Jon Bon Jovi out of Toronto group looking to buy the Bills

Discuss the NHL, NFL, CIS, NCAA, Lacrosse, Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Motorsports, Golf, Rugby, Amateur Sport, Curling, Wrestling ... Whatever Sport or Leisure activity you like!

Moderator: Team Captains

User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Jovi+ ... story.html
Jon Bon Jovi part of Toronto group looking to buy Buffalo Bills: report

By Associated Press, Postmedia News July 18, 2014

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Rocker Jon Bon Jovi is part of a Toronto group that has retained a banking firm and submitted paperwork expressing interest in buying the Buffalo Bills, three people who have reviewed documents regarding the sale process told The Associated Press on Friday.

It is unclear if the group would eventually want to move the NFL team to Toronto. The club is on the market after Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson died in March.

The three people spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity Friday because the process is private and the Toronto group has not revealed its intentions.

The group includes Larry Tanenbaum and the Rogers family. Tanenbaum is chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which controls the NHL’s Maple Leafs and NBA’s Raptors. The Rogers family includes Edward Rogers, who is deputy chairman of Rogers, the Toronto communications giant.

The group is on a list of prospective buyers who have submitted a nondisclosure agreement form to Morgan Stanley, the banking firm overseeing the Bills sale. The Toronto group has retained the Goldman Sachs banking firm to assist in the bid.

Bon Jovi previously expressed interest in owning an NFL franchise but never specifically mentioned the Bills. This is the first real indication linking him to Tanenbaum and Rogers.

One of the people confirmed that Bon Jovi discussed his interests during a restaurant meeting last month with NFL Commissioner.

The Bills most recently were valued by Forbes at $870 million. They are projected to be sold for at least $1 billion, partly because NFL teams rarely go on the market.

The team is essentially locked into playing at Ralph Wilson Stadium through the 2019 season because of a strict nonrelocation clause included in a 10-year lease agreement reached with the state and county in December 2012.

The Bills would incur a $400 million penalty by even broaching the prospect of moving during the lease’s term. There is a one-time exception that would allow the Bills to break the lease for just under $28.4 million in 2020.

Of about 60 nondisclosure forms sent out by Morgan Stanley in June, at least 10 of have been returned, two of the people said. Among those also listed as returning their forms are Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula and New York City real estate mogul Donald Trump.

The forms were required in order for prospective bidders to gain access to financial and background information on the franchise to begin formulating their bids.

The next step is for prospective bidders to submit another set of forms — including their own financial information — by July 29 to gain more access to the Bills’ financial information.

One of the people said Morgan Stanley has informed prospective buyers that the Bills made just under $30 million in net profits last season. And Morgan Stanley projects that number will double by 2019 as a result of the NFL’s TV contract, current renovations taking place at the stadium and other potential local sources of income.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Rocker Jon Bon Jovi is part of a Toronto group that has retained a banking firm and submitted paperwork expressing interest in buying the Buffalo Bills, three people who have reviewed documents regarding the sale process told The Associated Press on Friday.

It is unclear if the group would eventually want to move the NFL team to Toronto. The club is on the market after Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson died in March.
Front man for the Tanenbaum group, it seems. Tanenbaum still has serious NFL envy.
The group includes Larry Tanenbaum and the Rogers family. Tanenbaum is chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which controls the NHL’s Maple Leafs and NBA’s Raptors. The Rogers family includes Edward Rogers, who is deputy chairman of Rogers, the Toronto communications giant.
Bon Jovi previously expressed interest in owning an NFL franchise but never specifically mentioned the Bills. This is the first real indication linking him to Tanenbaum and Rogers.
The rumour was there before.
One of the people confirmed that Bon Jovi discussed his interests during a restaurant meeting last month with NFL Commissioner.

The Bills most recently were valued by Forbes at $870 million. They are projected to be sold for at least $1 billion, partly because NFL teams rarely go on the market.
The team is essentially locked into playing at Ralph Wilson Stadium through the 2019 season because of a strict nonrelocation clause included in a 10-year lease agreement reached with the state and county in December 2012.
I will add some comments by Roger Goodell. I think Goodell has been careful in his statements, and not particularly encouraging to those that want the NFL in Toronto. There are monopoly issues. Nationalism issues. Threat to CFL issues. Government intervention issues. None of these issues seem to dissuade Tanenbaum and his group from their pursuit.

I cannot believe that Tanenbaum et al do not hope to move the franchise to Toronto.

My first reaction is the obvious one, that the NFL in Toronto would be damaging to the CFL. Tanenbaum might even find that the Canadian government might not want the NFL in Canada, as it might threaten the CFL.

Personally, as a fan of the CFL, under no circumstance do I want to see the NFL in Toronto. I do not share Tanenbaum's NFL envy. I like the little old CFL just fine. Great product on the field. Talent level rising constantly. Coaching level rising. Business aspects looking good. New stadiums. We do not need the NFL in Canada. IMO ...

This story has legs.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/10/ ... os-future/
Unplugged: Roger Goodell on the Bills in Toronto and Buffalo’s future

Postmedia News | October 11, 2011 9:00 AM ET

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell visited Buffalo on Sunday and held a question-and-answer session with fans ahead of the game between the Bills and Philadelphia Eagles. Goodell was peppered with questions about the long-term future of the Bills franchise and whether a permanent move to Toronto may be looming. Here is what he had to say during a scrum with media:

On the Bills in Toronto series:
“I think we can do it better, and so do the Bills and so do the Rogers [Communications] people. We want to try and improve the experience that we’re providing up in Toronto and we’re working and focused on trying to do that. We want to try and make that better for the fans that go from Buffalo up to the series, and also for the fans there in Toronto.”

On the Bills being “Canada’s Team”:
“What I think it does, is it regionalizes the team. We had an effort to do that in the 90’s as you know, which I was involved with prior to becoming commissioner, which is to reach out to the whole Western New York region and encourage people to come to the stadium and support the Bills, both from a fan standpoint and a business standpoint, and that was very successful. I see the Toronto series as expanding now into southern Ontario where I think the Bills are selling 15% of their tickets — again that’s helping make the team here be more successful and more stable here in Western New York.”

On what steps will be taken should the Bills ownership become vacated:
“I think the point of the question from fans is will we have a process and ability to keep the Bills here and be successful. I think that’s the hope of [92-year-old current owner Ralph] Wilson and that the team will continue to be successful here.”

On what assurances he can provide other than confidence:
“I don’t think there are assurances in anything other than if we continue to do our part, meaning we — this community. If we continue to keep this facility competitive with others and we continue to support the team, I’m confident that we’re going to continue to be successful here in Western New York. I know the team is already beginning negotiations on a longer-term lease, which is something we need to get done.”

On what the collective bargaining agreement means to the Buffalo market:
“What it means most to fans is competitive balance. That we’ll continue to have the competitive balance that has made the league so successful and so popular with fans. Teams like Buffalo will have the same ability to be competitive as they are in New York, Chicago or San Francisco. Part of that is that we now have a 10-year agreement. Second, is that we have a sharing of our revenue that has been expanded from where it was prior to the CBA. Third, is that we’ve been able to address a number of things in the CBA that I think are going to make the game better and allow us to continue to grow.”

On if small-market teams can generate enough revenue to meet the salary floor:
“Yes, no question. I have every bit of confidence that small-market teams are going to continue to be successful. As long as we continue to have the proper stadiums and proper fan support, and that’s what we have to do. We’ve got the structure in place now; we’ve got to continue to create the excitement and passion in the communities. Clearly, here in Buffalo I know that first hand, they have that here.”
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013/11/ ... o-toronto/
Wheels (quietly) in motion to move Buffalo Bills to Toronto

Republish Reprint

Bruce Arthur | November 25, 2013 | Last Updated: Nov 27 9:42 AM ET

In the lobby of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment headquarters at 50 Bay St. there are five photo collages lined up on the wall. On the left, Toronto FC and the Toronto Maple Leafs; on the right, the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Marlies, all in red or blue. And in the middle, in black and white, something different: a paratrooper descending on a line, Toronto City Hall, a T-Rex peeking over the Royal York Hotel, and Jon Bon Jovi at a microphone, his arms wide, looming over everything.

Playing home games in Toronto is ‘a joke’: Bills’ Eric Wood.

The chase for a National Football League franchise is an old hobby of the very rich in Toronto, and now it is attracting a more famous figurehead. Bon Jovi is indeed part of a group that intends to bring the NFL to Toronto, a group that includes MLSE minority owner Larry Tanenbaum, may yet include Rogers Communications heir Edward Rogers, and which is being shepherded by Tim Leiweke, the president and CEO of MLSE, who recently added a Bon Jovi banner to the Air Canada Centre. Bon Jovi is said to be greatly admired by the NFL, and he is willing to put some money in. The Buffalo Bills would be a target. It would be a billion-dollar play, plus the stadium. There would be other investors, of course. But only one rock star.

On Monday, after the story was broken by Jason LaCanfora of CBS Sports, the Associated Press spoke to Bon Jovi’s publicist, the appropriately named Ken Sunshine, who labelled the notion that Bon Jovi is actively involved in purchasing the Bills “preposterous.” He added Buffalo was not for sale, and as the AP wrote, “adds that Bon Jovi has too much respect for owner Ralph Wilson to consider engaging in discussions for buying the team at this time.”


Related
Is Jon Bon Jovi going to buy the Buffalo Bills and move them to Toronto?
Buffalo Bills in Toronto: Then and now
.
In other words, he does not wish to appear to be waiting eagerly for the 95-year-old Wilson to die, at which point the Bills will be put up for sale. This is a prudent and reasonable strategy, and not just because NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is from Western New York. It is really, even in the merciless world of pro sports, the least one can do.

This makes the recent comments from Leiweke unhelpful, to put it mildly. Leiweke is a force of nature, and nature can spin out of control. Leaving aside the fact that the CEO chatted about some of the possible ways that a seismic change to Toronto’s sports landscape involving both the CFL and the NFL would work on the Sunday of the Grey Cup, and leaving aside how it’s nice that a man can put his cards on the table in this day and age, there are certain things you just don’t talk about out loud. Wilson will die one day, and everybody knows that. The Bills will be sold, and everybody knows that.

But as much as a journalist should encourage colourful and honest public discourse, planning to divide up a man’s will should perhaps be done behind closed doors. It’s like Doug Coupland’s cold and cynical term for planning inheritance from his novel Generation X: Pull the plug, slice the pie. One source with knowledge of Goodell’s thinking predicted the commissioner would be upset by Leiweke’s comments; some believe that Leiweke’s habit of big statements helped derail his pursuit of a team in Los Angeles for AEG. In all likelihood, this isn’t helping.

Still, the steroidal horse is out of the barn, and Sunshine’s protests aside, the plan has been put in place. According to multiple sources MLSE would likely buy the Toronto Argonauts, because Goodell has long told interested parties in Toronto that he does not want to be the commissioner that kills the CFL, and so, the Toronto Argonauts must be protected. There are whispers that owner David Braley’s opening price for his team is somewhere near $20-million, but then, every negotiation has to start somewhere.

MLSE would solve Toronto’s looming stadium problem after their lease with the Rogers Centre expires by reconfiguring BMO Field, and finding a way for Toronto FC and the Argonauts to co-exist on grass. The Argonauts would become a line item in the MLSE budget, but they would be safe. Right now Braley is exploring a number of options, but there is no clear Plan B yet, no comparably clean option. Building an entirely new CFL stadium is a far more complex and difficult thing. A potential riot by TFC fans aside, MLSE would be easy.

MLSE, in turn, would make its money on the construction and operation of a new football stadium that would be heavily financed by personal seat licences (PSLs), which have been used in the United States to great effect. It is an open question whether Toronto would pay between $25,000 and $50,000 for the right to buy season tickets — people have lost money overestimating this town’s need for the NFL before — but it is the direction this thing would probably have to go.

The Bills have a strong lease through 2020, but should be portable after that; that would give the Toronto group time to build an NFL stadium, perhaps in Downsview, perhaps in Woodbine, though there are other sites under early consideration as well.

It is still just a plan, and plans can go wrong. But the plan is that the Bills, as they have done under Wilson with their lukewarm Bills in Toronto series, would follow the money. Buffalo is a deserving market, and loves its team. But it’s hard to imagine it staying in a market that small, in a stadium that modest. This is a hyper-capitalist league, and the hyper-capitalists are circling, a little too loudly, hoping not to get burned.
Goodell has long told interested parties in Toronto that he does not want to be the commissioner that kills the CFL, and so, the Toronto Argonauts must be protected.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://www.si.com/nfl/audibles/2014/03/ ... er-goodell
Buffalo Bills reportedly cannot relocate until 2020 at the earliest

by Chris Burke
TwitterEmail
Posted: Wed Mar. 26, 2014Updated: Sat Jun. 14, 2014

The Bills' current lease runs through 2023, with a one-time out clause between the 2019 and '20 season. (Ed Wolfstein/Icon SMI)

On Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke to the media about the future of the Buffalo Bills following the passing of team owner and founder Ralph Wilson. Less than a day had passed since Wilson's passing, so Goodell made it clear that he is not yet looking ahead to the team's future ownership and location.

One thing we now know, thanks to a report from the Toronto Sun's John Kryk: The Bills cannot relocate before at least 2019, and even doing so then would come with a $400-million buyout.


“I’m very familiar with the Bills’ new lease in Buffalo, and Ralph Wilson gave the people of Buffalo and Western New York an enormous gift,” Marc Ganis, president of Sports Corp, Ltd., told Kryk. “In this new 10-year lease that he signed, for the first seven years there is no opportunity to buy that lease out, or terminate it. None. That team is required to stay in that stadium for at least for the first seven years, and one year already has passed in that lease, so for the next six years.”

The current lease agreement actually runs all the way through the 2022 season, though there is that buyout loophole between the 2019 and '20 campaigns. Buffalo had been playing one regular-season game per year at Toronto's Rogers Centre, leading to speculation that the team could move there in the near future.

Now, the topic is more or less off the table for several years.

Goodell said Wednesday that he did not have any new information about the Bills' ownership situation in light of Wilson's passing.

“Well, I haven’t focused on that,” Goodell said at the final press conference of the NFL meetings in Orlando, via Pro Football Talk. “Obviously, my thoughts and my heart are with the Wilson family. That’s not something I’ve spent any time on in recent days.

“We all know they have a lease. We know the terms of [that] lease, and we also know we have to find a long-term solution to keep the Bills there [in Buffalo], and that’s what we’ll continue to work to do, but that’s not our priority right now in the next few days.”

The team is expected to be controlled by a trust for the immediate future, according to Mark Gaughan of the Buffalo News.

MORE COVERAGE: King: Remembering Ralph Wilson

While a sale of the team is eventually expected to take place, the trust could remain in control of the team for a few years before any sale comes to fruition.

The lease, as Goodell noted, ensures that the Bills will stay in Buffalo for the foreseeable future.

NOTE: Josh Sanchez contributed to this post
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/06/30/ex ... -for-bills
Exclusive: Rogers won't lead second Toronto group bidding for Bills

By John Kryk,QMI Agency

First posted: Monday, June 30, 2014 10:20 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, June 30, 2014 10:27 PM EDT

The Buffalo Bills will not be relocating to Toronto or any other city in the near future after the team is sold. (Jack Boland/QMI Agency/Files)

Edward Rogers III will not lead a second Toronto bid group aiming to buy the Buffalo Bills, QMI Agency has learned.

And the one Toronto group there is apparently has begun to get out the message that it will not -- repeat, not -- relocate the team from Western New York.

Quite the news day.

First, Rogers. According to QMI Agency sources, the deputy chairman of the Canadian telecommunications and media empire that bears his family's name has decided not to lead his own bid group, as has been speculated, reported and even presumed by some.

Rogers was not immediately available to comment on Monday night.

Even though the Rogers family fortune was estimated last fall by Canadian Business magazine to be $7.6 billion, two sources said Rogers himself was not in a position to be a sole bidder for the NFL club.

Last summer Forbes.com pegged the Bills' value at $870 million but the team probably will sell for more than $1 billion.

By NFL rules, the principal owner in any group must have a minimum 30% stake, and only up to $200 million of the entire purchase price can be financed -- meaning the rest must be paid in cash.

Not all billionaires are that financially fluid, even multi-billionaires.

Rogers had mulled the idea of leading his own group following the death of founding Bills owner Ralph Wilson on March 25, but in June he chose not to proceed, QMI Agency has been reliably informed.

Not just since Wilson's death but since the ill-fated Bills-in-Toronto series debuted in 2008, Western New Yorkers have presumed -- and some news organizations there reported in the spring -- that a Rogers-led bid for the Bills would be likely and formidable too (because of the family's massive net worth). Even hard to beat.

QMI Agency has never reported that a separate Rogers bid was likely, only that he might bid on his own, or join the one known Toronto bid group -- fronted by rocker Jon Bon Jovi and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum.

It is not known whether the 45-year-old Rogers -- son of the late Ted Rogers, who founded Rogers Communications Inc. -- might yet wind up as one of the minority investors under Bon Jovi and Tanenbaum.

As for Bon Jovi, a longtime friend of his, Ron Jaworski, told WGR 550-AM on Monday morning and later Buffalo area reporters not only that the rocker has no plans to relocate the Bills from Buffalo, should he wind up buying the team, but that he never has.

I reported exclusively in April -- on solid information from a Toronto source in the position to know -- that the Bon Jovi/Tanenbaum group's intention was to buy the Bills and eventually move the team to Toronto. I stand by the report.

The group's once unwavering intention apparently has changed in recent weeks.

Jaworski's comments carry weight. He and Bon Jovi from 2004-08 were among the original owners of the Arena Football League's franchise in Philadelphia, the Soul.

So who better than a respected former NFLer originally from the Buffalo area to begin dispersing the message that Bon Jovi and his Toronto group actually intend to keep the team right where it is?

And isn't it interesting that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Bon Jovi had a very public lunch meeting in Manhattan just two weeks ago.

Perhaps, as some are speculating in Western New York and QMI Agency is now hearing too, each bidder as part of the process will be asked to explain its long-term plan for making the team prosper in Western New York.

In which case, if true, Bon Jovi, Tanenbaum and their group of co-investors could not possibly bid on the team by reiterating their original, long-held intention -- one revealed publicly in November by MLSE president and CEO Tim Leiweke in a Toronto Star interview -- to buy the Bills and move them to Canada's most populous city.

Cue the course change.

Not that they'll have an easy go of it. Think they can convince hundreds of thousands of torch-and-pitchfork-carrying Bills fans that they're sincere? Good luck.

Yet a 180 was inevitable.

As we have been insisting since April, the Bills in all likelihood will not be sold to any group intent on relocating the team at first legal chance -- to Toronto, to L.A. or elsewhere.

And the first chance, as we keep insisting, cannot come until either 2020 (when there's a low-cost out in the team's otherwise iron-clad 10-year lease at county-owned Ralph Wilson Stadium) or 2023 (at the lease's expiry).

For 24 of the 31 other NFL owners to approve a sale to a relocation aggregation would necessarily subject the franchise to five -- or, alternatively, eight -- years of lame-duck existence in Buffalo. Jilted, livid ticket-holders would abandon the team by the thousands in the interim, which would embarrass the league.

There's no way the NFL would allow that to happen, especially under the shrewd leadership of a savvy, pothole-avoiding, legacy-conscious commissioner who hails from Western New York.

If you're Bon Jovi, Tanenbaum and their co-investors, it would have been a helluva $1-billion-plus gamble to have nothing more than a hope that, years later, 24 of 31 owners would approve your relocation bid.

So maybe, yeah, it's better to keep the team in Western New York from the get-go. Or at least promise as much.

If this indeed is the new course of Toronto's one and only Buffalo Bills bid group, it's like I've been saying all along.

The Bills aren't leaving Western New York this decade, and probably for a lot longer than that. Even to Toronto.

For those counting at home, that's two doomed Bills-in-Toronto ventures to die an overdue death this year.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://bills.buffalonews.com/2014/05/07 ... w-stadium/
Roger Goodell: NFL committed to Buffalo, but Bills need new stadium

By Jay Skurski | News Sports Reporter | @JaySkurski

on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 1:58 PM, updated: May 7, 2014 at 8:01 pm

NEW YORK -- Roger Goodell is confident the Buffalo Bills will continue to be successful in Western New York, but to do so will require a new stadium.

The NFL commissioner spoke on the future of the team today at an NFL-sponsored Play 60 event at Chelsea Waterfront Park in Manhattan, ahead of Thursday's first round of the NFL Draft.

"They are working on their process as far as selecting their advisers. They will probably do that in the near future. Then when they have their advisers selected, they'll start a more formal process," Goodell said when asked for an update on the sale of the team.

Goodell said he's optimistic about the team's long-term future in Western New York.

"I’ve had a lot of discussions with prospective owners, but I’ve also had discussions with public officials. We all want to focus and get that stadium and do it the right way and get the right ownership in there to make sure they continue to be successful in Western New York," he said.

Goodell added that the Bills will eventually require a new stadium.

"We said at the time when they entered into their new lease, that this is really a short-term solution. We need to find the right long-term solution that is good for the community and can help the Bills continue to be successful in Western New York, and I’m confident we’ll get there," he said.

When the Bills signed their 10-year lease with Erie County in December 2012 that called for $130 million in improvements to Ralph Wilson Stadium, part of the agreement included the formation of a "New Stadium Working Group," which would explore the feasibility of a new stadium. That group has since been formed -- it held its first meeting last month -- with representatives from the state, county and team.

The News reported last month that the sale of the team is on a fast track, and could be completed in time for owners to vote on it at their annual meeting in October. Approval of 75 percent of the league's owners is required.

Goodell was asked whether the NFL would even approve an ownership group with designs on moving the team -- specifically from Toronto -- if purchasing the team meant for the next five seasons, the Bills would be lame ducks (there is a one-time escape clause in the current lease after the 2019 season, for $28.4 million).

"Well, that hasn’t happened, so you’re dealing with a lot of hypotheticals in there. There’s two votes. There’s one vote to approve an ownership, and if a team potentially relocates, it’s another vote. We’re not making those one vote. We’re making those two separate votes. And the intention is, whoever buys the team will be trying to make the team work in Western New York."
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
TheLionKing
Hall of Famer
Posts: 25103
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Vancouver

http://www.tsn.ca/nfl/story/?id=458342

It appears there are three bidders to buy the Buffalo Bills.

According to multiple reports, Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula, real estate developer Donald Trump and a Toronto-based group involving Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Larry Tanenbaum, the Rogers family and musician Jon Bon Jovi entered bids to purchase the NFL team.

The New York Post is reporting that Pegula's bid was in excess of $1 billion.

The three bids will now be reviewed by the investment bank handling the sale of the team. The bank will then decide which ones are approved for the next stage in the process.

Despite expressing an interest in buying the team, reports indicate former Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano did not submit a bid by Tuesday's deadline.
TheLionKing
Hall of Famer
Posts: 25103
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Vancouver

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A Buffalo Bills fan group uncovered documents that suggest a Toronto-based prospective ownership group has plans to relocate the franchise north of the border.

In a release issued Thursday, the Buffalo Fan Alliance identified several announcements referring to Rogers Communications consultant, Roger Rai, as part of the ownership group "attempting to acquire and move the Buffalo Bills to Toronto."

Rai told The AP on Wednesday he's not involved with the group's ownership bid. He added the references connecting him to the proposed Bills' purchase were "a mistake on my behalf," and the result of a misinterpretation made by a co-worker who wrote the biography.

The alliance, made up of fans, former Bills players and business leaders, said the references made in the documents "would seem to cast further doubt on the credibility" of the Toronto group's assurances to keep the Bills in Buffalo.

Rogers is part of a Bills' prospective ownership group that includes rocker Jon Bon Jovi and Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

The Associated Press has verified the documents exist.

One of the references to Rai was included in an announcement issued in July by Marketwired, a Toronto-based press release distribution company. Another was included in Rai's biography published in a public filing in January announcing a special meeting to approve Primary Petroleum's merger with Keek Inc.

Rai is listed as Keek's vice-president of business development. The announcements also to refer to Rai as someone who "assists in sports ownership affairs of Rogers Communications and was responsible for the acquisition of the Toronto Blue Jays," which the company purchased in 2000.

Rai said he first became aware of the error when the reference was published in a release on July 8 announcing his appointment to Pinetree Capital's board of directors. A day later, Marketwired issued an updated release removing any mention of Rai's ties to Rogers, except that he held various managerial positions at the company.

The Bills are on the market after Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson died in March. And questions of the franchise's long-term future in Buffalo have been an issue throughout the sale process.

Though a lease agreement essentially locks the Bills into playing at Ralph Wilson through the 2019 season, there is a one-year opt-out clause that would allow them to move in 2020.

Last month, Bon Jovi attempted to address questions regarding his ownership plans in a seven-paragraph letter published in The Buffalo News.

He wrote it was his objective "to carry on the legacy of Ralph Wilson and make the Bills successful in Buffalo."

A person familiar with the sale process told The AP that the Toronto group attended a presentation on Tuesday during which Bills officials provided extensive financial and background information on the franchise. A second person said Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula attended a similar presentation on Wednesday.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the sale is private.

New York real estate mogul Donald Trump also attended a presentation last week.

The presentations are an opportunity for prospective ownership groups to gain information to prepare formal bids, which are expected to be submitted within three weeks.
South Pender
Legend
Posts: 2779
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:24 am
Location: Vancouver weekdays; Gulf Islands on weekends

Now this from Pro Football Talk:

Report: Bon Jovi’s bid close to collapsing

Posted by Mike Florio on August 22, 2014, 12:19 PM EDT

I’ve tried not to reference existing Bon Jovi song or album titles when talking about his effort to purchase the Buffalo Bills. But there could be some future song or album titles lurking in the quotes that have emerged in connection with the faltering push for the franchise.

“They’re hanging on by the skin of their teeth,” an unnamed source told John Kryk of the Toronto Sun. “The bid’s on life support.”

The clearest objective evidence regarding the coming collapse of the attempt to buy the Bills comes from the cancellation of a Wednesday tour of Ralph Wilson Stadium. It’s part of the due diligence process for all finalists, and with the tour canceled and not expected to be rescheduled, it will be impossible for the Bon Jovi bid to be accepted.

Kryk also explains that Bon Jovi would have been the controlling owner, which can be accomplished only if he purchases at least 30 percent of the team. To keep Bon Jovi’s 30-percent stake within the range of what he can afford, however, the total bid wasn’t as competitive as it could have been. And without adequate assurances that the team won’t move, Bon Jovi will have to wait for the next opportunity.

While doing so, he should work on boosting his overall financial position, perhaps by writing songs called Skin Of My Teeth or The Bid’s On Life Support or If I Had More Cash And A Better P.R. Plan, I’d Be Able To Hang Out At NFL Games Not As A Friend Of A Coach Or An Owner But As The Dude Actually In Charge Of The Team.
User avatar
KnowItAll
Hall of Famer
Posts: 7458
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2004 6:32 pm
Location: Delta

South Pender wrote:Now this from Pro Football Talk:

Report: Bon Jovi’s bid close to collapsing

Posted by Mike Florio on August 22, 2014, 12:19 PM EDT

I’ve tried not to reference existing Bon Jovi song or album titles when talking about his effort to purchase the Buffalo Bills. But there could be some future song or album titles lurking in the quotes that have emerged in connection with the faltering push for the franchise.

“They’re hanging on by the skin of their teeth,” an unnamed source told John Kryk of the Toronto Sun. “The bid’s on life support.”

The clearest objective evidence regarding the coming collapse of the attempt to buy the Bills comes from the cancellation of a Wednesday tour of Ralph Wilson Stadium. It’s part of the due diligence process for all finalists, and with the tour canceled and not expected to be rescheduled, it will be impossible for the Bon Jovi bid to be accepted.

Kryk also explains that Bon Jovi would have been the controlling owner, which can be accomplished only if he purchases at least 30 percent of the team. To keep Bon Jovi’s 30-percent stake within the range of what he can afford, however, the total bid wasn’t as competitive as it could have been. And without adequate assurances that the team won’t move, Bon Jovi will have to wait for the next opportunity.

While doing so, he should work on boosting his overall financial position, perhaps by writing songs called Skin Of My Teeth or The Bid’s On Life Support or If I Had More Cash And A Better P.R. Plan, I’d Be Able To Hang Out At NFL Games Not As A Friend Of A Coach Or An Owner But As The Dude Actually In Charge Of The Team.
better yet, how a a song called Screw The NFL :wink:
Every day that passes is one you can't get back
TheLionKing
Hall of Famer
Posts: 25103
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:13 pm
Location: Vancouver

South Pender wrote: Kryk also explains that Bon Jovi would have been the controlling owner, which can be accomplished only if he purchases at least 30 percent of the team. To keep Bon Jovi’s 30-percent stake within the range of what he can afford, however, the total bid wasn’t as competitive as it could have been. And without adequate assurances that the team won’t move, Bon Jovi will have to wait for the next opportunity.

While doing so, he should work on boosting his overall financial position, perhaps by writing songs called Skin Of My Teeth or The Bid’s On Life Support or If I Had More Cash And A Better P.R. Plan, I’d Be Able To Hang Out At NFL Games Not As A Friend Of A Coach Or An Owner But As The Dude Actually In Charge Of The Team.
:wink: :wink:
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

Yo, Jon Bon, ... Pockets not deep enough?
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/nfl/re ... for-bills/
Report: Bon Jovi out of group bidding for Bills

Bon Jovi. (Photo by Paul A. Hebert/Invision/AP)

Scott DiDomenico

August 29, 2014, 11:49 PM

Rockstar Jon Bon Jovi and the group of Toronto-based sports team owners who are bidding on the Buffalo Bills have parted ways, the New York Post reports.

According to the report, the Toronto group, that includes MLSE’s Larry Tanenbaum and Edward Rogers, chairman of Rogers Communications, believe they are in a stronger position to win the Bills auction without Bon Jovi.

As the lead bidder, Bon Jovi would have been the principal owner and therefore, would have to put up 30 percent of the purchase price.

With Bon Jovi’s net worth estimated at $300 million, the group’s highest bid would have been capped at about $1.1 billion, a figure the group feared wouldn’t be enough as rival bidder Terry Pegula, the multi-billionaire owner of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, was reportedly willing to push his bid up to $1.2 billion or higher.

Donald Trump reportedly remains in the running and the report also states that Morgan Stanley, the investment bank selling the Bills, has been trying to help Bon Jovi find new backers.
The glitz approach did not work as well as Tanenbaum and Rogers had hoped. Deep pockets more important than name recognition as a rock star.

So Bon Jovi out of the group.

Trump still involved in the bidding process, apparently. I get the feeling he is not seriously trying to acquire the team. He has said he will not overpay. And yet overpay is likely what will happen. One can only imagine what self-serving ways Trump would introduce if he became owner. The New York Trumps. Upstate of course, but serving all of New York State, indeed, all of the United States, indeed, all of the World. The Best Cheerleaders. The Best Uniforms. If anyone can jazz up Buffalo, it would be The Donald.

If the Tanenbaum group succeeds in acquiring the franchise, it will be interesting to see their machinations in trying to relocate to Toronto.

Dunno if the NFL in Toronto would be the death knell of the CFL, but I would not want even that threat.

From my perspective, I would hope that Jim Kelly and his associates get to keep the team in Buffalo.

Early morning idle musings only ...
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
sj-roc
Hall of Famer
Posts: 7539
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:39 pm
Location: Kerrisdale

I saw a report last night on TSN that JBJ was out of that bid group. The weird part was that the narrative of the report was run over seemingly unrelated visuals of Dennis Skulsky and Wally Buono schmoozing with him, field level @BCP. Some of the shots had players — Lions in gun metal greys and Riders in road whites — in the background. Not sure what the point of these visuals was, but was this from last weekend's game (or possibly last year's Ssk visit)? Don't recall hearing he was here Sunday.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
Post Reply