Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula is reportedly putting a big share of the franchise up for sale, but he will remain the team’s controlling owner.
The Bills confirmed to Tim Graham of The Athletic on Friday that Pegula has hired investment bankers Allen & Company to oversee a potential sale of part of the team. Graham reported that the current proposal is to sell 25 percent of the team, though that figure could change.
“No investment would be possible without Terry Pegula and the Pegula family maintaining a controlling interest in the team. Their continued commitment to Western New York, the new Highmark Stadium, our fans and the other teams in their portfolio remains unchanged,” the Bills said in a statement.
Pegula may still change his mind about the sale, but he has some reasons to pursue it. The biggest is that the Bills are in the process of building a new stadium, and ownership would be on the hook for any cost overruns during the construction of the facility. Bringing in outside investment would help alleviate some of those potential costs, at least to Pegula.
Pegula and his wife Kim have owned the Bills since 2014. They originally purchased the team for $1.4 billion, but Forbes estimates that the team is now worth upward of $3.7 billion.
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