Revisiting one burning question about Terry — why did he buy the Sabres?

[Stoner]

In January 2011 before Terry officially became owner, I posted some burning questions about him, giving posters the chance to vote. One of the questions was: what is the main reason he is buying the Sabres? http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/18374-10-burning-questions-about-terry-pegula/

 

Choices were: to bring the Stanley Cup to Buffalo, flip the franchise/make money, build support for fracking, first step toward buying the Bills, and something else. Stanley got almost 70% of the vote, a few wing nuts voted for fracking, and the rest went for "something else." Turns out the something else was apparently the right answer.

 

“When we came up here five years ago and Terry told me he wanted to buy the Buffalo Sabres, the truth of it is I tried to talk him out of it,” admitted Cliff Benson, the team’s chief development officer. He was standing in front of a crowd of mostly developers, politicians, and hospitality professionals gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in honor of the three-week-old Marriott behind him.

 

“Number one, I said, why don’t we go to Florida? It’s a little bit warmer. And secondly, I said, if you’re going to own a sports team, you’re getting into a whole different business. Everyone’s going to shoot at you every day. And he said to me, ‘We’re going to Buffalo. We’re going to change that city, and that’s why we’re getting into the sports business: so we have a platform to change the city.’”

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-sun-is-rising-in-buffalo/

Edited October 15, 2015 by pASabreFan

[darksabre]

Interesting. So we're an economic experiment? 

I'm not even mad. 

[SDS]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[That Aud Smell]

I saw that as well.

 

Interesting to see ol' Cliffy boy with the quotes. Whither, Ghost?

 

Who was it who said - in/around 2011-2012 - that the Sabres were not in the real estate development business. Black? Was he fibbing? Or was he not privy to the Pegulas' ultimate vision?

 

I also think that there's a whiff of revisionist history in what Benson is saying.

 

I think a lot of what has happened was only very (very) vaguely planned, or even contemplated by the Pegulas in mid-, late 2010.

 

Take as one example Harborcenter. Benson was also quoted as saying (in another piece) that the original plan -- the one he and Terry endorsed -- was for two rinks and a parking garage. Total cost was a fraction (a substantial one) of what the project's cost wound up being. It was Mrs. Pegula who got involved and added the hotel, the 716, the retail, etc.

 

Like many of us, I think they're making a lot of this up as they go along.

Edited October 15, 2015 by That Aud Smell

[LGR4GM]

I saw that as well.

 

Interesting to see ol' Cliffy boy with the quotes. Whither, Ghost?

 

Who was it who said - in/around 2011-2012 - that the Sabres were not in the real estate development business. Black? Was he fibbing? Or was he not privy to the Pegulas' ultimate vision?

 

I also think that there's a whiff of revisionist history in what Benson is saying.

 

I think a lot of what has happened was only very (very) vaguely planned, or even contemplated by the Pegulas in mid-, late 2010.

 

Take as one example Harborcenter. Benson was also quoted as saying (in another piece) that the original plan -- the one he and Terry endorsed -- was for two rinks and a parking garage. Total cost was a fraction (a substantial one) of what the project's cost wound up being. It was Mrs. Pegula who got involved and added the hotel, the 716, the retail, etc.

 

Like many of us, I think they're making a lot of this up as they go along.

Kind of like how most of the world works?  You take or turn down opportunities as they are presented.

[musichunch]

I wouldn't trust what Benson says too much. The only thing we've heard from him and Pegula are nothing but altruistic motives, and nobody's that perfect.

 

I think Pegula is trying to diversify his fracking money since you never know what regulations and environmental concerns are going to come up in that industry, and he chose to do it in an inexpensive city with room for growth. 

[Claude_Verret]

Why winning a Cup and developing and revitalizing a dead downtown Buffalo are thought to be mutually exclusive efforts I do not know.

[LGR4GM]

I wouldn't trust what Benson says too much. The only thing we've heard from him and Pegula are nothing but altruistic motives, and nobody's that perfect.

 

I think Pegula is trying to diversify his fracking money since you never know what regulations and environmental concerns are going to come up in that industry, and he chose to do it in an inexpensive city with room for growth. 

Also a very reasonable conclusion.

[TrueBlueGED]

I'm just surprised it took PA a full day to stumble on to this.

[Stoner]

I'm just surprised it took PA a full day to stumble on to this.

Stumble? OK. Thanks for your valuable input into the conversation.

[Eleven]

What a monster.

[Stoner]

Why winning a Cup and developing and revitalizing a dead downtown Buffalo are thought to be mutually exclusive efforts I do not know.

Who thinks that?

The overreactions are telling.

[Claude_Verret]

Who thinks that?

The overreactions are telling.

 

 

Your posts over the years insinuate that he isn't fully committed to bringing a Cup to Buffalo, no?

Edited October 15, 2015 by Claude_Verret

[Stoner]

I wouldn't trust what Benson says too much. The only thing we've heard from him and Pegula are nothing but altruistic motives, and nobody's that perfect.

 

I think Pegula is trying to diversify his fracking money since you never know what regulations and environmental concerns are going to come up in that industry, and he chose to do it in an inexpensive city with room for growth. 

I dunno. You've got several billion dollars. I wouldn't the motive is to make more money. I think the motive was to do x, y and z with it, spending a lot of it. Whatever he makes from the Sabres and HarborCenter, if anything, will be peanuts. The Bills could be another story, I don't know.

[TrueBlueGED]

Stumble? OK. Thanks for your valuable input into the conversation.

 

Sir, it was just a joke given your history of starting discussions on why Pegula really bought the team. If this were an NHL disciplinary call I'd be let off with a warning because my intent wasn't malicious!

[Stoner]

Your posts over the years insinuate that he isn't fully committed to bringing a Cup to Buffalo, no?

Nope, just that he has gone about it stupidly.

 

Listen, this thread isn't about me. My post was very fair and factual. It could be a good discussion.

[SDS]

I wouldn't trust what Benson says too much. The only thing we've heard from him and Pegula are nothing but altruistic motives, and nobody's that perfect.

 

I think Pegula is trying to diversify his fracking money since you never know what regulations and environmental concerns are going to come up in that industry, and he chose to do it in an inexpensive city with room for growth. 

 

??? His money is all cash. He sold.

[That Aud Smell]

??? His money is all cash. He sold.

 

Well, he sold East Resources. He retained other gas and oil interests following that sale. Substantial ones. He sold off some (much?) of those interests in order to buy the Bills.

 

But he can still drill wells, presumably.

[musichunch]

??? His money is all cash. He sold.

 

Nobody with that net worth is all cash. 

[Stoner]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong (eleven comes to mind), but Buffalo's comeback is more about the medical sector than anything else, right? I think Terry gets a ton of credit for the resurgence, probably too much. The HarborCenter and Canalside are consistently merged in national media stories on the city. It doesn't seem accurate. To use a hockey analogy, Terry has scored an empty net goal to clinch a win, but others put the city up by a goal.

 

What the Benson quote suggests, though, is that more might be to come from the Pegulas.

[TrueBlueGED]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong (eleven comes to mind), but Buffalo's comeback is more about the medical sector than anything else, right? I think Terry gets a ton of credit for the resurgence, probably too much. The HarborCenter and Canalside are consistently merged in national media stories on the city. It doesn't seem accurate. To use a hockey analogy, Terry has scored an empty net goal to clinch a win, but others put the city up by a goal.

 

What the Benson quote suggests, though, is that more might be to come from the Pegulas.

 

1) A public space that people regularly enjoy and go to for a variety of events makes a better story (and a more consistent story generator) than the medical corridor. I think it's as simple as that.

 

2) Presumably, a stadium is in the not too distant future. Beyond that, who knows?

[That Aud Smell]

To use a hockey analogy, Terry has scored an empty net goal to clinch a win, but others put the city up by a goal.

 

Ted Black used almost precisely that analogy when talking about the Pegulas' development aspirations in 2011. Something about how if the community is going to score a goal, the team will be happy to get a secondary assist. Or something like that.

[Stoner]

Sir, it was just a joke given your history of starting discussions on why Pegula really bought the team. If this were an NHL disciplinary call I'd be let off with a warning because my intent wasn't malicious!

Well, was I wrong to do that? We apparently just found out what the main reason was, and it wasn't on anybody's radar. Questions should have been asked. When he brought area officials and legislators to the arena for an edumucation about fracking, I brought it up. I wasn't alleging he bought the team to influence the fracking debate in NYS. People should have known it was about more than hockey. It's been well established he wasn't that big of a fan. That's not to say the reason for existence of the team isn't to win a Cup, just that it wasn't the reason he bought them. A subtle difference. Good for him, though. No one ever said he's a monster. I'm glad we finally have a little clarity.

[Eleven]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong (eleven comes to mind), but Buffalo's comeback is more about the medical sector than anything else, right? I think Terry gets a ton of credit for the resurgence, probably too much. The HarborCenter and Canalside are consistently merged in national media stories on the city. It doesn't seem accurate. To use a hockey analogy, Terry has scored an empty net goal to clinch a win, but others put the city up by a goal.

 

What the Benson quote suggests, though, is that more might be to come from the Pegulas.

 

The medical sector is a huge factor.  So are independent businesspeople who have embarked on some pretty neat projects, just one of whom is Pegula.  I like your empty-net analogy, sorta.  He's done some wonderful things for the city and for downtown, and I think he'll do more, but there are a lot of people who have turned this ship around.  If I'm to give credit to one person, it's Byron "I'll stay out of the way" Brown.  He can show up to all the ribbon-cutting and gold shovel ceremonies he wants; his main contribution is that, unlike prior mayors, he's not looking for "his piece" every time a new project is announced.

 

You know that whole area of Adirondack chairs down at Canalside?  My understanding is that a businessperson wanted them there and said they were going to go there and he'd like to see the city try to stop it.  That's just word 'round the city, though; that could be wrong.

[SwampD]

Looking at that poll tells me that I was one of the wing nuts. I still think it had something to do with it and when legislation passed, he had to change course. I don't think that makes him evil. It just makes him a good businessman.

 

Whatever his motives, I'm grateful that Buffalo is the beneficiary.