New sale of team thread

[Chandemonium]

Which of you guys is wearing zubaz and holding up the anti Bon jovi sign behind the nfl network stage at the hall of fame?

[Augie]

 

 

So youre saying that ralph put in his will to sell his lifes work for less money cause he values his friends over his wife and heirs. The trust could accept a 500 mil bid if they get to keep their jobs. This just doesnt make sense

 

Not to speak for anyone else, but he can put whatever he wants in his will. And he's got brilliant people earning top dollar to get things worded so he gets as close to what he wanted as possible. It's very complicated estate planning that only the brightest of us on this board could understand if we were to dedicate a decade or so of education to try to grasp. It's not a one page hand written on a cocktail napkin kind of deal. Some people cut the kids out entirely. Go figure, not my style (you're welcome kids, dozens of dollars should be left over for you). Some give zero to charity. People are all different and do things for their own reasons. He earned that right.

[The Wiz]

True. But it's entirely understandable for him to say I'm cool with anything you do, I just don't want to "lose" money. That is a reasonable request for a rich businessman. He may not say the exact same thing to the Bills guys, but he very well may. It may not be apples and oranges just because the leagues work much differently, and as you say, you cannot really lose money in the NFL. I just think that he is not a cheapskate, he just didnt want to lose money. And he very well could have that same attitude with the Bills.

Well that's kind of the thing of it. Kind of like paying a NHL player that was awarded arbitration vs franchising a player. I get the feeling he wouldn't have even franchised Byrd last year considering the amount of money it would have cost.

 

I don't know how he would do as an NFL owner with seemingly unlimited money but as an NHL owner he was cheap AKA Old Sugar Packets.

[Buffaloed in Pa]

It`s getting deep in here. I`m with the aristocrat. I don`t believe anyone. I will believe the Bills Brass,when they tell us. End of story.

[Kelly the Dog]

It`s getting deep in here. I`m with the aristocrat. I don`t believe anyone. I will believe the Bills Brass,when they tell us. End of story.

Then don't post for a few weeks until it is announced.

 

This is a freaking message board. It's for opinions.

[Rubes]

I'm always lurking, Hazed.

 

Man I had to blink just to make sure I saw that right. I wondered if that graphic would pull you out from the shadows. Nice to see you again.

 

Bon Jovi isn't getting the team based on many factors. I don't think people should be worried about that anymore (I never was). Nonetheless, I will continue my life long boycott of Bon Jovi based solely on his horrible music.

 

I'm hoping the same, but hearing we may see a lot about JBJ in tomorrow's Buff News.

[CodeMonkey]

It isn't just set up to take the top dollar. There are instructions, and it includes a few different things. We don't know what they are. One of them, surely, is sell to a local owner. One of them, surely, is get a huge amount of money. The other instructions, if any, could be a few different things. I was just giving a hypothetical. What if the difference between the two bids was not 100m it was 10m? We don't know what the bids are, and how close they are.

 

I don't know what Mary thinks, but I would bet anything that Ralph's choice would be A. That was the kind of man he was and he proved it many a time. I would also bet that Mary wants both the best deal she can get AND get what her late husband would have wanted. If the bids are equal, tie goes to the status quo. If the bids are very, very close, it still may go to the status quo. The further the final bids get apart from each other, the harder it is to turn down the money.

I agree with what you are thinking regarding Mrs Wilson completely. We don't know what instructions, if any, were attached to the trust. And it is unlikely we ever will.

[Kirby Jackson]

 

 

Why would ralph put a clause like that in the trust? It would cause the team to be sold for less money. You can put in a clause that each employee will be evaluated and maybe employed for the season but when have you heard of that in a team sale? It just screams of peoplw making stuff up.

Kelly has been pretty plugged in. That is not someone that is making stuff up.

 

With that being said, maybe the rules are pretty flexible in terms of what those 4 people decide? RW may have just given some guidelines and left the decision to them?

[Captain Hindsight]

 

I'm not really sure what your beef is with Kelly. Like he said, this is a message board and we are just talking, mostly about what we hope will happen or based on what we've heard.

 

We are all scared about what will happen to the team. You can choose to listen to some of the posters here or not, thats your choice. But I fail to see how constantly telling him he doesn't know anything and torpedoing every single one of his posts is helping anyone. Take everything with a grain of salt, it might be true, it might not.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Beerball

[Tyrod's Tailor]

I`m not the one that lives in manhatten. How`s that air ? I`ve got 30 acres,What do you have 30 ft. leased. Living the dream ?

 

You seem fascinated by my home. Two mentions of that. I hope one day you can scrape up the cash to visit. PM me if you need money for a bus ticket.

[dave mcbride]

 

Dog has been on this board for well over a decade, and criticizing a great poster for posting a lot strikes me as very wrongheaded. We need more of people like the Dog, not less. Plus: criticizing voluminous message board posters on a message board = bad form.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Beerball

[jahnyc]

Rubes, can you give us some sense of the substance of the Buffalo News information for tomorrow regarding JBJ?

[BringBackFergy]

This was my reply:

 

Fair enough and I appreciate the response. I think that you missed a couple of things. Imagine if the Orlando Magic had been in your community for 30 years longer and that new celebrity owner was going to take them to Norfolk. Would you still think that it would add excitement?

 

In response to the part about not speaking to people from Buffalo, I am in New Orleans. The Bills travel better than any team in the NFL outside of Pittsburgh and Green Bay. When they were here last year my friend on the tourism board said that outside of Pittsburgh 2 years ago it was the most opposing fans to visit the city in 15 years. There was an estimated 20,000 Bills fans that made the trip.

 

Lastly, does anyone really need to be interested or care about a team that is not their own? Do I care more about the Milwaukee Bucks now that they have celebrity coach Jason Kidd? Nope. It does not matter to me. I care infinitely more that my team (the Pelicans) traded for a 2nd round pick to pick Russ Smith (and he will not even dress). The point is that you care about your own teams. No one here cares if the Magic are interesting or not (except I went to college with Rob Hennigan).

 

I have literally read hundreds of articles, columns, etc... on this sale and this is the 1st time that I have ever responded. I hope that you at least grasp why you drew such venom over this particular topic. I can pretty much guarantee that you did not get one email agreeing with you. This team is not a fun thing that the people of that community cheer for; it IS that community. If you want to poke Dolphins fans, go for it. They will not care. Perhaps you were not aware of that and I am sure that you are now. Again, I appreciate the response but hope that you stick to topics that you are a little more familiar with in the future.

absolutely perfect. Nice job.

[Hplarrm]

 

 

Why would ralph put a clause like that in the trust? It would cause the team to be sold for less money. You can put in a clause that each employee will be evaluated and maybe employed for the season but when have you heard of that in a team sale? It just screams of peoplw making stuff up.

 

The reality which your post does not seem to reflect is that the Buffalo Bills as a legal institution fully owned by Ralph Wilson agreed in a binding and contractual way to give up on pursuing standard free market capitalism and instead agreed in a binding manner to operate in the social compact known as the NFL.

 

By agreeing in a binding contract to not sell the team to any bidder unless that bidder is approved by 75% of the other owners the Bills and the Wilson trust effectively gave a veto over any purchaser of the team to the NFL.

 

This is logical that this was done. This is completely consistent with what drives the decion-making of every NFL owner. What makes the owner the most money.

 

Do you understand that even if the high bidder who would definitely guarantee the Wilson heirs the most money they could get, that this high bidder would get the team even if this owner cost the other owners money.

 

If the high bidder was some rich guy from Saudi Arabia who easily has the $ but the other owners would now have a partner who was Osana bin Laden's cousin, then this high bidder would not get the team.

 

You need to understand that what rules the NFL decision-makers is what makes them the most $. Th Wilson Trust might make more # from selling the team to a Toronto group or JBJ. but actually an individual owner's 1/32nd of the marginal added value to the Bills from abandoning 45,000 bought and sold season ticket holders in Buffalo, millions of dollars in non-transferable commercial deals with WNY business and hundreds of millions in corporate welfare from NYS governments in exchange for marginally higher but similar potential profits from Toronto.

 

It is clear the biggest bucks for current NFL owners comes from keeping the team in Buffalo AND setting up a new franchise in Toronto in a few years.

 

My sense is that in addition to the bigger bucks for current owners being not throwing away the real money which has made the Bills a billion $ business, but Ralph has done Buffalo a big favor by signing a deal that keeps the Bills here for at least 6 years. If the Bills move it guarantees a near decade of bad sad press that will piss off the TV nets the real cash cow.

 

My sense is that the NFL will easily reject not only taking on a bad partner but a stupid one like Donald Trump.

 

The NFL long ago gave up on free market economics when it signed the CBA rather than actually compete with each other financially for players.

 

It simply makes little fiscal sense for a high bidder approach for the NFL, to do means making a lot less profit for a team owner.

[Peter]

I read a few pages ago this morning that someone suggested that the trust may be concerned that Pegulas might clean house. I do not have time to read all of the pages in between, but I presume (perhaps incorrectly) that it should be obvious to the trust and everyone here:

 

THE PEGULAS DID NOT CLEAN HOUSE WITH THE SABRES.

 

The Pegulas were loyal to a fault (in some people's view). You may recall that the day before they took over, Sullivan wrote an article saying that the first thing that they should do is fire Darcy. Obviously, they did not.

 

No one - not the trust, not the Bills management - should be worried that the Pegulas would rashly clean house based on their track record.

 

Just my two cents.

[Big Turk]

I read a few pages ago this morning that someone suggested that the trust may be concerned that Pegulas might clean house. I do not have time to read all of the pages in between, but I presume (perhaps incorrectly) that it should be obvious to the trust and everyone here:

 

THE PEGULAS DID NOT CLEAN HOUSE WITH THE SABRES.

 

The Pegulas were loyal to a fault (in some people's view). You may recall that the day before they took over, Sullivan wrote an article saying that the first thing that they should do is fire Darcy. Obviously, they did not.

 

No one - not the trust, not the Bills management - should be worried that the Pegulas would rashly clean house based on their track record.

 

Just my two cents.

 

Kirby posted earlier in the thread that this is complete nonsense

[clearwater cadet]

I could be mistaken, although it wouldn't be by a lot, but I'm pretty damn sure that every single sentence in that paragraph is wrong.

 

I don't know Kelly? talked about this the other day, this soft bid deadline? Something doesn't seem right. If Ralph really cared we would of taken care of this before we passed. I'm most likely wrong, but just doesn't feel right.

[Hplarrm]

I read a few pages ago this morning that someone suggested that the trust may be concerned that Pegulas might clean house. I do not have time to read all of the pages in between, but I presume (perhaps incorrectly) that it should be obvious to the trust and everyone here:

 

THE PEGULAS DID NOT CLEAN HOUSE WITH THE SABRES.

 

The Pegulas were loyal to a fault (in some people's view). You may recall that the day before they took over, Sullivan wrote an article saying that the first thing that they should do is fire Darcy. Obviously, they did not.

 

No one - not the trust, not the Bills management - should be worried that the Pegulas would rashly clean house based on their track record.

 

Just my two cents.

It may well be that the Pegulas did not clean house of the folks from the Golisano/Quinn regime even if the record of competitive play and team building was that of folks who were simply bad at their jobs. Rhe acts of letting both Briere and Drury walk were in retrospect bad moves.

 

It thus makes perfect sense that the result has now seen Pegula clean house and really start over at square 1 with Murray.

 

If I was Littman, Overdorfer and any of the rest of the Bills braintrust I would be very afraid that a new owner would signal my demise, but the problem is not who buys the problem is the 0 for adecade +in making the playoffs is the problem not for who buys the team.

[clearwater cadet]

If Mary Wilson is so worried about everyone keeping their jobs, why sell the team in the first place. She has Russ and the other to run it. In today's NFL you can't lose money even if you tried. The team has no debt. Pegula has the money, he offering to more then anyone has ever paid for an NFL franchise, he believe he is willing to keep the team local, he appears to have a big plan not only for the bills, but for W.N.Y sports in general The Wilson family has made 100's of millions over the years, there 25,000 investment has multipled 52,000 times over?. To drag this thing on just doesn't seem right.

[Tyrod's Tailor]

If Mary Wilson is so worried about everyone keeping their jobs, why sell the team in the first place. She has Russ and the other to run it. In today's NFL you can't lose money even if you tried. The team has no debt. Pegula has the money, he offering to more then anyone has ever paid for an NFL franchise, he believe he is willing to keep the team local, he appears to have a big plan not only for the bills, but for W.N.Y sports in general The Wilson family has made 100's of millions over the years, there 25,000 investment has multipled 52,000 times over?. To drag this thing on just doesn't seem right.

 

To answer your question in one word: taxes