The Buffalo Bills aren’t the only sports team that Terry Pegula owns, but they are all over the place in competence.
There was a big change to Terry Pegula’s sports empire this week, when it was announced that he was no longer going to be operating the Rochester Knighthawks, the National Lacrosse League affiliate in Rochester, NY. There isn’t a clear plan in place for another buyer to keep the team in the city, nor is it clear they will be relocated. Pegula purchased the Knighthawks’ intellectual property in 2018 when the franchise moved to Halifax and it appears he’s just walking away at this point.
Pegula also owns the NLL’s Buffalo Bandits, who have won three straight league championships on his watch. He obtained the Bandits as part of his 2011 purchase of the Buffalo Sabres and they have been very successful, obviously.
The Sabres were the first sports team for Pegula, but they’ve been an absolute mess since. The excitement around the team has been great, but it hasn’t been met with performance on the ice. They have finished above .500 just four times in 14 seasons and haven’t made the playoffs in any full season where he’s been the owner. (Pegula purchased the team in February 2011, and they lost the conference finals in April 2011, so he’s at least been to some playoff games as owner.)
Later in 2011, Pegula also purchased the Rochester Americans minor league hockey team. That allowed the parent club to operate the AHL affiliate from Buffalo as it had previously from 1979 to 1996. The Americans have been pretty successful, especially recently.
Outside of the Bandits, the Buffalo Bills have been the most successful sports holding for the Pegula empire. He purchased the team in 2014, vowing to keep the team local but also to win. They were able to get two solid football people in place with head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane, who then got Josh Allen and developed him as the face of the franchise. While they haven’t won a championship, their regular season and playoff records are solid.
Pegula also briefly owned a women’s hockey team, the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League, from December 2017 to May 2019. The team ceased operations in 2023.
Why can’t the Sabres be successful like other Pegula sports teams?
The biggest elephant in the room is the long playoff drought for the Sabres. They are tied for the longest postseason drought in North American sports at 14 seasons, but the New York Jets have the longest drought in terms of days.
Pegula has shown he knows what successful franchises look like. Why can’t the Sabres get over the hump?
I haven’t watched a lot of Sabres hockey since I had kids, and that’s probably a good thing.
Anyway, you have the comments section, Bills fans. Have something to say about divesting from the Knighthawks or the constant struggles by the Sabres? Maybe you want to laud the Bandits. Whatever you want to talk about, his the comments section.
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Welcome to the weekend, Buffalo Bills fans. After a long week, it’s time to blow off a little steam. Use this thread to talk about… well, whatever it is you’d like to talk about. Maybe you’d like to share a cool story from your week.