patfitz Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 (edited) Let's disregard the motive for a minute and simply consider the legality. What if Mary Wilson decides to sell the Bills, to say Jim Kelly for what her late husband paid to start the franchise, or alternatively deed it to the Erie County or the city of Buffalo for $1. Are any of these options even legal? I simply ask because it is unclear to me to extent what the NFL has legal jurisdication in a business transaction involving a private sale. Any experts care to weigh in? Edited April 25, 2014 by patfitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy10 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Just given the fact that a supermajority of the owners need to approve a sale makes me think this is out of the realm of possibility. Sure is a nice idea though, I'll give you that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Let's disregard the motive for a minute and simply consider the legality. What if Mary Wilson decides to sell the Bills, to say Jim Kelly for what her late husband paid to start the franchise, or alternatively deed it to the Erie County or the city of Buffalo for $1. Are any of these options even legal? I simply ask because it is unclear to me to extent what the NFL has legal jurisdication in a business transaction involving a private sale. Any experts care to weigh in? You own a $900M business and you want to sell it for $25K or less? I'm not sure what to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDIGGZ Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Money is overrated. Anyone want to buy my house for $1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark80 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 (edited) Let's disregard the motive for a minute and simply consider the legality. What if Mary Wilson decides to sell the Bills, to say Jim Kelly for what her late husband paid to start the franchise, or alternatively deed it to the Erie County or the city of Buffalo for $1. Are any of these options even legal? I simply ask because it is unclear to me to extent what the NFL has legal jurisdication in a business transaction involving a private sale. Any experts care to weigh in? It would depend on what the Trust says. That's the legally binding document you'd have to follow here first. Generally speaking, if you own something, regardless of how valuable it is, and you want to give it away for free or for much less than it is worth, you can do it. This is America after all. Edited April 25, 2014 by Mark80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maybe Someday Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Just given the fact that a supermajority of the owners need to approve a sale makes me think this is out of the realm of possibility. Sure is a nice idea though, I'll give you that. +1. The majority of owners (75% sticks in my mind but not sure if that’s the number) have to approve the sale and no way someone like Jerry Jones would go for this since it would most likely affect the value of their franchises. Just like if you sell your house for much less than the market value, it will lower the value of your neighbor’s homes until others sell because values are based on comparable sales. In that situation, you can do whatever you want but imagine if your neighbors had the right to veto your sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark80 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 +1. The majority of owners (75% sticks in my mind but not sure if that’s the number) have to approve the sale and no way someone like Jerry Jones would go for this since it would most likely affect the value of their franchises. Just like if you sell your house for much less than the market value, it will lower the value of your neighbor’s homes until others sell because values are based on comparable sales. In that situation, you can do whatever you want but imagine if your neighbors had the right to veto your sale. He's only asking if it's legal. Obviously it would never happen, but it is legal if the trust allows it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wiz Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Money is overrated. Anyone want to buy my house for $1? How many walls does it have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaskerTough Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 +1. The majority of owners (75% sticks in my mind but not sure if that’s the number) have to approve the sale and no way someone like Jerry Jones would go for this since it would most likely affect the value of their franchises. Just like if you sell your house for much less than the market value, it will lower the value of your neighbor’s homes until others sell because values are based on comparable sales. In that situation, you can do whatever you want but imagine if your neighbors had the right to veto your sale. Such a nice idea, and conceptually legal for sure. But yea, as I've harped about on this thread in the past - NFL Owners won't let anyone devalue their toy collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 (edited) You own a $900M business and you want to sell it for $25K or less? I'm not sure what to say. My thoughts exactly How many walls does it have? Forget walls. Tell me about the roof... CBF Edited April 25, 2014 by Canadian Bills Fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aristocrat Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 really? this is where we're at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Finally, someone wants to offer the Bills what they are worth. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOKBILLS Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Money is overrated. Anyone want to buy my house for $1? Depends...What's the kitchen like?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Finally, someone wants to offer the Bills what they are worth. B) LOL yet... CBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsMagic1 Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Not much sense to deal with this but question would be who would pay the taxes for the difference from fair market value to seling price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronin Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Let's disregard the motive for a minute and simply consider the legality. What if Mary Wilson decides to sell the Bills, to say Jim Kelly for what her late husband paid to start the franchise, or alternatively deed it to the Erie County or the city of Buffalo for $1. Are any of these options even legal? I simply ask because it is unclear to me to extent what the NFL has legal jurisdication in a business transaction involving a private sale. Any experts care to weigh in? Just like most powerful and influential enormous corporations, rules can and will be bent and changed for them in the courts. Not to mention that they can tie up opponents in court costing them millions if necessary, which is chump change for the NFL. I anticipate that this whole notion that the Bills can't leave Buffalo until 2020 will play out quite differently for exactly that reason. Despite the fact that we all want the team to remain here, the fact is that the region simply is no longer capable of sustaining an NFL team, by the NFL's corporate-driven standards along with PSL licensing, whether we are honest enough to admit that to ourselves or not being irrelevant. Buffalo is a blue collar "lunch pail" kinda town, not one that fits the current NFL model for teams. I personally can't stand where the NFL has taken itself, but unfortunately that doesn't matter either. It wasn't that long ago that the Bills were competitive, only 20 years or so ago, and during the Kelly/Bruce/Thurman/Reed era, it was still very much a blue-collar kinda gig. For us Buffalonians it still is, but for the NFL it is not. I see this pushing north of the border and much more quickly than we all assume. $400M is really not all that much, and all it's going to take is a new owner telling the county, behind closed doors of course, that he/she/they will simply let the team "rot" in Buffalo for its last few years, or they can take the grease money and feign something like that the county gets nothing if the team simply leaves and that "this way" the county would at least get a buyout at a fraction of that $400M, which of course they'll sell to the public as a good deal. Entirely lost will be the irony that having and NFL team is supposed to have a net positive impact on the economy, including getting all those taxpayer dollars back, a false notion, but one that will be stood on its head nonetheless if/when that happens, likely without anyone challenging it like that. This entire thing, including where the NFL has taken itself, could not be a whole lot more tragic, particularly for WNY-ers. And frankly, if we cannot have a "blue collar" team/stadium etc., then I'm not sure that I'm all that interested. I've seen what this does, as many of us have, to football in other cities, like D.C. for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Linen Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Just given the fact that a supermajority of the owners need to approve a sale makes me think this is out of the realm of possibility. Sure is a nice idea though, I'll give you that. I thought this too but do they have the power to agree on the money aspect of the sale? I think they have a say (vote) on the approval of the potential new owner and things like that but my guess is they can't say boo about the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Sell me your house for a dollar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Buffalo Joe Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Legally speaking, yes. But even if she did, does Jim Kelly, or anybody who couldn't pay full price, have the money to support the team once they get a hold of it? And do you really want Erie County, or the ever so smooth operation known as the city of Buffalo running the Bills? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Money is overrated. Anyone want to buy my house for $1? Hey I was on the Buffalo east side for Dyngus Day. At $1 some of thse homes are a rip-off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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