Sabres sale rumor

[Indabuff]

22 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Yachts don't pay for themselves. Good God man, they have a lifestyle to maintain. Stop your unreasonable quibbling and be happy with your crumbs. Silly peasants.

Peons suck.

[bob_sauve28]

Sabre Space should buy the Sabres! We could hold a bake sale and raise the money. We could vote on electing an executive committee. Then we can hold a search to find a decent broadcast team!! 

 

Let's do this!! 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Curt said:

So, I believe that the theory is that the Pegulas are interested in a minority owner who would take on much (most? all?) of the day to day financial runnings of the organization.  If this is the case, then the minority owner would in fact have a say, a primary say, in the runnings of the team.  This would need to be formalized in writing as part of the sale agreement.  Perhaps this whole agreement could include an option to purchase more shares in the future and even enough to become the majority owner.  It really would depend upon the sellers and hypothetical buyers.

Why have an investor come in to run the financial operation when the owner can do that by hiring staff with expertise in the finance area? I'm sure the financial specialists are already in the company. And unless there was an option to buy the franchise or purchase a majority stake in the future (as you noted) why would a potential minority owner pay a substantial amount of money for a minority stake in which there is little authority? I'm not saying that there isn't a possibility that the owner would accept some minority ownership. But I just don't see him (a self-made entrepreneur) giving up his authority to make decisions for the franchise.  

I want to make clear that what you are saying is conceivable. Without question it comes down to how the partial purchase contract is written up. I just don't see the Pegulas relinquishing their authority to have the final say unless they have made a decision to get out of the hockey business down the road. 

[Taro T]

15 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Sabre Space should buy the Sabres! We could hold a bake sale and raise the money. We could vote on electing an executive committee. Then we can hold a search to find a decent broadcast team!! 

 

Let's do this!! 

Why couldn't we have heard this rumor before Ullmark was lowballed?

The weird apple pie thing alone won't be enough.  But if the master of the phat panny were still here, ...

We're talking gold, Jerry, GOLD!

[JohnC]

4 hours ago, woods-racer said:

Because in the buy/sell agreement there are stipulations in place that the 250 million buy in allows a certain amount of decision making. 

 

Do you think Pegula as a majority owner would write a contract in which a minority owner can make a consequential decision that he would disagree with? It's not inconceivable but it is very unlikely. 

[PromoTheRobot]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

No, I know. Bettman won't move Arizona to anywhere good but by he's going to move the franchise closest to Toronto that has some of the highest TV ratings for hockey... on top of them putting in a 32nd team just this year. 

They ain't moving, the league isn't going to do it. 

BTW there have been rumblings for a couple years the Pegulas want to bring in a minority owner to run the business side. 

Let's say they can get 250 million for a minority owner, there's the renovation money for keybank

I agree, Bettman loathes moving teams. He had every excuse to do just that when the league took over the team after the Rigas debacle. 

But I never take any Buffalo team for granted. Especially when about 3,000 people are going to games. And the border complicates things for about 1/3rd of our fanbase.

There are cities that would love to have our team and would double the value of the franchise overnight.

[MattPie]

3 hours ago, msw2112 said:

I have no information on this topic, but in my opinion, the Pegulas would not want to sell.  After many years of failures, the team finally seems to be moving in the right direction.  They have a GM in place who appears to be competent and is someone they know and trust.  They have a coach who appears to be competent, has shown an ability to develop players, and a lot of young talent in the pipeline.  They've made it through (arguably) the worst of the pandemic, despite the current brief shutdown.  The future looks pretty good for the franchise.  After football season, if the team continues to play better, as they have been, they will sell more tickets, and if the team continues on its current trajectory, the fans will come back even more over the next couple of seasons.  The value of the frachise should increase substantially in the next couple of years.

While that looks good on paper, have you ever had some part of your life that just isn't worth the financial gain? For me, it was moving and trying to sell things. In the end, giving stuff away for free was so much easier[0] that while having a bit more cash would be nice the annoyance of it wasn't worth it. It's possible Pegulas are there too, they're sick of running a crappy team (their own part in that to be debated) so they'd rather just sell it or give control away so they don't have to think about it.

[0] I'm not talking about high-value items here

[PromoTheRobot]

26 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Sabre Space should buy the Sabres! We could hold a bake sale and raise the money. We could vote on electing an executive committee. Then we can hold a search to find a decent broadcast team!! 

 

Let's do this!! 

It's 2021. Sell some  PA Sabres Fan NFTs

[LGR4GM]

20 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I agree, Bettman loathes moving teams. He had every excuse to do just that when the league took over the team after the Rigas debacle. 

But I never take any Buffalo team for granted. Especially when about 3,000 people are going to games. And the border complicates things for about 1/3rd of our fanbase.

There are cities that would love to have our team and would double the value of the franchise overnight.

So you think Bettman will move the team because of 2 temporary things. First the border being closed. Second the team having a rebuilding year. 

I will be shocked if next year at the home opener the barn isn't full of people wanting to watch Power and Quinn and Krebs. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

So you think Bettman will move the team because of 2 temporary things. First the border being closed. Second the team having a rebuilding year. 

I will be shocked if next year at the home opener the barn isn't full of people wanting to watch Power and Quinn and Krebs. 

I don't know about full, but certainly vastly improved especially if the team continues to improve.  

[nfreeman]

I would not be shocked if the Pegulas were open to offers, and I think the factors @dudacek mentions are consistent with the team or a stake being available, but I think there is NFW they would get $250MM for 49%.  I also think the value is pretty depressed right now and that the depressed value, along with the negotiations with the state on the football stadium, make a sale now pretty unlikely.  

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It's 2021. Sell some  PA Sabres Fan NFTs

Ok, but that will make Pa Sabre fan a leading candidate for president of the Sabres front office 👍 

[woods-racer]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

Do you think Pegula as a majority owner would write a contract in which a minority owner can make a consequential decision that he would disagree with? It's not inconceivable but it is very unlikely. 

 

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Ok, but that will make Pa Sabre fan a leading candidate for president of the Sabres front office 👍 

The Pegulas are smart enough to know they need help and want a way to have who ever they bring in have more than just a guarantied 3 year contract (no matter what their performance is, see Pat Lafontaine) and have some financial risk. This is one way to do it.

Edited December 22, 2021 by woods-racer

[SDS]

It was recently reported that Kim wants to sell the Sabres but that Terry wants to keep them. So opinions are split.

[bob_sauve28]

5 minutes ago, SDS said:

It was recently reported that Kim wants to sell the Sabres but that Terry wants to keep them. So opinions are split.

Why does this make me think they will be sold? 

[SDS]

24 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Why does this make me think they will be sold? 

I think it certainly makes it more likely than if this didn’t come out at all.

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, SDS said:

It was recently reported that Kim wants to sell the Sabres but that Terry wants to keep them. So opinions are split.

That sucks.  That makes it less likely that they will stay in Buffalo.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, SDS said:

It was recently reported that Kim wants to sell the Sabres but that Terry wants to keep them. So opinions are split.

Where did you see this?

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Why does this make me think they will be sold? 

Because you are successfully married.

1 hour ago, SDS said:

It was recently reported that Kim wants to sell the Sabres but that Terry wants to keep them. So opinions are split.

So Kim is tired of all the success she has  overseen.

[kas23]

Can’t see why they would bring someone in to run the day-to-day when they have the business acumen of Kim under their roof. 

[gilbert11]

11 hours ago, JohnC said:

Why would a minority owner invest $250 M and not have any significant say in how the organization is run because the majority owner has all the authority? How many people would be interested in investing in a business with the expectation that they would help/required to pay for costly needed costly facility upgrades as  impotent minority owner when it comes to making decisions for the franchise? Unless there is a future option to buy it would make little sense for a new investor.

 

Because of the possible return on investment of a professional sports franchise.  Now, I know that NFL & NBA franchise values increase tremendously. (Owners of Golden State Warriors thought to overpay for franchise in 2010 for $450M. Franchise now valued at $4.7B).  I don’t know much about NHL franchises though, especially since they have not had the tremendous broadcasting contracts that the NFL & NBA have.   This current contract is substantial however.

[PromoTheRobot]

5 hours ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

You know what else would double the value of the franchise? Suck less.

Not really. We could win a cup and our franchise value would barely budge.

[LGR4GM]

5 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Not really. We could win a cup and our franchise value would barely budge.

I feel like there was a study in the early 2010s on sports team after winning a championship 

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, SDS said:

It was recently reported that Kim wants to sell the Sabres but that Terry wants to keep them. So opinions are split.

This is the kind of statement that pretty much needs a source. 

I mean it makes sense, as he was the fan so he has more attachment to it and she'd make the cold detached business decision or maybe thinks he'd be happier at home without them and the stress of failure, but I've never seen this reported anywhere so I suspect it's just somebody's idea/speculation.

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I feel like there was a study in the early 2010s on sports team after winning a championship 

merchandise sales certainly go way up, and that adds value. 

[PromoTheRobot]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I feel like there was a study in the early 2010s on sports team after winning a championship 

 

3 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

This is the kind of statement that pretty much needs a source. 

I mean it makes sense, as he was the fan so he has more attachment to it and she'd make the cold detached business decision or maybe thinks he'd be happier at home without them and the stress of failure, but I've never seen this reported anywhere so I suspect it's just somebody's idea/speculation.

merchandise sales certainly go way up, and that adds value. 

I mean the team DOES go up in value relative to the rest of the NHL. The Sabres doubled in value since Terry bought them but they are still one of the bottom 3 in valuation.  

But why would someone want to become a minority owner of the team? They would definitely make money once the team is sold again. But it's more likely a break-even venture at best while you own it. You have to really be a fan and not care about the money or use it as a write-off.