“Smart” to explore adding a limited owner

Editor’s Note: Last week, new Buffalo Bills/Sabres COO Pete Guelli sat down with The Buffalo News. In the first of a three-part series, Guelli discusses the Bills.

The way Pete Guelli immediately saw it upon his hiring on March 19, Terry Pegula’s decision to seek limited ownership partners made perfect business sense for the Buffalo Bills.

“If he hadn’t considered doing this, I would have recommended him,” said Guelli, a Rochester native who joined the Bills/Sabres as executive vice president/chief operating officer after having worked for the New York Giants. “Any owner would benefit from taking a look. If you can create cash flow from this explosive growth that you can use to invest elsewhere, I don’t know why you wouldn’t pay attention to it.

The Bills hired Allen & Company on April 21 to research and review interested parties.

Pegula bought the Bills for $1.4 billion in 2014; Last September, Forbes valued the club at $3.7 billion.

“I can tell you the interest has been high,” Guelli said. “You don’t know what the market is and there are only so many people in play at that level. It’s been very active, which is encouraging. Many people have reached out to us proactively and would like to be a part of what we are building here. So we’re taking a very deliberate strategic approach.

Guelli said the bills did not set a deadline for finding a sponsor.

During an interview with The News Friday in his second-floor office at the Bills’ Orchard Park facility, Guelli discussed many Bills-related topics.

Open to several partners

Based on Forbes’ valuation of the Bills, Pegula could sell 20% of the club for $740 million or 25% for $925 million.

Guelli said the Bills “gambled” by selling 20 to 25 percent of the Bills, “but again, it’s fluid.”

The bills are also open to adding multiple sponsors.

“I think there are people who could come in and be a perfect match, but we would consider a union if it was the right group of people,” Guelli said.

If a Limited Partner invests in the Bonds, would that person have a right of first refusal if Pegula eventually wishes to sell more or all of its equity?

“I don’t think it’s necessarily on or off the table — it hasn’t really been discussed,” Guelli said.

Once Pegula announced he was willing to sell part of the Bills, the natural perception was that he wanted new money to pay for the new stadium’s cost overruns – the Bills are responsible for every dollar over beyond the initial price of $1.4 billion (it is now estimated to be around $1.7 billion, although the team has not confirmed the current price or expected final price ).

“I don’t think it’s based on that at all,” Guelli said. “He has invested a lot in this market and wants to continue to do so. This is the perfect opportunity to observe.

The process is not quick and has several layers, even after Pegula and a buyer reach a financial agreement.

“There is a massive vetting process,” Guelli said. “The league takes these transactions incredibly seriously.”

The NFL held its spring meeting May 20-21 in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Bills were represented by Guelli and Laura Pegula, one of Terry’s two children from his first marriage. Terry remained in Buffalo to attend the Sabres’ pre-draft meetings.

Laura made her public debut as a member of the Bills contingent at the league’s annual meeting in March 2023 in Phoenix.

Laura recently became the Sabres’ alternate governor alongside Guelli and general manager Kevyn Adams. She is not listed in the Bills’ online front office roster, but is clearly one of her father’s top advisors.

Last month, The Athletic reported that Terry had transferred a “small percentage” of ownership to Laura.

When asked if Laura had an ownership stake in the Bills, Guelli responded, “I don’t have details on the ownership structure. I can tell you that she is actively involved.

Laura was the only child from Pegula to be involved in the interview process to hire Guelli.

“Terry has been very specific that family will be part of this evolution,” Guelli said. “Laura was instrumental in filling the void in the seven months it took them to get me up and running and I’m grateful she did because she has a ton of institutional knowledge on both teams (Bills/Sabres). She helped me get up to speed and I think our skills complement each other well.

Does Terry Pegula, 73, have a succession plan in place?

“Nothing we discussed specifically,” Guelli said. “I just know I spend a lot of time with Laura and she’s hands-on in the business and she’s great to work with.”

Guelli met with Bills employees in the team’s meeting room five days after he was hired. This is his second tour with the team – he served as senior vice president from 1998-2009.

“We did a bit of Q&A and I enjoyed it. There were a lot of people I recognized and certain memories kept coming back,” he said. “There were questions about the future and where we were going with things. I just tried to be as transparent as possible with everyone and I wanted people to understand my personality and I’m here to be an additive.

In hiring Guelli, the Bills also announced that interim COO Josh Dziurlikowski (Bills) and Rob Minter (Sabres) would remain as senior vice president of finance and business operations and senior vice president of operations, respectively. commercial.

Guelli made no additions to the Bills or Sabers front offices.

“There’s a lot of great things happening here,” he said, citing the Bills. “What (Terry Pegula), general manager (Brandon) Beane and (coach) Sean (McDermott) have built on the football side is pretty incredible. That type of consistency, now that I’ve witnessed the culture, you see how professional and collaborative they are and that’s what we’re trying to create throughout the organization. It was nice to join a foundation like that.

Play-by-play voice search

On May 9, John Murphy announced his retirement as the Bills’ play-by-play voice, 16 months after suffering a stroke that caused him to miss the 2023 season.

The Bills have only had two full-time radio voices since 1977 – Van Miller (1977-2003) and Murphy (2004-23). Chris Brown, a Bills employee who hosts the “One Bills Live” program, served as an interim voice during Murphy’s absence and is a candidate for the full-time position.

Guelli said he is “absolutely” involved in the search for Murphy’s replacement and that the Bills will have a full-time announcer in place for the preseason opener Aug. 10 against Chicago.

“We’ve started this process and it’s more of a soft release to gauge interest,” Guelli said. “It’s an important job because they are synonymous with the brand and almost become the daily voice of the team. We try to take our time, do a deliberate search and find the right person.

Guelli said the Bills’ preference is for the play-by-play announcer to be based in the Buffalo area.

“They are more than just a player in the game: they are part of the team,” he said. “We’ve been very lucky in the past – I was here (with the Bills) when Van Miller was at the end of his career and, given (Murphy’s) track record, we’ve been pretty lucky.”

In 2022, the NFL launched the Global Markets program, which grants clubs international marketing rights to build their brand awareness and fan base. The Bills are one of seven teams without a formal affiliation agreement, joining Baltimore, Cincinnati, Green Bay, the Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee and Washington.

Detroit, Minnesota and Seattle have rights to Canada and the Bills – for now – are comfortable with Canada in general and Ontario in particular being an unofficial priority.

“I feel like we have an international affiliation with (the) Toronto region and it’s an area that we feel is part of our territory,” Guelli said. “We may not be specifically tied to the league program, but we invest in it and spend a lot of time on it. This is our international focus at the moment.