Pegula Sports and Entertainment fired and furloughed employees in April in response to a change in economic conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Bills staff was not affected by the moves made at the company controlled by team owners Terry and Kim Pegula.
A report later that month by Tim Graham of TheAthletic.com noted that energy businesses in the family’s portfolio were also struggling and that some expected further cuts on the sports side as a result of the downturn. The NHL’s Buffalo Sabres did fire General Manager Jason Botterill on Tuesday, but Terry Pegula was adamant that business is going to continue as usual for their NFL team.
“There is no financial situation,” Pegula said, via Syracuse.com. “I don’t know where that rumor started. If you look at every oil and gas company, which is our core business outside sports, they’re all — you might use the word — hurting. But we don’t have any debt on our oil and gas business. . . . Talking about the Bills, there’s no financial pressure, negative, on the franchise.”
Pegula said he is thinking about the prospect of professional sports going on without fans and acknowledges the negative financial implications that would come with that. He adds that “you gotta find solutions” to those issues and he’ll have plenty of company around the sports world when it comes to that hunt.