The Pegula family is putting a minority interest in the Bills up for sale.
The Bills confirmed the news to Tim Graham of TheAthletic.com but declined to reveal how much of the team is for sale. Graham reports that the “working figure is 25 percent, with the number not set in stone.”
“The Pegula family has retained Allen & Company to explore the potential sale of a non-controlling, minority interest in the Bills,” the team said Friday in a statement to Graham. “These discussions only involve the Bills and no other team. No investment would be possible without Terry Pegula and the Pegula family maintaining a controlling interest in the team. Their continued commitment to Western New York, the new Highmark Stadium, our fans and the other teams in their portfolio remains unchanged.
“Neither the team nor the Pegula family are able to comment further at this point.”
Graham said Terry Pegula eventually could decide not to sell part of the Bills, but he is listening to offers to become a limited partner. The skyrocketing valuations of NFL teams and the estate taxes have made it difficult for sole ownership.
Forbes estimated the Bills are worth $3.7 million in August 2023. Terry and Kim Pegula used cash to purchase the team for a then-record $1.4 billion in 2014.
The Commanders recently sold to a group headed by Josh Harris for $6.05 billion.
Unlike other professional sports, the NFL does not allow owners to sell a limited-partnership stake to private equity firms.
The Bills’ new stadium was projected to initially cost $1.4 billion but could be closer to $2 billion, per Graham, and the Pegulas are responsible for any cost overruns with the state’s contribution capped at $600 million and Erie County’s at $250 million.
Because the Chiefs have been such consistent contenders at the top of the AFC since Patrick Mahomes became their starting quarterback in 2018, it’s changed a bit about how other contenders might deal with them.
On an episode of PFT Live, Chris Simms noted in the aftermath of the Bills trading Stefon Diggs to the Texans that Buffalo was willing to trade the receiver to any team but Kansas City.
With that in mind, Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach was asked on Friday if he’s noticed that other teams aren’t as willing to deal with Kanas City in recent years.
“Yes and no,” Veach said in his pre-draft video conference. “I think that if a team — if it can benefit them, they’re always going to pick up the phone and be willing to work. I don’t think a team is going to diminish their ability to do something they really want to do just because it’s the Chiefs. I do think, though, that the ability to deal with certain teams — I mean, it’s always understood that if you’re going to deal with a team in your division, there’s a little bit more of a premium.
“But I think just some of the AFC teams in general, that are consistent playoff performers — I mean the Buffalos, the Cincinnatis, the Baltimores — I mean, it’s probably a little bit harder to deal with those teams. And even if they do pick up the phone, I think some of their asking prices are a tick higher. So, I think we get hit with a little bit more interest. But I think that there’s always a way to make a deal. But I think, yeah, certain teams will probably up the price up a little bit.”
The AFC’s best teams may be reluctant to trade with Kansas City, but that clearly hasn’t stopped the Chiefs from being successful.
We’ll see who they select next week, as the franchise looks to become the first to win three consecutive Super Bowls in the 2024 season.
The Jets have not made a decision on offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker’s fifth-year option yet. They have until May 2 to pick up the option.
“We haven’t talked about that yet,” General Manager Joe Douglas told beat reporters Friday. “We have a little time after the draft. I’ll definitely update you guys on that post-draft.”
The option would cost the Jets a guaranteed $15.313 million for 2025, so it would seem likely the team would decline the option.
The 14th overall pick in the 2021 draft has played only 12 games the past two seasons because of injury. He tore an Achilles five games into the 2023 season.
He started 16 games as a rookie, and his 28 career starts have been mostly at tackle, but he also has played guard.
The Jaguars are bringing one of their offensive linemen back for another season.
The team announced that they have re-signed Tyler Shatley on Friday. They did not announce any terms of the deal.
Shatley signed with the Jaguars after going undrafted in 2014 and he has spent his entire NFL career in Jacksonville. He has appeared in every game the team has played since Week Nine of the 2015 season.
Shatley has been a reserve for most of that time. He’s made 51 starts as an interior lineman in 145 total appearances and he’s also made a pair of postseason starts.
The Jaguars added center Mitch Morse this offseason and they have guards Brandon Scherff and Ezra Cleveland back from last year.
College football is going to look more like the NFL in 2024.
The NCAA announced several changes on the football front on Friday, including one that should help eliminate the chance of any more sign-stealing scandals in the future. In-helmet communications between coaches and designated players on the field will be allowed for the first time.
As in the NFL, the quarterback and a defensive player with a green dot on their helmet will be able to listen to calls from the sideline before communication cuts out with 15 seconds left on the play clock. That should put an end to the need to flash signals from the sideline and put an end to attempts by any Connor Stallions imitators to try to do what Stallions did for the Michigan program in recent seasons.
In another technological shift, teams will also now have the ability to watch in-game video on tablets on the sidelines.
The NCAA also announced that games will now have a two-minute warning at the end of both halves, which is another change that has long been part of the professional game.
Attorney Mike Caspino, who represents former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough, recently teed off on team owner Michael Bidwill. Caspino’s criticism focused on one specific piece of sworn testimony regarding Bidwill’s stated role in football operations.
“[W]e got into, in Michael Bidwell’s deposition, him telling me that he’s an outstanding judge of football talent,” Caspino said in his appearance on Doug Franz Unplugged. “And I said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Did you ever play the game?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I played it.’ I said, ‘Where’d you play?’ He said, ‘High school, in Washington, D.C.’ I said, ‘So, you’re the one making, you know, the talent decisions around the building?’ ‘Yeah, I am.’ And it struck me that — and in speaking to other people there — that he is such a hands-on owner that he goes into offensive coordinators and tells them who to get the ball to. And he’s making all of the decisions regarding the talent, regarding who to draft. And he’s making it off because he played for a year or two at some fancy boarding school in Washington, D.C. And it just struck me right there why the Cardinals are so bad. They have an owner who doesn’t listen to the people around him and thinks he’s smarter than everybody else, even with the game of football.”
On Thursday, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and Cardinals G.M. Monti Ossenfort conducted their pre-draft press conference. It would have been a perfect opportunity for one of the reporters to ask Gannon and/or Ossenfort about Bidwill’s involvement in football operations.
Not a single question was asked regarding Caspino’s characterization of Bidwill’s testimony.
On one hand, it’s one of the realities of press conferences. The various reporters assume that one of the others will ask the potentially delicate question. And then no one ever does. On the other hand, in a job that relies on cooperation and access, it’s dangerous to be the one who asks a question that will piss off the coach, the G.M., the owner, and/or anyone else in the organization who can help, or hurt, the media’s effort to do their job.
Regardless of why or how the question wasn’t asked, the question wasn’t asked. It would have been interesting to see what they said and how they said it.
It should have been asked. It’s an obvious topic, based on Caspino’s remark. How hard would it have been to ask whether and to what extent Bidwill is involved in picking players?
Most owners are far more involved in such matters than they pretend to be. It’s their team; they have the right to be.
As to Bidwill, Caspino gave the local media low-hanging fruit on the question of whether Bidwill is, or will be, actively involved in picking players. It’s highly relevant with the draft a week away.
The question wasn’t asked. Caspino’s comment about Bidwill’s football involvement otherwise has gotten no attention in Arizona, or elsewhere. (Other than here.) Hardly any attention has been given to other aspects of Caspino’s comments.
We’ll leave it to others to figure out why. For now, the simple truth is that, for most in the local and national media, it’s as if Caspino said nothing of interest this week.
In reality, he said plenty of compelling things. Things that suggest the new lawsuit filed earlier this month against the Cardinals and others will be very compelling. Especially since it will play out in an open and transparent court system.
Tight end Drew Ogletree is back with the Colts.
Ogletree was placed on the Commissioner Exempt list in late December after being arrested on domestic violence charges and charged with two felonies. Those charges were dismissed with prejudice last month and the NFL moved to restore him to active duty,
Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com, that Ogletree is off the exempt list and back on the team’s 90-man roster. Ogletree is taking part in the team’s offseason workouts.
Ogletree was a 2022 sixth-round pick and he had nine catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns in 12 appearances last season.
Bill Tobin, whose long NFL career saw him serve as General Manager of both the Bears and the Colts, has died at the age of 83.
Tobin’s death was announced today by the Bengals. Tobin spent two decades consulting with the Bengals, and his son Duke Tobin is the Bengals’ director of player personnel.
Bill Tobin and his brother Vince Tobin both played college football at Missouri. Vince Tobin would go on to have a long coaching career, including a stint as head coach of the Cardinals. Vince Tobin died last year at the age of 79.
Bill Tobin was drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1963, played one season for them, and then played two seasons in the Canadian Football League. After his playing days ended, Tobin spent many years working in player personnel for the Bears, and he received a lot of the credit for building the 1985 Bears roster that won the Super Bowl.
In 1994 Tobin became General Manager of the Colts. He was running the draft room when they drafted future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk in 1994, he built the team that made a surprise run to the AFC Championship Game in 1995, and he was running the draft room when they drafted future Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr. in 1996.
It was also with the Colts that Tobin gained his greatest notoriety, helping to make the NFL draft must-see TV when he demanded to know, “Who in the hell is Mel Kiper anyway?” when Kiper criticized his picks on ESPN in 1994.
“He was a true NFL success story,” Bengals owner Mike Brown said in a statement. “He was a good person and I considered him a good friend. With Bill, I respected everything he said. I just took it as a given. He had an eye for players and what they would develop into. If he said the guy was a good player, then he was a good player; that’s all I would need to know. We will miss him.”
Brock Bowers wasn’t mentioned by name during Jets General Manager Joe Douglas’ press conference on Friday, but it wasn’t hard to read between the lines.
Mock drafts have frequently had the former Georgia star going to the Jets with the 10th overall pick and he recently visited with the team. During the press conference, Douglas was discussing the different types of offensive playmakers that are in this year’s class and said that there’s a tight end “that’s a Swiss-army knife” in addition to a number of talented wideouts.
Bowers is the only player who fits that description and Douglas fielded a follow-up about whether he would take a tight end at No. 10.
“If that tight end can turn into someone that’s something like Kansas City, San Francisco — or what Sam Laporta did last year in Detroit, those are real dynamic weapons for your offense,” Douglas said. “Guys that put a lot of stress on the defense because they create mismatches. It’s hard to put a linebacker on one of those guys. If you put a DB on one of them, it creates a size mismatch. If you put a safety on one of them, he better be able to run and play man coverage. So I think the right type of tight end could be a real weapon.”
The answer does little to suggest Bowers won’t be under consideration if he’s available when the Jets are picking and that could mean there will be a shiny new target for Aaron Rodgers to use come the fall.
Last year, Josh Harris added the Commanders to a sports portfolio that includes the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. It wasn’t clear how involved he would be in the management of the team.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Harris has been more involved than people expected him to be.
The truth is that most owners are more involved than media and fans realize. They typically like to be able to blame bad decisions on others, in the same way that the owners collectively use Commissioner Roger Goodell as a highly-compensated pin cushion.
This dynamic created a significant potential problem. Whether the owner realizes it or not, his employees are paying attention to everything he says, every question he asks, every move he makes. When you’re a multi-billionaire and the person who ultimately runs the team, anyone with any desire to remain employed by you will be searching for any clues as to what will make you happy.
It’s the calzone effect, as Constanza learned while working for the Yankees. The owner wants what he wants. The best way to maximize job security is to be the one who gives him what he wants.
How subtle will Harris be when it comes to which of the top quarterback prospects he prefers? Our best explanation for this week’s four-quarterback square dance was that they visited on a day that Harris was available to be there for the meetings.
Harris met with quarterbacks at the Scouting Combine. Harris realizes the importance of the decision his team is about to make.
Ultimately, it’s his team. So it’s his decision. He’ll develop a preference. It will be impossible for him to keep it quiet. Once those around him sense what it is, that’s the direction in which they’ll go.
Unless, for example, G.M. Adam Peters is willing to wager his career on rolling the dice with someone other than who the owner wants.
It happened last year with Bryce Young in Carolina. It happened 10 years ago with Johnny Manziel in Cleveland. (It would have happened that same year in Dallas, if the Cowboys hadn’t done everything they could to keep Jerry Jones from issuing a mandate to move on Manziel.)
While it’s still unclear who the Commanders will take, it will undoubtedly be a guy Harris wants. Or, at a minimum, it will be a player of whom he approves.