Terry Pegula can learn from past mistakes as Sabres owner in new venture. (USATSI)
Terry Pegula's ties to the Buffalo area made him the clear frontrunner. (USATSI)

 

There were at least four, and possibly, five groups who submitted bids to purchase the Bills from the Wilson trust, but with the process being fast-tracked and the Pegula family the clear favorites, that bid won out quickly.

 

Terry Pegula, a billionaire who owns the Buffalo Sabres, had emerged as the next owner of the team weeks ago, and his bid was also championed internally by many in the Bills’ organization, sources said, with his desire to keep them local a big part of that. The Wilson family felt most comfortable with his group, sources said, and early last week, with the first binding bids submitted, banker Morgan Stanley, brokering the deal, set forth a final sale price of $1.4 billion to the Pegulas, which would essentially end the process at that point and put them in control of the team pending an approval vote by the other owners next month.

 

Pegula is in the process of divesting himself from the sports representation agency he currently owns. That’s a transaction that is set to be completed before the NFL’s finance committee reviews the sale in advance of it being presented to the owners at the October annual fall meeting, which is being held this year in New York.