wasn't there from the start, so I guess that makes most of us bad or lesser fans. Â And, it's been 36 years since he became a Sabres fan! I think he's made up for his sin of not being a Sabre fan in their first five years of existence by the things mentioned by San Jose. Â Besides, the Shony album was a single album, not a double album!
shrader Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 And, it's been 36 years since he became a Sabres fan! I think he's made up for his sin of not being a Sabre fan in their first five years of existence by the things mentioned by San Jose. Â Besides, the Shony album was a single album, not a double album! Â But did he ever edit Gary Bettman's wikipedia page so that it says he "awarded" the Stanley Cup to Dallas? That's the true sign of a fan.
Chandler#81 Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 And, it's been 36 years since he became a Sabres fan! I think he's made up for his sin of not being a Sabre fan in their first five years of existence by the things mentioned by San Jose. Â Besides, the Shony album was a single album, not a double album! Â Â I don't care if he's really a fan or not. I care only about the team he bought and what may happen to it on his whims. Olean is just a couple rock throws from home -just happens to be a State line between the throws. His hometown team had been in the NHL since '67. Do you know anyone who switched loyalties from their hometown team after 9 years of exisitence, while living in the same proximity? At the same time he claims to have switched allegience, the Pens finally made the playoffs, losing to the Islanders in 7 games. Â Yes, I'm calling out the sappy, weepy presser with references to his new teams' personal 'hero's', as it doesn't mean anything and may well be schtick. I care about 2 things. The team stays in Buffalo and performs well. Â The fold-opening Shoney album sifted alot of -um 'greens', single or double album contents notwithstanding.
bbb Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 Pittsburgh is at least twice as far from Olean as Buffalo is.......And, having lived in Olean for four years, I can tell you it's a Buffalo place, not a Pittsburgh place. All the TV is from Buffalo, mostly Bills/Sabres fans, etc. Â As for the Shony album, I'm not sure what this means: sifted alot of -um 'greens', Â But, it definitely folded out and had pictures of the brawl.
Buftex Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) Trying not to get too wrapped up in the Pegula hype (it's not like the Sabres just traded for Gretzky afterall), but man, listening to Rick Martin on GR right now...I am amped...I almost wish we could start next season right now... Â Pittsburgh is at least twice as far from Olean as Buffalo is.......And, having lived in Olean for four years, I can tell you it's a Buffalo place, not a Pittsburgh place. All the TV is from Buffalo, mostly Bills/Sabres fans, etc. Â As for the Shony album, I'm not sure what this means: sifted alot of -um 'greens', Â But, it definitely folded out and had pictures of the brawl. Â Â Maybe Chandler is excusing his take on this as a result of illicit substances taken, way back when the Schoney album was burning up the charts! Vinyl 12 inch LP's had more than one use back in the day... Â btw- all due respect Chandler! It is rare that anyone sees the dark side of things more than me! Edited February 24, 2011 by Buftex
Doc Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 Trying not to get too wrapped up in the Pegula hype (it's not like the Sabres just traded for Gretzky afterall), but man, listening to Rick Martin on GR right now...I am amped...I almost wish we could start next season right now... Next season? The Sabres are 3 points (with 2 games in hand) out of 8th place. Make some trades before the deadline.
CodeMonkey Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 Next season? The Sabres are 3 points (with 2 games in hand) out of 8th place. Make some trades before the deadline. Except for the fact that Darcy Regier is still the Sabres GM. He put this team together and by his lack of action so far one has to assume he is satisfied with the current talent level of the team.
sweatpantsjoe Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 If Pegula owned the Bills, then Tom Modrak's job will be just as safe as Darcy Reiger's job. And they'll still suck.
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