NFL move could help – or hurt – the Bills

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The National Football League last week voted to lift its ban on private equity firms owning a piece of franchises. That’s good news for Terry Pegula, who is looking to unload a minority share of the Bills, presumably to help cover stadium cost overruns. 

The Buffalo News published a good analysis of the NFL vote last week.

The league’s move is partly in response to the escalating price of franchises and the dwindling pool of people able to afford buying a team. Looking down the road, the lifting of the ban could further come into play if Pegula decides to sell majority interest or when he dies and his children conclude they can’t afford the inheritance taxes. 

The NFL has placed limits on how big of a team share it can own. It’s not much – for now. But as time goes on, the involvement of private equity firms could grow, and cut either way for our Bills.

See, as I’ve previously written, the Bills stadium lease is hardly ironclad. Paying penalties to break the lease and move elsewhere could be a reasonable cost of doing business. 

On one hand, private equity firms generally don’t have any allegiance to geography. That could work against us.

Then again, there are no local billionaires who could step in to eventually buy the Bills, which could make us vulnerable to purchase by some rich out-of-town guy intent on moving the franchise. Private equity could provide a lifeline.

The News also published a story on the possibility of Byron Brown landing the top job at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. The story included this tidbit, based on an interview with OTB Chairman Dennis Bassett: “The national search consisted of recruiting candidates through LinkedIn, a social media platform geared toward business networking, employment and recruitment.” That’s a lazy way of recruiting and raises a question of whether the fix has been in for Brown since the beginning.

First responders aren’t keen on the speed bumps the City of Buffalo has peppered side streets with the past couple of years. The speed bumps can slow response times and damage vehicles. I can’t imagine snow plow drivers like them, either. Ditto for a lot of motorists. 

Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, is now worth one trillion dollars, the first non-tech business to reach that valuation. He couldn’t hang onto The Buffalo News for our sake?

The Guardian highlighted a new database that tracks police killings across the country. There’s an awful lot of them. Here’s the link to the data on New York State. 

Last week I wrote about the growth of digital outlets in other cities. I cited, among others, Philadelphia, which has more than a dozen nonprofit news outlets. Last week, The New York Times reported San Francisco has even more news outlets – 27. 

On the presidential election front: differences between GOP and Democratic voters run deeper than how they feel about Donald Trump; Kamala Harris is pulling ahead in the polls, although it’s still close; and J.D. Vance did it again.

Summer can’t be over already, can it? Here’s my favorite summer-themed song, circa 1970. 

Jim Heaney