When it was time for the Rams to possibly leave St. Louis, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave the move a thumb’s up. With the Bills possibly in line to leave Buffalo, Jones has decided to go . . . . . thumb’s down.
“It’s unique, it’s just as Green Bay is unique relative to size, location,” Jones said of Buffalo during his Friday appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “Buffalo has a special place. All those AFL teams have a special place, just as Green Bay does. And so to me my wish would be they work something out and stay there. It’s easy if you step back and say, ‘Well, there are other areas that have more of this that it seems you would want if you were what? If you would want if you own the team.’ Well, the Pegulas are very deeply involved in Buffalo, and they’re a great people and great story in this country. . . . To me, they can expand and continue to get the great interest they get from that great city, Toronto, that’s 80 miles across the lake, and really have a great franchise.”
Jones has a clear financial reason for wanting the Bills to stay put, just as he had a clear financial reason for wanting the Rams to move. In June, the Bills hired Legends (co-owned by Jones) to represent the Bills in the effort to get a new stadium and, once they do, to sell premium seats and suites.
While Jones may believe what he’s saying, he’s got even more reason to believe it, because one of his companies will make money from the Bills staying in Buffalo. Just as it made money from the Rams returning to L.A.
The other benefit to Jones is that, if the Bills don’t move, he won’t have to worry about getting sued by Buffalo and, as in St. Louis, having to cough up his personal financial information because a judge has found sufficient evidence to believe that he may have committed fraud in engineering the team’s departure.