Grantland: The Sun is Rising in Buffalo

[YoloinOhio]

Excellent article on the Pegulas and WNY

 

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-sun-is-rising-in-buffalo/?ex_cid=story-twitter

 

"When we came up here five years ago and Terry told me he wanted to buy the Buffalo Sabres, the truth of it is I tried to talk him out of it," admitted Cliff Benson, the team's chief development officer. He was standing in front of a crowd of mostly developers, politicians, and hospitality professionals gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in honor of the three-week-old Marriott behind him. Through a big picture window about six floors up, people on exercise bikes and ellipticals gazed determinedly across cloudy skies, highway overpasses, and the Buffalo River canal.

 

"Number one, I said, why dont we go to Florida? Its a little bit warmer. And secondly, I said, if you're going to own a sports team, you're getting into a whole different business. Everyone's going to shoot at you every day. And he said to me, 'We're going to Buffalo. We're going to change that city, and that's why were getting into the sports business: so we have a platform to change the city."

Edited October 20, 2015 by YoloinOhio

[JESSEFEFFER]

I was struck by the amount they paid for the Bills. Billionaires don't get to be that way by overpaying above and beyond the market value set by other bidders by $300,000,000. Then, Mary Wilson formed the foundation from the most of the proceeds and it's now being used to fund community development in and around Buffalo and Detroit. So maybe they looked at it as a good will overpayment to help endow the foundation.

[Rubes]

Still can't believe how lucky we got when the Pegulas stepped forward.

[DDD]

The Pegula's have really been a blessing to the city of Buffalo. They are doing all they can to give the teams the resources to win. Unfortunately all the money spent on both franchises has not paid off in the standings.