Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula made NFL news last week for exploring the sale of a minority stake in the multi-billion dollar franchise. Now, new details on the rising cost of the next Bills stadium might be shedding light on the motivation behind the exploratory sale.
Pegula hired investment bankers Allen & Company to handle the process of a potential stale for a minority stake in the NFL team. While details on what percentage of the franchise could be made available is unknown, Tim Graham of The Athletic reported that it could be 25 percent but that figure reportedly isn’t locked in.
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- Buffalo Bills franchise value (Forbes): $3.7 billion
With NFL revenue skyrocketing and an even brighter future for the team once the new stadium is complete, the Pegula family could’ve just been taking advantage of a market flush with people looking for a piece in an NFL franchise. However, there might be a different motivation behind the sudden interest in a partial sale of the team this year.
The Buffalo News reported over the weekend that cost overruns for the new Bills stadium could now be pushing a $1.4 billion project to at least $2 billion by the time the stadium is built. Importantly, the $600 million in overruns would come on the Bills’ dime.
As noted by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, selling a 25 percent stake in the Bills could generate upwards of $1.5 billion for Pegula. It would not only cover the additional cost for a new Bills stadium, but provide him with added financial security if the stadium construction becomes even more expensive. More importantly, he’d still be coming out with more money even if half of the money received from a sale goes toward the stadium.
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This also wouldn’t be the first time the cost of the new Bills stadium has vastly exceeded its initial budget. In August 2023, John Wawrow of the AP reported that Bills stadium cost overruns were approaching $300 million. Less than a year later, that figure is nearing $600 million. Of note, the new stadium isn’t set to open until the fall of 2026.
As for what it costs the taxpayers, the original tab required New York to cover $850 million of the $1.4 billion cost. However, the deal was structured so that any cost overruns would fall on the Bills and not taxpayers.
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