NFL Merry-Go-Round: Relocation Roundelay

[colortv]

Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula could be the white knight who keeps the team planted as is. He has a very strong bond and ties to the area and his name was making the rounds among other owners during these meetings as someone who is expected to be a part of this process. Pegula is a multi-billionaire who has found riches in both the natural gas and real estate industries. His stock is rising given that his net worth has escalated in the past year, based primarily on his natural gas company.

The Rogers family, of Rogers Communications, out of Canada, who partnered with the Bills on the now-suspended series of games being played in Toronto, are also viewed as a potential major players in this, and the Jacobs family, who own the Boston Bruins and other companies and are from the Buffalo area, will also have a say in this thing. They are being taken very seriously as viable owners, too.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, with a possible assist from Jon Bon Jovi, who they have spent considerable time talking it, is another possibility, though their ability to pony up what it will take is of considerable debate and those in the know handicapping this thing in the eary stages have a hard time putting them among the favorites, for what it's worth right now.

There are many more questions than answers right now, but the mere fact that the Bills could be coming up for sale soon should be enough to get teams eyeing that LA market even more serious about making moves in that regard. Couple the Bills situation with the fact the Raiders and Rams are already free agents after the 2014 season, and the prospect of someone finally declaring an intent to be the first team to LA starts to look more and more real.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24504283/observations-likely-sale-of-bills-could-speed-up-nfls-race-to-la

New York City businessman and billionaire Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has been contacted by a group looking to purchase the Buffalo Bills.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10709415/donald-trump-approached-buying-buffalo-bills

[The_Admiral]

MLSE? This is where DEAD! would say "Roger Goodell talks to Rogers and Bell!"

[Gothamite]

Trump? Fortunately, the NFL has more sense than that.

[NJTank]

I want Trump to buy the Mets

[Soarindude]

I want Trump to buy the Mets

that'd be something to see.

[Gothamite]

And fortunately, MLB has more sense than that too.

[The_Admiral]

Their sense also kept Mark Cuban out and Tom Ricketts in. THIS IS GOING GREAT.

[rams80]

Their sense also kept Mark Cuban out and Tom Ricketts in. THIS IS GOING GREAT.

Just wait til next year.

[colortv]

No doubt the MLB or NFL will never let Trump get in, they are a bunch of conservative men who don't want a loose cannon and public joke like him running around.

[Gothamite]

And in this case, the old conservative men would be absolutely correct.

Aside from being a royal scumbag, Trump's also a terrible businessman. He shouldn't be trusted with a franchise of any sort.

[The_Admiral]

Their sense also kept Mark Cuban out and Tom Ricketts in. THIS IS GOING GREAT.

Just wait til next year.

Oh, look what just crossed today!

A source close to the team described the potential sale as being one option open to the Ricketts family. “This is not a question of not having resources,” the source said. “This is just an option to use another tool to make those resources available.”

Any sale of stock in the Cubs would not come with voting rights, the source said, meaning the Ricketts family would retain full control.

THIS IS GOING GREAT.

[Cosmic]

Couple of Bills tidbits:

- The team will have to go to the highest bidder that can get approved by the NFL; there had been speculation that there might be favoritism allowed for local ownership groups. Unless said favoritism comes from the NFL owners (unlikely), it ain't happening.

Potential owners being tossed around:

- Jeremy Jacobs - Is actually local, despite owning the Bruins. He would have to do some ownership voodoo like Kroenke did.

- Terry Pegula - Sabres owner

- Tom Golisano - former Sabres owner and frequent long-shot gubernatorial candidate

- Rich family - food company owners; were going to bring an MLB club here 30 years ago

- Koch family - New Era owners

[Cosmic]

Bills updates:

- The current belief is that the trust that controls the team IS allowed to play favorites with bidders that want to keep the team in Buffalo.

- It has been reported that an ownership group from Toronto has dropped out, because they feel moving the team will be too difficult.

- The team has hired firms to vet bidders; we might know who's actually interested in the team in a little over a month.

- It has recently come to my attention that the head of the New York State Thruway Authority owns 140 acres of mostly-empty land in downtown Niagara Falls. The Thruway Authority is infamous as a landing spot for the politically-connected, so the news that the head of a politically-connected group owns 140 acres of potential stadium land and the way Niagara Falls kinda popped up out of nowhere as a stadium site and the mayor of Niagara Falls appointed to the New Stadium Working Group by the governor... do not be surprised at all if the state kicks in a lot of money for a stadium to be built on this land.

There's a fun site that lets you plop down stadium, parking lots and practice field over a Google Map satellite view. It's pretty fun: http://www.19ideas.com/stadium

You can also view other people's ideas. Most of them are pretty terrible, but this is my favorite (move the parking lot if you don't get it):

[4_tattoos]

Not familiar with Upstate NY. About how far is Niagra Falls from Buffalo? Is the any place within Buffalo itself a stadium could realistically be built?

[Muggens]

Not familiar with Upstate NY. About how far is Niagra Falls from Buffalo? Is the any place within Buffalo itself a stadium could realistically be built?

I think it's about 20 miles or so.

[Cosmic]

Not familiar with Upstate NY. About how far is Niagra Falls from Buffalo? Is the any place within Buffalo itself a stadium could realistically be built?

There is land... usually each spot or area has its own pros and cons. These are the areas I hear tossed around most frequently:

-Downtownish Buffalo: Could have access to the subway (big plus for me for Sabres games), the waterfront, and a downtown stadium is sexy. Former industrial areas open to use for stadium.

-Niagara Falls: 30 minutes north of Buffalo. Hotels nearby. Closer to Toronto. Politicians would get to feel like they are developing the woefully underdeveloped American side of the Falls.

-Batavia: Halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. Closer for Rochester and Syracuse fans, further for Canadian fans

-Orchard Park: Where the current stadium is; 15 minutes south of Buffalo. Not terrible, not exciting. This would probably mean a major remodel instead of a new stadium, so this is likely the cheapest option.

[zpqmaowl]

I think the parking lot would look great here:

[Gothamite]

Meanwhile, in Missouri, a new development is creeping in to the equation. Governor Nixon is cutting $400 million from Missouri's fiscal 2014 budget.

Nixon recently vetoed a ludicrously irresponsible tax-cut bill that would have devastated revenues in the state (as a similar law is currently doing in Kansas). Legislators are trying to override his veto, and if they do it'll be very hard to come up with state money for the Rams.

[CubsFanBudMan]

You got me curious about Niagara Falls, as I'm really only familiar with the Canada side. Then I found this recent article:

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/Stories/2014/MAY06/ten.html

The local newspaper doesn't paint a pretty picture.

However, I wonder what Green Bay parallels there are. Plenty of traffic headed one way after those games. (Pro tip: Don't follow your navigation system in those situations or you become a herd of sheep.) And I doubt they have more hotel space.

[Cosmic]

You got me curious about Niagara Falls, as I'm really only familiar with the Canada side. Then I found this recent article:

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/Stories/2014/MAY06/ten.html

The local newspaper doesn't paint a pretty picture.

However, I wonder what Green Bay parallels there are. Plenty of traffic headed one way after those games. (Pro tip: Don't follow your navigation system in those situations or you become a herd of sheep.) And I doubt they have more hotel space.

The traffic thing doesn't really concern me... New York State is really good at spending money, and I expect the stadium to be an excuse to throw money at ancillary projects. In Niagara Falls, it'd be better highway access. In downtown Buffalo, it'd probably be light rail expansion to the stadium, possibly a drawbridge over the river. If you build out in the middle of nowhere, then you're still spending millions on new on- and off-ramps for the 90 and access roads. It is a pain to move huge groups up there currently, because there are toll booths that back everything up.

I agree with their point about Niagara County being small and poor, though. Niagara Falls/Niagara County is also definitely the third wheel in these negotiations, yet there they are. The New Stadium Working Group set up by (I believe) the state consists of three parties: the state, the Bills and Erie County (where the Bills are now and where Buffalo is). Each entity could appoint up to seven people, and one of the seven people the governor appointed was the mayor of Niagara Falls. What's that guy doing there? He has no successful development track record, no real accomplishments under his belt at all. Niagara Falls is a poor city of about 50,000 people in a county of about 200,000 people. They have even less money to throw around than Buffalo and/or Erie County, and I can't see the state going it alone.

Sometime in the near future, there is supposedly a list to be released of the top four sites under consideration. Then, everyone can argue about the definite maybes instead of making up their own maybe maybes.

FWIW, I'd like to see the stadium end up down here. Yes, there are access issues, but it's as close to downtown as you're going to get without eminent domain, you can extend the light rail down there, and there's already rumblings about spending more money on infrastructure in that exact area, anyway. I think a big problem with that area is that these yokels are trying to C their way into an A and B conversation between the various governments and the Bills. They don't own the land (and probably don't have the money), they're just idea squatting. From the article: "But it’s not clear how much political and financial support the group has, whether the state agency that controls the land would support it, or how it would ultimately be financed." Yeah...