Russ Brandon - Leaving Role as President of Bills & Sabres due to workplace behavior and allegations of personal misconduct

[Fadingpain]

This was mentioned up-thread, but it deserves repeating.

 

Around 29 minutes into Hour 4 of Schopp & Bulldog today, Bulldog indicated that he was getting a lot of contact from (presumably) sports/media contacts in the WNY area and they were not "Twitter bots".  

 

They were indicating that this story is not going to be a surprise to lots of people.  Bulldog predicted lots of info. is going to be known in the next 24 hours about what happened.

 

There is going to be a lot out there about this as time unfolds.

 

Bulldog said "I think he's (Brandon) gonna deserve a lot of criticism."

 

Popcorn at the ready.  Can't wait.

 

Hour 4 of Schopp & Bulldog:

 

http://www.wgr550.com/media/audio-channel/05-01-schopp-and-bulldog-hour-4

Edited May 2, 2018 by Fadingpain

[BringBackOrton]

1 minute ago, N.Y. Orangeman said:

LOL...you have a narrative you want to continue. It isn't true and she isn't the gold digger/hanger on you appear to be portraying her as.   It was founded in 1983, but take a look at when it took off.

Hear it from Kim herself!

 

""He said, 'Hey, I can use somebody at East,' but I think he made that up," Kim said with a laugh."

 

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2015/08/23/kim-pegula-making-difference-adopted-hometown/32166573/

 

Kim Pegula herself thought Terry made up a job just to date her!  You lose!

 

Remember when you got the date wrong when East was founded by almost a decade to fit YOUR narrative?

Edited May 2, 2018 by jmc12290

[Lurker]

1 minute ago, N.Y. Orangeman said:

LOL...you have a narrative you want to continue. It isn't true and she isn't the gold digger/hanger on you appear to be portraying her as.   It was founded in 1983, but take a look at when it took off.

 

So, Kim invented Fracking?    Well, that changes everything...

[N.Y. Orangeman]

9 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I worked directly with the owner and senior staff. I directly managed $64M a year on my team. I’m not trying to downplay anything but the point is she hasn’t had to make those decisions. She hasn’t been exposed to that. She is insulated from all of that (as is Terry). You run the answers by them to get approval but they are not a part of developing or managing the plan. I worked under 4 different “owners” and every one had that approach. This team is in no way better off with Kim P and she needs to rely on the strong executives in that building. 

You have a great background, but she is actually doing the job above her current role and assuming that her role in building a company at East isn't transferrable to sports management.  Jerry Jones, Bob Kraft, etc. all disproved that outsiders cannot manage sports teams at an executive level. Yes, she will need strong people around her, just as Brandon did.

Edited May 2, 2018 by N.Y. Orangeman

[CommonCents]

1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I’m not trying to be a downer, just trying to add perspective. I understand, very well, what that job entails. If she delegates and stays out of the way things will be okay. The more involved she tries to be the worse off things will be. She will be holding back more talented and experienced people. 

Her willingness to get involved coupled with her level of experience is the problem. Everyone better get aboard that Allen train because Beane and McD will soon be answering to the green owners on which way to wipe their own backsides if they show any signs of faultering.

[peterpan]

3 hours ago, May Day 10 said:

I have said it before, but got yelled down.  Amongst other things, the guy is a sleeze (close second hand knowledge)

Same here.  I know 3 separate and independent people who have experienced and/or witnessed his behavior during the training camp here in Rochester.  One of those was even an employee of the team at the time. 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

1 minute ago, jmc12290 said:

Hear it from Kim herself!

 

""He said, 'Hey, I can use somebody at East,' but I think he made that up," Kim said with a laugh."

 

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2015/08/23/kim-pegula-making-difference-adopted-hometown/32166573/

 

Kim Pegula herself thought Terry made up a job just to date her!  You lose!

 

Remember when you got the date wrong when East was founded by almost a decade to fit YOUR narrative?

Yeah...you won the argument with that.  LOL.    Take a look at when they started fracking, fracking took off and when they exited.

[CommonCents]

2 minutes ago, jmc12290 said:

Hear it from Kim herself!

 

""He said, 'Hey, I can use somebody at East,' but I think he made that up," Kim said with a laugh."

 

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2015/08/23/kim-pegula-making-difference-adopted-hometown/32166573/

 

Kim Pegula herself thought Terry made up a job just to date her!  You lose!

 

Remember when you got the date wrong when East was founded by almost a decade to fit YOUR narrative?

 No dancing in the end zone. It’s 51-3 let him up.

[Fadingpain]

This was mentioned in the Brandon Resignation thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread.

 

Around 29 minutes into Hour 4 of Schopp & Bulldog today, Bulldog indicated that he was getting a lot of contact from (presumably) sports/media contacts in the WNY area and they were not "Twitter bots".  

 

They were indicating that this story is not going to be a surprise to lots of people.  Bulldog predicted lots of info. is going to be known in the next 24 hours about what happened.

 

There is going to be a lot out there about this as time unfolds.

 

Bulldog said "I think he's (Brandon) gonna deserve a lot of criticism."

 

Popcorn at the ready.  Can't wait.

 

Hour 4 of Schopp & Bulldog:

 

http://www.wgr550.com/media/audio-channel/05-01-schopp-and-bulldog-hour-4

Edited May 2, 2018 by Fadingpain

[BringBackOrton]

3 minutes ago, N.Y. Orangeman said:

Yeah...you won the argument with that.  LOL.    Take a look at when they started fracking, fracking took off and when they exited.

Are you saying Terry was a starving small business owner and Kim the waitress married a divorced man, with 2 kids from a previous marriage , who was 18 years her senior who had no money?

 

Holy Hail Mary.

Edited May 2, 2018 by jmc12290

[DJB]

Not much of a hot take really by Bulldog.  Fans have been all over Russ for years. Heck we even had an explanation from the Bills as to why Russ was part of the roundtable at draft time.

 

The hate is justified and glad hes gone. A monkey could fill OBD for each home game l

Edited May 2, 2018 by DJB

[Hapless Bills Fan]

54 minutes ago, Rosen-not-Chosen said:

How much you want to bet eventually the allegations will be proven false, levied by some triggered 3rd wave feminist...

 

I have no idea what a "triggered 3rd wave feminist" might be, but

1) it was pointed out Russ Brandon likely has a contract with PSE - likely a big one with various contingency clauses.  For Brandon to "voluntarily resign" so quickly and not try to hang on and get some kind of buy-out - the smart money bets that they have pretty strong evidence

2) The AP story contains details that would be libelous if not verifiable.  AP don't do that

https://apnews.com/a3e47f35637b4654a20fb4b1882322e8/AP-source:-Bills,-Sabres-president-Brandon-leaving-teams

 

Now you take on the burden of proof, not just that the allegations are false, but that they can be shown to be generated by a "triggered 3rd wave feminist" and I know which way I'd place the rent money.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

2 minutes ago, jmc12290 said:

Are you saying Terry was a starving small business owner and Kim married a divorced man with 2 kids from a previous marriage ,18 years her senior who had no money?

 

Holy Hail Mary.

No.  He was a successful startup who became one of the richest men in America WITH Kim when THEY built THEIR company.    I'm sorry succesful women trouble you so much...

Edited May 2, 2018 by N.Y. Orangeman

[BringBackOrton]

Just now, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I have no idea what a "triggered 3rd wave feminist" might be, but

1) it was pointed out Russ Brandon likely has a contract with PSE - likely a big one with various contingency clauses.  For Brandon to "voluntarily resign" so quickly and not try to hang on and get some kind of buy-out - the smart money bets that they have pretty strong evidence

2) The AP story contains details that would be slanderous if not backed up.  AP don't do that

https://apnews.com/a3e47f35637b4654a20fb4b1882322e8/AP-source:-Bills,-Sabres-president-Brandon-leaving-teams

 

I have heard this has been rumbling since the Winter Classic.

[Rosen-not-Chosen]

Just now, N.Y. Orangeman said:

No.  He was a successful start up who became one of the richest men in America WITH Kim when THEY built THEIR company.    I'm sorry your 50's generalizations don't fit the fact here.  

 

Kim made the sandwiches for the meetings.

[BringBackOrton]

1 minute ago, N.Y. Orangeman said:

No.  He was a successful start up who became one of the richest men in America WITH Kim when THEY built THEIR company.    I'm sorry your 50's generalizations don't fit the fact here.  

What was Terry's net worth in 1991?

 

Does Kim marry him if it's less than 100k?

 

She was hired to do the same job she does for the Bills.  Be a face that talks to people.  Did she purchase the land?  Did she find the oil and gas?

Edited May 2, 2018 by jmc12290

[Fadingpain]

1 minute ago, DJB said:

Not much of a hot take really by Bulldog.  Fans have been all over Russ for years. Heck we even had an explanation from the Bills as to why Russ was part of the roundtable at draft time.

 

The hate is justified and glad hes gone. A monkey could fill OBD for each home game l

It's not a hot take.  He's not talking about the traditional stuff that has made fans hate Brandon in the past.

 

He's referring to widespread knowledge/allegations of Brandon's sexual misconduct or whatever it is that got him fired.

 

 

[Kirby Jackson]

Just now, N.Y. Orangeman said:

You have a great background, but she is actually doing the job above her current role and assuming that her role in building a company at Eastern isn't transferrable to sports management.  Jerry Jones, Bob Kraft, etc. all disproved that outsiders cannot manager sports teams at an executive level. Yes, she will need strong people around her, just as Brandon did.

We aren’t saying the same thing then I guess. There is NOTHING in terms of running the business side of a sports team that she can do that Dave Wheat cannot. There are hundreds and likely thousands of things that he knows about the job that she doesn’t. That’s not hyperbole either. Again, we may never notice but I promise you there are many, many people that they employ that know the business better. 

 

When she goes and sits in the senior staff meeting what is she going to do besides for listen? She cannot drive these plans because the people under her are miles ahead. She can’t talk to pricing strategy, corporate assets, community initiatives, stadium operations, game operations, etc... The president sits over all of those departments. A good president is as strong in all of those areas as the people under him/her. They let the people work but provide valuable insight and strategy. She isn’t capable of doing that. I know that for a fact. 

 

Again, I expected her to be in this role and don’t think that it is weird. My whole point is that it isn’t what is best for the Bills. The best case scenario is to have your strongest people with the most responsibility. The Pegula’s felt burned by Russ so they pulled in the reigns and are doing it themselves. I get it. It just isn’t for the best.

[N.Y. Orangeman]

1 minute ago, jmc12290 said:

What was Terry's net worth in 1991?

 

Does Kim marry him if it's less than 100k?

 

She was hired to do the same job she does for the Bills.  Be a face that talks to people.

Have a good night..

[YoloinOhio]

2 minutes ago, jmc12290 said:

I have heard this has been rumbling since the Winter Classic.

According to the AP (wawrow), that was when the affair was discovered

[akm0404]

Some pretty solid hot takes from the “healthy male sexuality is being vilified” crowd when dudes aren’t allowed to rub up against their female coworkers anymore. 

 

I know you guys are just drooling to shake your out-of-touch fists at all those social justice warrior snowflakes, but uh, the guy resigned from his job due to the allegations.

 

He wasn’t fired. 

 

If if he were innocent of wrong doing, he was perfectly able to not resign and challenge his termination through legal remedy. 

 

But yah, damn uppity women folk just want to  go to work and do their jobs and not touch your penis. How I miss the good old days

Edited May 2, 2018 by akm0404

[Hapless Bills Fan]

50 minutes ago, Rosen-not-Chosen said:

I wonder if the women gets to keep her job?

 

If you're reading the thread, our internal source reports she's gone

[MJS]

The only thing I took from this is that there are 4 whole hours devoted to Schopp & The Bulldog!?

 

That sounds like torture. Seriously, that kind of cruel and unusual punishment could be illegal.

[Rosen-not-Chosen]

1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said:

We aren’t saying the same thing then I guess. There is NOTHING in terms of running the business side of a sports team that she can do that Dave Wheat cannot. There are hundreds and likely thousands of things that he knows about the job that she doesn’t. That’s not hyperbole either. Again, we may never notice but I promise you there are many, many people that they employ that know the business better. 

 

When she goes and sits in the senior staff meeting what is she going to do besides for listen? She cannot drive these plans because the people under her are miles ahead. She can’t talk to pricing strategy, corporate assets, community initiatives, stadium operations, game operations, etc... The president sits over all of those departments. A good president is as strong in all of those areas as the people under him/her. They let the people work but provide valuable insight and strategy. She isn’t capable of doing that. I know that for a fact. 

 

Again, I expected her to be in this role and don’t think that it is weird. My whole point is that it isn’t what is best for the Bills. The best case scenario is to have your strongest people with the most responsibility. The Pegula’s felt burned by Russ so they pulled in the reigns and are doing it themselves. I get it. It just isn’t for the best.

 

I already thought this ownership was a bit over their heads, now you have me even more worried for the future of the franchise...

[KHAN]

19 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I see we have gone from celebrating the firing of one sports executive to vilifying a new one, all in a span of 19 pages. Bravo, TBD.

The lack of common decency around here is staggering.

[N.Y. Orangeman]

Just now, Kirby Jackson said:

We aren’t saying the same thing then I guess. There is NOTHING in terms of running the business side of a sports team that she can do that Dave Wheat cannot. There are hundreds and likely thousands of things that he knows about the job that she doesn’t. That’s not hyperbole either. Again, we may never notice but I promise you there are many, many people that they employ that know the business better. 

 

When she goes and sits in the senior staff meeting what is she going to do besides for listen? She cannot drive these plans because the people under her are miles ahead. She can’t talk to pricing strategy, corporate assets, community initiatives, stadium operations, game operations, etc... The president sits over all of those departments. A good president is as strong in all of those areas as the people under him/her. They let the people work but provide valuable insight and strategy. She isn’t capable of doing that. I know that for a fact. 

 

Again, I expected her to be in this role and don’t think that it is weird. My whole point is that it isn’t what is best for the Bills. The best case scenario is to have your strongest people with the most responsibility. The Pegula’s felt burned by Russ so they pulled in the reigns and are doing it themselves. I get it. It just isn’t for the best.

I think you are making the assumption that she hasn't learned a thing in the past 5 years.  I'm not saying she doesn't have the background in building these strategies from the ground up, but I think you are dismissing a) the transferability of her skills from a much larger organization she built and b) that she hasn't learned a thing since the Pegulas bought the Sabres.  I respect your experience here, but I guess we differ on her potential to a decent job with this position.  I hope I am right 

[Rosen-not-Chosen]

1 minute ago, KHAN said:

The lack of common decency around here is staggering.

 

And nepotism destroys companies

Edited May 2, 2018 by Rosen-not-Chosen

[Buffalo716]

[Kirby Jackson]

Just now, Rosen-not-Chosen said:

 

I already thought this ownership was a bit over their heads, now you have me even more worried for the future of the franchise...

Ha ha, I already said I wasn’t trying to be a downer. I’m just telling it like I see it. If she operates as a figurehead it will be okay. If she tries to actually do what the job entails it will not be good. I’ll use a basketball analogy. It would be like having an all-star on your bench while you are starting Melo because he makes $28M a year. You will still play the all-star some but you aren’t maximizing your potential because the person in front of him has a certain “entitlement.”

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

EASILY a $1.5 mil+ to walk the plank.....oh well..........

[dulles]

3 minutes ago, MJS said:

The only thing I took from this is that there are 4 whole hours devoted to Schopp & The Bulldog!?

 

That sounds like torture. Seriously, that kind of cruel and unusual punishment could be illegal.

Maybe that is part of Brandon's punishment?   

[BringBackOrton]

Just now, N.Y. Orangeman said:

I think you are making the assumption that she hasn't learned a thing in the past 5 years.  I'm not saying she doesn't have the background in building these strategies from the ground up, but I think you are dismissing a) the transferability of her skills from a much larger organization she built and b) that she hasn't learned a thing since the Pegulas bought the Sabres.  I respect your experience here, but I guess we differ on her potential to a decent job with this position.  I hope I am right 

 

[DrDawkinstein]

This was only a matter of time. If you're a female that has gone out downtown, you have a 87% chance of being molested by Russ Brandon. It's a pretty known thing. Dude is a scumbag. Dude has been a scumbag. I've always been convinced he was actually behind most of the in-fighting between Marrone and Whaley.

 

Good effing riddance on personal and professional levels.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by DrDawkinstein

[Wayne Arnold]

59 minutes ago, jmc12290 said:

Yes.  And she got her job after meeting him as a waitress.

 

Really tough to get from A to B there.

 

Was Terry married at the time? And is Kim multiple women?

 

Otherwise I don't see the irony.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

2 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

This was only a matter of time. If you're a female that has gone out downtown, you have a 87% chance of being molested by Russ Brandon. It's a pretty known thing. Dude is a scumbag. Dude has been a scumbag. I've always been convinced he was actually behind most of the in-fighting between Marrone and Whaley.

 

Good effing riddance and personal and professional levels.

 

 

...you must be his agent then..and a woefully sad one......SMH............

Edited May 2, 2018 by OldTimeAFLGuy

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

 

...you must be his agent then....SMH............

 

Hahaha, no doubt, it could be higher.

[Kirby Jackson]

3 minutes ago, N.Y. Orangeman said:

I think you are making the assumption that she hasn't learned a thing in the past 5 years.  I'm not saying she doesn't have the background in building these strategies from the ground up, but I think you are dismissing a) the transferability of her skills from a much larger organization she built and b) that she hasn't learned a thing since the Pegulas bought the Sabres.  I respect your experience here, but I guess we differ on her potential to a decent job with this position.  I hope I am right 

I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that her 5 years of learning on the job don’t compare to Dave Wheat’s decade and a half as a C-level executive in sports. There are others that have even more experience than he does. 

[MJS]

2 minutes ago, dulles said:

Maybe that is part of Brandon's punishment?   

 

And I assume Shopp & Bulldog get paid for it. That's another mind boggling aspect.

[BringBackOrton]

1 minute ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Was Terry married at the time? And is Kim multiple women?

 

Otherwise I don't see the irony.

If you'd read the thread, you'd see how the Pegulas' relationship wouldn't fly today under the new precedent and rules of workplace romance.

[Wayne Arnold]

5 minutes ago, Rosen-not-Chosen said:

 

And nepotism destroys companies

 

If Kim had replaced Brandon with her son or daughter, that would be nepotism.

 

Taking over herself is not nepotism.