Pegula Sports & Entertainment Executive Vice President Ron Raccuia listens as Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz announces new health and safety protocols for Highmark Stadium and Key Bank Arena during a news conference at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.
PALM BEACH, Fla. – Rumors of the Buffalo Sabres being for sale can be put to rest, a Pegula Sports and Entertainment executive said Monday.
The local National Hockey League franchise owned by Terry and Kim Pegula and other properties owned by PSE are not on the market, said Ron Raccuia, PSE’s executive vice president who spoke here at the annual NFL owners meetings.
“No. None of them are for sale,” Raccuia said on the front lawn of The Breakers hotel. “None of them are for sale, none will be. There’s no plans at all for that.”
In addition to the Sabres, PSE owns and operates the Buffalo Bills, Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League, Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League, LECOM Harborcenter, Black River Entertainment and several other entities.
The Sabres have not made the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2010-11, the longest drought in the NHL, and could average less than 10,000 fans for a full season for the first time since their inaugural season, 1970-71. Attendance for 33 home dates is averaging 9,392, the least by more than 2,000 per game among U.S.-based NHL teams, but that includes more than 26,000 for the Heritage Classic in Hamilton, Ont., which counts as a Sabres home game.
According to Forbes’ annual valuation of NHL teams, the Sabres are ranked No. 29 with a valuation of $500 million. The Pegulas purchased the team for $165 million in 2011.
Raccuia spoke shortly after an agreement on a $1.4 billion public-private partnership for construction for a stadium for the NFL’s Bills was announced.
“This is a commitment to our community, for the Pegulas, for the state, for the county, for the governor,” Raccuia said. “It’s politically sensitive … I think they went really well. Were they stressful? Sure. I would never consider them contentious. We’re going to sign a 30-year lease and the Buffalo Bills are going to be here for 30 years.”
As part of the stadium agreement, the Pegulas are contributing at least $350 million toward stadium construction, plus the $50 million they will have to reimburse the league as part of a $200 million loan. Up to $150 million of the loan is forgivable, repaid through the visiting teams’ share of Bills ticket revenue over 25 years, according to the terms of the league’s “G-4” loan program, which helps fund stadium construction and renovations.
A portion of the funds the Pegulas will contribute will come from the sale of about 50,000 personal seat licenses to all season-ticket holders, beginning at about $1,000 apiece. The Pegulas also are “responsible for any escalation in costs” to construct the stadium, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, a detail the governor called “quite significant.”
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I started at The Buffalo News in 2009, and have previously been honored as one of the top 10 beat writers in the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors for my coverage of the Bills. I live in Amherst with my wife, Melissa, and son, Elliott.
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A chorus of league owners and executives praised Bills owners Kim and Terry Pegula, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after the group reached an “ironclad” 30-year agreement to keep the Bills entrenched in the league’s second-smallest market.
Pegula Sports & Entertainment Executive Vice President Ron Raccuia listens as Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz announces new health and safety protocols for Highmark Stadium and Key Bank Arena during a news conference at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.
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