Pegula Sports Entertainment, behind the scenes

[PromoTheRobot]

On 8/5/2020 at 3:23 PM, Gabrielor said:

I'm controversially a Buffalo-born Sabres fan who roots for the San Francisco 49ers, not the Bills, so I was fine with the Sabres as the focus ? 

And that's fine. Just reminding you that the Bills are higher on the local pecking order. If you asked 100 Buffalo fans if you could have one team be great and the other total garbage, which team would you want to be great? The Bills would be selected 98 times.

[Zamboni]

24 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

And that's fine. Just reminding you that the Bills are higher on the local pecking order. If you asked 100 Buffalo fans if you could have one team be great and the other total garbage, which team would you want to be great? The Bills would be selected 98 times.

I’m one of the 2% ?

I couldn’t possibly care less about the Buffalo Bills.

[PromoTheRobot]

35 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

I’m one of the 2% ?

I couldn’t possibly care less about the Buffalo Bills.

That's too bad because they are a looking like a dark horse for the Super Bowl in this crazy COVID season.

[Zamboni]

7 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

That's too bad because they are a looking like a dark horse for the Super Bowl in this crazy COVID season.

I don’t like the Bills mainly because I’m not a fan of the sport. I casually check it out about 4-6 quarters a season. So if they suck or if they are incredible, it just doesn’t move the needle for me. ?‍♂️

Hockey is my go to sport. Always has, always will.

[Taro T]

On 8/5/2020 at 12:20 PM, dudacek said:

Surprised this hasn’t gotten more attention given the suggestions they were in trouble in the wake of the recent layoffs:

”Pegulas’ net worth has not yet diminished during the economic downturn. In fact, from March 18, 2020 through June 17, it actually increased by 2% – from $5.0 billion to $5.1 billion.”

Looks to me more like a company taking steps to capitalize as best it can on the current climate than a company struggling to survive.

Again, the Pegulas were never in peril of going broke.  The concern was would they have the ST cash flows to keep the cash available to meet current liabilities.  

And their needing liquid assets to take advantage of LT opportunities the current recession have provided hasn't in any way added to the cash Adams has to spread around, much to all our chagrins.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Zamboni said:

I’m one of the 2% ? 

I couldn’t possibly care less about the Buffalo Bills.

Right there with you.  Hockey is far and away the #1 sport in this household.

Bills are typically the #2 team but there have been times that the Bandits were a far more fun team to watch.

[Brawndo]

Gilbert and Hasek from the Sabres

Thurman and Talley from the Bills

Jim Kelly is still employed for now 

[sabremike]

23 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Gilbert and Hasek from the Sabres

Thurman and Talley from the Bills

Jim Kelly is still employed for now 

All I can think of is the story of how Punch picked the teams colors as the blue and white of the Leafs while adding gold to signify that unlike the Leafs the Sabres would be a class organization. 

Welp...

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

Gilbert and Hasek from the Sabres

Thurman and Talley from the Bills

Jim Kelly is still employed for now 

Let the 50th anniversary festivities continue.................

[LabattBlue]

6 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Gilbert and Hasek from the Sabres

Thurman and Talley from the Bills

Jim Kelly is still employed for now 

???

[Gabrielor]

That news doesn't bother me much.

 

 Ya, those guys are all legends, but Gilbert is right, we don't know if there's games next year.

Also, the point about per-appearance payment and expanding the ambassador pool to include guys like Kyle Williams or Danny Briere....I mean, that sounds perfectly rational to me.

 

Pretend we just lost in the second round of playoffs, and this news dropped. It would be a nothing-burger. It'll only possibly get amplified because the current losing streak amplifies everything...

[Marvin]

One of my sisters does neurologic research.  I have not been able to watch the NFL much because of the crap they pulled with CTE.  I am temporarily OK with them for this year, but because my reasons would be considered political, I will omit them here.

My info on the Pegulas, albeit 3rd hand, is that they are worth a LOT more than they were when they bought the Sabres, but are far less liquid in the short term for reasons that PA would correctly rant about.  What I have heard jives with what Gabrielor and JohnC have said.  Honestly, with the numbers I have heard on how much the money the Sabres lost the last few years and the potential of no arena revenue for the next season, I think it is prudent business to restructure and try to innovate, regardless of his net worth.

IMHO, the Pegulas felt that the money they shelled out for the scouting staff has been wasted on bad pick handling and mediocre picks.  They also seemed to think that the team was top-heavy in administration.

Given how good our some of the amateur scouts here and on HfBoards have been with the Sabres, I think that video scouting can clearly work, except that it is a different skill from in-person scouting.  Let us hope they hit on the correct formulation.

[Gabrielor]

6 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

One of my sisters does neurologic research.  I have not been able to watch the NFL much because of the crap they pulled with CTE.  I am temporarily OK with them for this year, but because my reasons would be considered political, I will omit them here.

My info on the Pegulas, albeit 3rd hand, is that they are worth a LOT more than they were when they bought the Sabres, but are far less liquid in the short term for reasons that PA would correctly rant about.  What I have heard jives with what Gabrielor and JohnC have said.  Honestly, with the numbers I have heard on how much the money the Sabres lost the last few years and the potential of no arena revenue for the next season, I think it is prudent business to restructure and try to innovate, regardless of his net worth.

IMHO, the Pegulas felt that the money they shelled out for the scouting staff has been wasted on bad pick handling and mediocre picks.  They also seemed to think that the team was top-heavy in administration.

Given how good our some of the amateur scouts here and on HfBoards have been with the Sabres, I think that video scouting can clearly work, except that it is a different skill from in-person scouting.  Let us hope they hit on the correct formulation.

That's the part I feel got lost due to the losing. These guys weren't finding enough talent, and Botts had a Mount Rushmore of bad trades.

Now, I'm the exact opposite of a Pegula supporter/apologist, so I'll be skeptical that the Pegula's fired Botts and the staff for the reasons I would've (Me: they made terrible hockey decisions. Pegulas(probably): We need to save money!) Because of that, I still don't trust the Pegula's, but I won't go up in arms over every perceived grievance.

[sabremike]

4 hours ago, Gabrielor said:

That's the part I feel got lost due to the losing. These guys weren't finding enough talent, and Botts had a Mount Rushmore of bad trades.

Now, I'm the exact opposite of a Pegula supporter/apologist, so I'll be skeptical that the Pegula's fired Botts and the staff for the reasons I would've (Me: they made terrible hockey decisions. Pegulas(probably): We need to save money!) Because of that, I still don't trust the Pegula's, but I won't go up in arms over every perceived grievance.

The problem isn't firing all the people who were failing: it's eliminating most of the positions in the scouting department entirely. Video scouting can be useful but there are things you can see live that you might not notice on tape.

[dudacek]

2 hours ago, sabremike said:

The problem isn't firing all the people who were failing: it's eliminating most of the positions in the scouting department entirely. Video scouting can be useful but there are things you can see live that you might not notice on tape.

Sabres need to hire some more scouts.
I will be surprised if that doesn’t happen when there are games to scout again.

The ambassador thing seems like a non-issue. Contracts up, no work for them to do, team moving to a new per-event model.

Bert wasn’t pissed and neither should anyone else.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, sabremike said:

The problem isn't firing all the people who were failing: it's eliminating most of the positions in the scouting department entirely. Video scouting can be useful but there are things you can see live that you might not notice on tape.

Sure but also they should be able to know which guys to go see in person. 

[Thwomp!]

15 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Gilbert and Hasek from the Sabres

Thurman and Talley from the Bills

Jim Kelly is still employed for now 

Man, that's especially sad for Talley. Dude's in very rough shape.

And they dumped Perreault, Hasek, and Thurman!  Three of the biggest names in Buffalo sports history.

[Brawndo]

45 minutes ago, Thwomp! said:

Man, that's especially sad for Talley. Dude's in very rough shape.

And they dumped Perreault, Hasek, and Thurman!  Three of the biggest names in Buffalo sports history.

I understand Their Reasoning for doing what they did, however at the Terry’s Introductory Press Conference he cried and told Perrault You’re My Hero. Terry should have been the one to make these phone calls. 

[Curt]

19 hours ago, sabremike said:

The problem isn't firing all the people who were failing: it's eliminating most of the positions in the scouting department entirely. Video scouting can be useful but there are things you can see live that you might not notice on tape.

Couple notes on this.  First, they had one of the largest, if not the largest, scouting departments in the NHL, and even with the cuts I don’t think they are the smallest in the league.  Second, we don’t know yet how large the department will be going forward.  It’s possible that it stays as is, but it’s likely that Adams/Crowe/Nightengale bring in some additional people of their own.

[nucci]

17 hours ago, Thwomp! said:

Man, that's especially sad for Talley. Dude's in very rough shape.

And they dumped Perreault, Hasek, and Thurman!  Three of the biggest names in Buffalo sports history.

#pegulaville

[Eleven]

18 hours ago, Thwomp! said:

Man, that's especially sad for Talley. Dude's in very rough shape.

 

In the article, Janine Talley expresses the family's gratitude for the Pegulas' help when he was in the worst of it.

[Thwomp!]

13 minutes ago, Eleven said:

In the article, Janine Talley expresses the family's gratitude for the Pegulas' help when he was in the worst of it.

That's good at least, but it's not like he's cured or anything.  I'm sure any job duties and income he had helped quite a bit.

[That Aud Smell]

Ay yo - whither @Theana74 ... or is it @Theana745?

[Weave]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Ay yo - whither @Theana74 ... or is it @Theana745?

Don’t type out the name a 3rd time.....

[Stoner]

She got called in to a Zoom meeting with The Black Widow herself.