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FMIA Guest: Kim Pegula On Lessons Learned Leading Bills During Covid


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11 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

Boasting about how you treat your workers like family after laying off dozens and using the example she did is definitively "tone deaf".

 

There is no way you can argue otherwise.  It was a ridiculous point she made with the worst possible example.  This is easy.


It’s out of touch with reality in general. Like, which employees are taking public transit to work? For the Bills? In OP, or the Sabres?  Not to be a dick, but Buffalo is relatively cheap town with absolutely terrible public transit. Nobody is taking the bus to one bills drive who is a full time employee. Hell, if you’re a full time employee for either the Bills or the Sabres you should make enough to not rely on public transit. It’s not expensive here. 
 

She just sort of said things that didn’t add up. 

24 minutes ago, Just Joshin' said:

Maybe the Sabres were not mentioned because it was for a football website.


She mentioned the Sabres a bunch of times actually. 

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1 hour ago, Mango said:


It’s out of touch with reality in general. Like, which employees are taking public transit to work? For the Bills? In OP, or the Sabres?  Not to be a dick, but Buffalo is relatively cheap town with absolutely terrible public transit. Nobody is taking the bus to one bills drive who is a full time employee. Hell, if you’re a full time employee for either the Bills or the Sabres you should make enough to not rely on public transit. It’s not expensive here. 
 

She just sort of said things that didn’t add up. 


She mentioned the Sabres a bunch of times actually. 

The housing market is pretty out of control right now, some houses have doubled in price in just a few years. I know for a fact that they drastically underpay for IT positions with the expectation that the "prestige" is worth it. Overall I agree with the transit observation though. 

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4 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

The housing market is pretty out of control right now, some houses have doubled in price in just a few years. I know for a fact that they drastically underpay for IT positions with the expectation that the "prestige" is worth it. Overall I agree with the transit observation though. 

 

This is a larger conversation, but you touched on something really critical for the region. Buffalo is seeing a HUUUUGE cost of living increase, but wages keep staying stagnant. The employment demographics (job opportunity not race, gender, etc.) have not budged. We aren't seeing a large influx of highly paid workers, increased wages, or highly skilled workers to justify it. Buffalo has hyped (fooled)  itself into an expensive city that keeps lining the same pockets for generations (Macaluso, Sinatra, Savarino, Paladino, Montante, etc.). 

 

A few years ago I was looking to change employers. I found an opportunity at PSE that fit my skill set and career path. I have a friend who works for Labatt in the same building as PSE and knows a bunch of those guys who are higher up. So we go and grab a beer to chat and see what the deal is. They wanted to pay me about 40% of what I was making at my job at the time. They were also pretty candid and said there is very little room for movement internally at PSE. You basically get your job and stay in your job. Obviously I didn't look any further with PSE and moved into my current job that was a 20% increase in pay out of the gates and resulted in a few awards, promotions, and raises along the way. 

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6 minutes ago, BUFFALOBART said:

Do you know her? Otherwise, that is more than a bit presumptuous.

Amazing.

I lived in Buffalo in the early/late '70's, and from the late '80's to the latter '90's, and the housing market was always dirt cheap.

I'd have to believe that the downtown Pegula investments are driving this(?)

I don't think it's them. There is a lot of revitalization happening not attributed to the Pegulas, they are moreso capitalizing on it. I was gone for 7 years and couldn't believe all the change in the inner and outer harbor. Not to mention Hertel is still really nice. 

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48 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

This is a larger conversation, but you touched on something really critical for the region. Buffalo is seeing a HUUUUGE cost of living increase, but wages keep staying stagnant. The employment demographics (job opportunity not race, gender, etc.) have not budged. We aren't seeing a large influx of highly paid workers, increased wages, or highly skilled workers to justify it. Buffalo has hyped (fooled)  itself into an expensive city that keeps lining the same pockets for generations (Macaluso, Sinatra, Savarino, Paladino, Montante, etc.). 

 

A few years ago I was looking to change employers. I found an opportunity at PSE that fit my skill set and career path. I have a friend who works for Labatt in the same building as PSE and knows a bunch of those guys who are higher up. So we go and grab a beer to chat and see what the deal is. They wanted to pay me about 40% of what I was making at my job at the time. They were also pretty candid and said there is very little room for movement internally at PSE. You basically get your job and stay in your job. Obviously I didn't look any further with PSE and moved into my current job that was a 20% increase in pay out of the gates and resulted in a few awards, promotions, and raises along the way. 

A lot of residents don't understand the change either as they're locked into their low mortgage houses. With all of the colleges you would hope that eventually the higher paying jobs follow. Either way the housing market is primed to burst. I was very lucky to get hooked up with a military contractor, but the cost of living is much closer to the Capital region I left than what I expected

 

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1 minute ago, BUFFALOBART said:

Sometimes, an individual is in the right place, at the right time. Her marriage to Peg's has obviously worked. Speaking for myself, I don't give a damn about how she made her ascent.

You are judging a situation that you know nothing of.

I would wager that we have indeed, seen 'results', after almost a few decades of a smouldering train wreck....

Other hands on owners tend to get more leeway because of championships. we have two first round wild card exits in a weak AFC. Not nearly the same thing in my book

I'm not judging anything. I don't care about her in the slightest. I'm just explaining where the reaction comes from.

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3 minutes ago, BUFFALOBART said:

I'm happy to see Buffalo on the rise. It's an unlikely cascade of events, -like the (miracle ?) of the Bills staying in Buffalo, after Ralph's passing....

Yea it's definitely very promising. Niagara County doesn't seem to have caught on to the rebuild, but this is a great start. I never thought id see Buffalo hold on to it's college graduates and see people excited to move back. 

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11 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

A lot of residents don't understand the change either as they're locked into their low mortgage houses. With all of the colleges you would hope that eventually the higher paying jobs follow. Either way the housing market is primed to burst. I was very lucky to get hooked up with a military contractor, but the cost of living is much closer to the Capital region I left than what I expected

 

 

Ha! I just moved out of Buffalo and have been in the capital region (Saratoga)for the last year. I agree, I think it’s probably already starting. Lots of foreclosures in Buffalo at the moment. 

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21 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

A lot of residents don't understand the change either as they're locked into their low mortgage houses. With all of the colleges you would hope that eventually the higher paying jobs follow. Either way the housing market is primed to burst. I was very lucky to get hooked up with a military contractor, but the cost of living is much closer to the Capital region I left than what I expected

 

Capital region being... Albany, right?  Because I know you don’t mean Washington D.C.

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2 hours ago, Mango said:

 

This is a larger conversation, but you touched on something really critical for the region. Buffalo is seeing a HUUUUGE cost of living increase, but wages keep staying stagnant. The employment demographics (job opportunity not race, gender, etc.) have not budged. We aren't seeing a large influx of highly paid workers, increased wages, or highly skilled workers to justify it. Buffalo has hyped (fooled)  itself into an expensive city that keeps lining the same pockets for generations (Macaluso, Sinatra, Savarino, Paladino, Montante, etc.). 

 

A few years ago I was looking to change employers. I found an opportunity at PSE that fit my skill set and career path. I have a friend who works for Labatt in the same building as PSE and knows a bunch of those guys who are higher up. So we go and grab a beer to chat and see what the deal is. They wanted to pay me about 40% of what I was making at my job at the time. They were also pretty candid and said there is very little room for movement internally at PSE. You basically get your job and stay in your job. Obviously I didn't look any further with PSE and moved into my current job that was a 20% increase in pay out of the gates and resulted in a few awards, promotions, and raises along the way. 

 

Yeah - I ended up taking a remote job out of St. Louis, but I'm able to live wherever i want.  Even with the large increase in pay, my wife getting promoted, i still don't know how people are able to afford some of these mid level homes that went from 250 to 375K in the last 3-5 years.

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3 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

Other hands on owners tend to get more leeway because of championships. we have two first round wild card exits in a weak AFC. Not nearly the same thing in my book

I'm not judging anything. I don't care about her in the slightest. I'm just explaining where the reaction comes from.

 

 Who are they?  Snyder never won one.  Jerruh got lucky with Jimmy Johnson and that Herschel Walker trade and those championships were 25 years ago.  And where are any reports that the Pegulas have been hands-on with the Bills?


As for the playoffs, If the NFL hadn't inconsistently applied commonsense, the Bills probably would’ve won that game.

 

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1 hour ago, Doc said:

 

 Who are they?  Snyder never won one.  Jerruh got lucky with Jimmy Johnson and that Herschel Walker trade and those championships were 25 years ago.  And where are any reports that the Pegulas have been hands-on with the Bills?


As for the playoffs, If the NFL hadn't inconsistently applied commonsense, the Bills probably would’ve won that game.

 

 

They let Russ Brandon decide on the HC and not their GM. 

Extended Whaley after hamstringing his HC hire. 

Fired their choice in HC, Rex Ryan, who was not Whaley's choice.

Hired a McDermott

Fired their GM, Whaley

Hired Beane. 

 

A lot of this reads a TON like the decade of Sabres futility, this one just happened to work out. None of it implies any sort of mastery of how to run an org.  

 

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1 hour ago, Mango said:

 

They let Russ Brandon decide on the HC and not their GM. 

Extended Whaley after hamstringing his HC hire. 

Fired their choice in HC, Rex Ryan, who was not Whaley's choice.

Hired a McDermott

Fired their GM, Whaley

Hired Beane. 

 

A lot of this reads a TON like the decade of Sabres futility, this one just happened to work out. None of it implies any sort of mastery of how to run an org.  

 

 

After issuing a win or your gone ultimatum, no less.  Rex didn't even get to the end of the season.

 

At least they were able to get some of the PSE laid off employees back to work:

 

image.jpeg.e3b2d903c58f8c74732496f5a903d757.jpeg

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4 hours ago, dneveu said:

 

Yeah - I ended up taking a remote job out of St. Louis, but I'm able to live wherever i want.  Even with the large increase in pay, my wife getting promoted, i still don't know how people are able to afford some of these mid level homes that went from 250 to 375K in the last 3-5 years.

 

Oh for sure. I mean, I have a house I really like here, but my career had to get to a certain point before I got it. WE would have gotten something in Buffalo a little cheaper if we didn't have to leave for my SO's job. But the median income here is about 30k higher per year than Buffalo, so by that metric it isn't too bad. I don't get how the average person does it. Buffalo is infilling at the moment. Sort of filling in the donut hole. So as my friends have gotten really comfortable in their careers, they have bought houses on Richmond, Dorchester, etc. because it was trendy. Less are going to OP and East Aurora, Clarence. My more middle income friends who were renting in the city but can afford to buy now are pushing into first ring suburbs like Kenmore. It will be interesting to see what happens. 

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5 hours ago, Mango said:

They let Russ Brandon decide on the HC and not their GM. 

Extended Whaley after hamstringing his HC hire. 

Fired their choice in HC, Rex Ryan, who was not Whaley's choice.

Hired a McDermott

Fired their GM, Whaley

Hired Beane. 

 

A lot of this reads a TON like the decade of Sabres futility, this one just happened to work out. None of it implies any sort of mastery of how to run an org. 

 

Maybe it reads like it, but in reality it wasn't.  In just their 3rd full season of ownership the Bills were back in the playoffs.  And seeing as how this is a Bills board, what the Sabres are doing is immaterial. 

 

And there is no mastery of how to run an organization.  It starts with finding a franchise QB and going from there, which is easier said than done. 

Edited by Doc
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8 hours ago, RiotAct said:

Capital region being... Albany, right?  Because I know you don’t mean Washington D.C.

Honestly it's getting pretty close to DC too. Not the city per se, but there were constantly subdivisions going up outside the city for 300k+. Right now in the north towns you have houses under 1200sqft going for 230k+. If the trend keeps up it's going to be close. 

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41 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

Honestly it's getting pretty close to DC too. Not the city per se, but there were constantly subdivisions going up outside the city for 300k+. Right now in the north towns you have houses under 1200sqft going for 230k+. If the trend keeps up it's going to be close. 

I dunno, I’m looking at Fairfax VA on Zillow and a ton of cookie cutter townhouses are selling for $400-$500k it looks like.

 

 

I spent 8 years in the area (Loudoun and Prince William counties), and by the time we left in 2016 my wife and I were paying about $30 more per month for a 2 br / 2 ba apartment in Manassas than we’re paying now for a mortgage payment (including taxes and insurance) on a SFH in Amherst that’s double the size of that apartment. 

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6 hours ago, Doc said:

 

 Who are they?  Snyder never won one.  Jerruh got lucky with Jimmy Johnson and that Herschel Walker trade and those championships were 25 years ago.  And where are any reports that the Pegulas have been hands-on with the Bills?


As for the playoffs, If the NFL hadn't inconsistently applied commonsense, the Bills probably would’ve won that game.

 

I was speaking of Al Davis and Jerry Jones. It's true those championships were a long time ago, but they're still there.

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6 hours ago, Doc said:

 

 Who are they?  Snyder never won one.  Jerruh got lucky with Jimmy Johnson and that Herschel Walker trade and those championships were 25 years ago.  And where are any reports that the Pegulas have been hands-on with the Bills?


As for the playoffs, If the NFL hadn't inconsistently applied commonsense, the Bills probably would’ve won that game.

 

 

 

Jones has not put together a solid roster currently in Dallas?

 

Ok.....

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