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Biggest overall concern to me is that a new owner buys the Bills with the intention of eventually moving the team but publicly is non-committal about keeping the Bills in Buffalo or states that he will keep the team in Buffalo if a new stadium is built, knowing that unless he contributes money towards the new stadium the likelihood of the state/county funding the entire cost is about zero. I think in this scenario the NFL would approve the relocation of the Bills (sometime in the future), particularly since Goodell has been clear about the Bills needing a new stadium to remain viable over the long term.

Some of the money may come from the NFL's fund for new stadiums and improvements to existing stadium.

I agree. Pegula, the Jacobs family and Golisano should team up to buy the Bills. One of the them will need to be the lead owner. They will need to put their collective egos aside for the good of Western New York.

I really want to know the intentions of Pegula and Jacobs. Certainly nothing from Pegula that I have seen and we know that Milstein is out.

I know there are many threads about the impending sale of the Bills, but what I really want to know at this point is which of the potential purchasers will want to keep the team in Buffalo. Poloncarz, the Erie County Executive, seems to have suggested that four or five of the potential purchasers have indicated an interest in keeping the team in Buffalo. We know Trump and Golisano have stated that they would keep the team in Buffalo, but who are these other potential purchasers? This is what I really want to know.

Senator Gillibrand graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth and had an accomplished career as an attorney in private practice. She is plenty smart, except concerning the Bills.

Generally, billionaires buy teams to keep the teams, not to sell to the highest bidder for a profit. There may be some competition from other teams/owners for the LA market, but it is much more difficult for a current owner to move a team than it would be for a purchaser of a team without an owner to then move a team.

Certain purchasers may have enough money where they will overpay by a lot and move the team when they can. I think it is that simple and this is the worst case scenario. There are billionaires with many more billions than Golisano, Pegula and Jacobs combined. No one thought the Clippers were worth $2 billion.

I do not understand the point of the last comment. Plain and simple, without regard to one's political views, Senator Gillibrand should be publicly supporting the effort to keep the Bills in Buffalo.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most thought provoking films of all time. Should be at the top of the list.

I agree that she is making a big mistake. She can let Cuomo and Schumer be out in front of this, but to be silent on this matter is pure stupidity.

No reason she cannot publicly support their efforts.

Cuomo and Schumer have been relatively strong and vocal in their views with regard to the sale of the Bills and keeping the Bills in Buffalo. Has Senator Gillibrand spoken a word on this? Very disappointing.

I also think it helps that it is an election year for Cuomo plus he may have aspirations for higher office. Having the Bills sold to a new owner that wants to move the team out of New York State would not look good. Even worse for him would be having a new owner want to keep the Bills in Buffalo but not getting any state support for a new stadium.

Interesting. I thought he was a real possibility as the next owner of the Bills. I am really hopeful about JW's post. I hope this means that there are local interests (individually or collectively) trying to purchase the team. Maybe the lease and recent activities and statements from the State and Goodell are narrowing the field. I still believe that a new stadium will need to be part of the agreement to keep the Bills in Buffalo. Ultimately, this may be the most significant hurdle.

I don't know if Byrd was best the player on the defense last year, but I do know the defense started playing better after his return from injury. Our o-line is a work in progress and is nowhere close to being one of the most dominant lines in the NFL. Our guard play was poor last year and we needed an upgrade at RT. We have some new pieces, and we will see if the combination of the signing of Willams and draft picks will lead to improvement this year. I like the additions at LB. This unit should be better this year.

Some thoughts below: 1. We will see whether the Bills bet appropriately that Watkins will be a star for the team. For me, the bigger bet that is being made by the front office and coaching staff is that EJ is our franchise QB. If anything, this second bet seems to be the riskier bet, particularly without a number one pick next year if EJ fails to deliver this year. This is a double bet, and for Watkins to be successful, we need EJ to prove that he is a quality NFL quarterback. 2. The Bills have added some depth this year in many positions through free agency, the draft, and trades, including at the linebacker, the offensive line and at running back positions. What I do not understand is the failure to address the back-up QB situation. I assume this means that the front office and coaches are satisfied with Lewis and Tuel. Based on their play last year, I would not be too comfortable. Maybe the Bills will add another veteran QB. I hope they do, but they will need to do it soon. We all experienced what happened when the Bills tried adding some veterans at the end of the preseason and early in the season. The learning curve for the offense was too steep and the new QBs could not immediately contribute. 3. Not sure what to make of the Stevie Johnson trade. It does seem that we take a step forward and two steps back at times. Can Watkins play at a quality starter level in his first season? Will he be better than SJ would have been this year or would the two of them playing together been the best scenario for the offense this year? 4. With SJ traded, who will mentor this group of young wide receivers? Maybe SJ was not the right person for this role, but it seems to me that this group could use a veteran WR presence. I do not think Williams is that guy. 5. I like Whaley's passion and drive for the Bills to make the playoffs this year, but if he is going to be successful, he also needs to have wisdom, patience and judgment. I am a little worried that he has not developed all of these characteristics to this point. The other concern is that the front office and coaching staff know that the next owner will clean house if they fail to make the playoffs again this year. This is a lot of pressure, but there still needs to be some oversight so that the future is not mortgaged by the front office so that they can show the team is improving in the short term. 6. I think the overall roster is better, but I am not sure if our talent level surpasses any of the teams in our division on an overall basis. This means that it will come down to coaching, and I do not think that Marrone is a better coach than Bellichik. We will find out if he is a better coach than Ryan and Philbin. I have my doubts. 7. Still seems like we give up more when we make trades than we get when we trade away picks or players. I thought we gave up way too much for Bryce Brown. Didn't we trade Lynch for a fourth round pick and a conditional pick? I like Watkins a lot, but the price for trading up was very steep. 8. Similar to the point above about making trades, it also seems that we overpay for players in free agency. SJ's contract was above market for his play, and we are paying Mario Williams much more than any other defensive end is getting. Even McKelvin is overpaid based on the contracts that CBs have been getting in free agency the last two years.

Since this article was written by JW, here is a question for JW: Does the speed at which the sale may take place favor the Bills staying in Buffalo or is there no connection between how quickly the sale occurs and whether the new ownership group intends to keep the Bills in Buffalo? Thank you.

You would have to believe that Milstein must have some assurances that he would receive the requisite vote from NFL owners to purchase the Bills if he is the winning bidder. He lost out in his bids for the Redskins and the Browns, and I doubt that he would throw his hat in the ring (assuming it is true) if there was a chance that the owners would reject him.

I guess the NFL schedule makers do not think the Bills will be improved this year. Only a Thursday night game (which is what each team gets at a minimum).

I would be happy with any new owner that will keep the Bills in Buffalo, but I like the idea of the Jacobs family purchasing the Bills. Owners of a local big private company, experience owning a major sport team (Bruins), and a family that may want to keep the team in the family for an extended period of time.

I hope the NFL and the other owners understand that if the Bills move to Toronto, they will lose a significant number of current fans. I am concerned that a winning bid from a group that wants to move the team to Toronto will be perceived as a postive for Bills fans since Toronto is within driving distance. It is not. If the price gets to $1.5 billion, it will be tougher for an owner that wants to keep the team in Buffalo, particularly if the new owner used debt to fund part of the purchase price.

I think an online peitiion to keep the Bills in Buffalo would be easier and potentially more effective from a PR perspective, particularly since the petition would be open to all NFL fans and others interested in keeping the Bills in Buffalo.

Thanks, JW.

JW, I appreciate all of your insights and information. There are a lot of pages in this topic and many of the others that relate to future ownership of the Bills. To cut to the bottom line, do you get the sense there is a real possibility of local ownership or at least a potential owner from outside of the area that will be willing to keep the team in the Western New York area? Thank you.