Game balls and goats - the sale of the Buffalo Bills

[Dr. Lecter]

Balls -

Terry and Kim Pegula - duh
Ralph Wilson - the lease and the construct of the non relocation made it very hard for outside interests to but the team - this despite people saying he had no succession plan. Those people can suck it.
Tim Graham and John Wawrow - Their coverage was out of this world

Goats -

Forbes - Their claims that the sale would not hit a billion were not even close. The changed their views after bid amounts started to come out as being above their evaluation. They called the process a circus when it appears that it was anything but.

With the Buffalo News revealing today that the Toronto group had signed a document stating that they would not move the team, they avoind a goat.

[DraftBoy]

Balls -
Bills Fans
City of Buffalo
Erie County

Goats -
Haters

[better days]

I would not only add John Kryk of the Toronto Sun to that list, I would put him ahead of Graham & Wawrow.

Kryk had this thing nailed from the get go & exposed the Toronto group for what they were.

[Pinkerton Security]

That guy at Forbes wrote SEVERAL articles about how much of a joke the Bills sale was, how we werent even going to sell for 800 million, etc...where is that man now? Doucher.

[Night Train]

I would add Mary Wilson to Game Balls. She had the final say on who to pick and Ralphs legacy was obviously important.

Bids were in by late afternoon Monday and the Pegulas got a phone call stating they were the winners 2-3 hours later. I realize $$ talks but she still had the final say.

[trapezeus]

ralph doesn't get a game ball from me for having a plan. his plan was signed a year before his passing. A lot of people said he had a plan from the mid 90's, and in the end, jim didn't have a group, and ralph's best play was the last lease that was signed in 2012/13. had a 91-92 year old owner died then, the bills relocation possibliities would have been much higher

it's all worked out and ralph did other good things for us (being charitable and believing in the town when no one else did in the 70's/80's/90's/2000's). Those are great things. i just don't think his plan was ironclad from a long ways out like others are trying to sell.

Just my opinion.

[gebobs]

Goats: Bon Jovi, The Donald

[justasportsfan]

ralph doesn't get a game ball from me for having a plan. his plan was signed a year before his passing. A lot of people said he had a plan from the mid 90's, and in the end, jim didn't have a group, and ralph's best play was the last lease that was signed in 2012/13. had a 91-92 year old owner died then, the bills relocation possibliities would have been much higher


we can all ASSUME when a plan was made but there was a plan.

[Skooby]

BALLS - Our future pilot for the private plane & the Unions that will build the stadium.

Goat - Niagara county.

[Dr. Lecter]

ralph doesn't get a game ball from me for having a plan. his plan was signed a year before his passing. A lot of people said he had a plan from the mid 90's, and in the end, jim didn't have a group, and ralph's best play was the last lease that was signed in 2012/13. had a 91-92 year old owner died then, the bills relocation possibliities would have been much higher

it's all worked out and ralph did other good things for us (being charitable and believing in the town when no one else did in the 70's/80's/90's/2000's). Those are great things. i just don't think his plan was ironclad from a long ways out like others are trying to sell.

Just my opinion.

I don't know. I think that is hard to say it like that.

I think my point is that no matter what people say, he did accept a lease like he did for a reason. And it appears as if the trust was set up to not want the team to move (which, regardless of the lease and when it was signed was set up well before that) either.

essentially he did what he could to keep the team here after he died after years of people sayin he was doing nothing and would do nothing.

That is now clearly not true.

[trapezeus]

clearly a mechanism was put in, but people were saying 5-10 years back that there was a real plan. and that didn't show up until 2012/2013 when they played a year without a lease. ralph was old at that point. if he passed in that year, the vultures would have been out. the trust details aren't clear still. it doesn't seem like "stay in buffalo" was in the trust. it was make a sale as palatable to NFL as possible. It seems to be that the lease is the thing that locked it into buffalo.

my point is that it wasn't as well thought out as some might argue and it wasn't a long standing plan. a few years back people were guessing he had a group ready to go. and in the end, the guy who bought the team only became public to us in 2010/11. He was still late80's/early 90's at that point. i think it's really fortitous that it worked out as it did.

at the end of the day, who cares, it worked out (or officially works out oct 7-8)

[JohnnyGold]

ralph doesn't get a game ball from me for having a plan. his plan was signed a year before his passing. A lot of people said he had a plan from the mid 90's, and in the end, jim didn't have a group, and ralph's best play was the last lease that was signed in 2012/13. had a 91-92 year old owner died then, the bills relocation possibliities would have been much higher

it's all worked out and ralph did other good things for us (being charitable and believing in the town when no one else did in the 70's/80's/90's/2000's). Those are great things. i just don't think his plan was ironclad from a long ways out like others are trying to sell.

Just my opinion.

I disagree with this. Just because Mary or his daughter doesn't want to run the team, it doesn't mean that there wasn't a plan in place for them to run the team, and sell it to the Pegulas (or another entity that would keep the team in Buffalo) if Ralph were to suddenly pass.

The general agreements for the lease may have been in place long before Ralph signed it with Eerie county. It might have been drafted by their legal team well in advance, and agreed upon in principal by both parties in lieu of a binding contract. The way the timing of the lease, Russ taking over as team president, and Ralphs passing a little over a year later (while not attending any games during the interim) seems to me to indicate that this was viewed as an inevitability by all sides and a plan was in place. When it became obvious to Ralph that his health was failing he gave up control of his team, signed an iron-clad lease, and moved back to Detroit to live out his final days.

Had ralph died early, I'm guessing the same things would have come to pass, but people would have been so scared on here that the team was moving, because Mary would have had to sign the lease behind closed doors, as well as pass control of the team to Russ.

[OpIv37]

I disagree with this. Just because Mary or his daughter doesn't want to run the team, it doesn't mean that there wasn't a plan in place for them to run the team, and sell it to the Pegulas (or another entity that would keep the team in Buffalo) if Ralph were to suddenly pass.

The general agreements for the lease may have been in place long before Ralph signed it with Eerie county. It might have been drafted by their legal team well in advance, and agreed upon in principal by both parties in lieu of a binding contract. The way the timing of the lease, Russ taking over as team president, and Ralphs passing a little over a year later (while not attending any games during the interim) seems to me to indicate that this was viewed as an inevitability by all sides and a plan was in place. When it became obvious to Ralph that his health was failing he gave up control of his team, signed an iron-clad lease, and moved back to Detroit to live out his final days.

Had ralph died early, I'm guessing the same things would have come to pass, but people would have been so scared on here that the team was moving, because Mary would have had to sign the lease behind closed doors, as well as pass control of the team to Russ.
There is a LOT of conjecture in there.....

[OpIv37]

Balls: the Pegula's

Goats: pretty much everyone else. The trust had their heads up their asses and seemed to make up rules as they went along. Trump and JBJ violated the gag order and JBJ created a lot of ill will for himself in WNY. The reporting was atrocious. All of the bid amounts were wrong. The initial number of bidders was wrong. The Toronto group must have been out and back in 5x. Forbes' reporting was the worst.

I guess all is well that ends well but the whole process was a circus.

[trapezeus]

I disagree with this. Just because Mary or his daughter doesn't want to run the team, it doesn't mean that there wasn't a plan in place for them to run the team, and sell it to the Pegulas (or another entity that would keep the team in Buffalo) if Ralph were to suddenly pass.

The general agreements for the lease may have been in place long before Ralph signed it with Eerie county. It might have been drafted by their legal team well in advance, and agreed upon in principal by both parties in lieu of a binding contract. The way the timing of the lease, Russ taking over as team president, and Ralphs passing a little over a year later (while not attending any games during the interim) seems to me to indicate that this was viewed as an inevitability by all sides and a plan was in place. When it became obvious to Ralph that his health was failing he gave up control of his team, signed an iron-clad lease, and moved back to Detroit to live out his final days.

Had ralph died early, I'm guessing the same things would have come to pass, but people would have been so scared on here that the team was moving, because Mary would have had to sign the lease behind closed doors, as well as pass control of the team to Russ.

the lease couldn't have been signed quitely as it needs league support. and if they had it drafted, why have a year without a lease.

like op said, it ended well and i'm not trying to say ralph was a bad guy. it just seems like the plan was a lot more last second and left the team open to moving until the lease got signed.

i didn't think that maybe mary would have just assumed the team if it was that dire in respect of her husband. but i feel like we knew forever that mary wasn't going to run the team.

it would be really something if mary gets into the stadium business and builds in buffalo or supports the rebuild of buffalo in some meaningful way. get some of that money working in buffalo instead of just going into an acct

[stuckincincy]

the lease couldn't have been signed quitely as it needs league support. and if they had it drafted, why have a year without a lease.

like op said, it ended well and i'm not trying to say ralph was a bad guy. it just seems like the plan was a lot more last second and left the team open to moving until the lease got signed.

i didn't think that maybe mary would have just assumed the team if it was that dire in respect of her husband. but i feel like we knew forever that mary wasn't going to run the team.

it would be really something if mary gets into the stadium business and builds in buffalo or supports the rebuild of buffalo in some meaningful way. get some of that money working in buffalo instead of just going into an acct

Well, the massive US Tax Codes favoring this one and punishing this one, the IRS and the powers that direct them, create considerable business instability and hesitancy to make moves.

The Bills were just one more business biting their nails in paralysis, waiting to see how the next whim goes down.

Sad but true...

[Dr. Who]

Well, everyone has their biases and their particular level of expertise. I'm good on the liberal arts, not very clever about finance. So, I can't really say. I tend to think Ralph was much better than his reputation with some -- though he made lots of mistakes with the on-field product. There's a terrific piece on the BBMB praising Wilson written by a fellow with the handle "Badlands Meanie." It's near the top of the board.