Terry Pegula exploring selling 25% minority-stake ownership in Buffalo Bills, per report

The Pegulas are exploring options regarding a non-controlling, minority interest in the Bills

The Buffalo Bills are exploring a potential 25% minority shareholder’s stake in team ownership, per an article by Tim Graham with The Athletic, with the Bills confirming as much is true.

With the news still in its infancy, there aren’t a lot of solid, reported details to share at this point. Per Graham’s article, co-owner Terry Pegula “has hired Florida-based investment bankers Allen & Company to handle the potential transactions but declined to say how much of the team is being sold.” Graham also noted that the 25% figure is still not set in stone.

The team released a statement Friday, stating the following (as shared in Graham’s article):

“‘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. ‘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.’”

Another source stressed to The Buffalo News that “(t)he Pegulas will retain controlling interest in the team despite any sale.” Despite the sudden news, no potential sale has been officially confirmed — with the Pegulas instead simply preparing considerations at this juncture.

While the exact percentage and finer details of any potential sale remain speculative, it is worth pointing out that such matters are only being considered by the Pegulas for the Buffalo Bills — not any ownership stakes in any of their other owned sports franchises. Those being: the Buffalo Sabres (NHL), the Rochester Americans (AHL), plus the Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks (NLL) lacrosse teams.

In an age where professional sports teams continue to skyrocket in value daily, individual ownership is becoming a bit of a rarity. When the Pegulas purchased the Buffalo Bills franchise in 2014, they paid cash in the amount of $1.4 billion. Today’s estimated value of the team is $3.7 billion, per Forbes’ most recent NFL valuations, published in 2023.

Group bids and purchases are becoming the norm, and the NFL remains the only sport among the big four (which includes the NBA, MLB, and NHL) that doesn’t allow ownership to sell limited-partnership stakes to private equity firms. Change in that realm could be on the horizon, something that Tim Graham points out could come as soon as this year.

With the current stadium project well underway — and reports that the original approved cost of $1.4 billion is likely to be much closer to $2 billion when all is said and done — the possibility remains that the Pegulas are looking to offset any additional construction costs by way of a sale granting minority ownership in the Bills. The Pegulas’ net worth is a reported $6.8 billion.