Terry Pegula, the Pennsylvania oil and natural gas baron, has made waves in the hockey world already once this year when he announced an $88 million donation to Penn State University for the construction of a new ice arena. That arena will allow PSU to make the jump to Division 1 hockey, thus dramatically changing the landscape in collegiate hockey.
Pennsylvania Billionaire Terry Pegula Reportedly Prepped To Buy Buffalo Sabres
Pegula apparently isn't done altering the hockey world. According to Ken Campbell at The Hockey News, Pegula signed a letter of intent to purchase the Buffalo Sabres from Tom Golisano, the longtime owner, businessman and three-time nominee for Governor of New York, for $150 million. Sabres minority owner Larry Quinn told ESPN.com that the report is not true.
Despite the denial, however, the whole thing makes a lot of sense. For starters, Golisano no longer lives in the Buffalo area. He announced in May 2009 that he was moving to Florida because that’s what people do when they hit their upper 60s to avoid what he called an “irresponsible” government and high taxes. Given that view of how things work in New York, it’s easy to see why Golisano may want out.
Meanwhile, Pegula has been rumored to be in the mix to buy an NHL team for some time, and it helps that his wife, Kim, is a native of the Buffalo area. Kevin Paul Dupont reported the following over the weekend in the Boston Globe.
Getting vibes once again that Sabres owner Tom Golisano is poking around for a prospective buyer for his Lake Erie stick carriers. [...] But the key name to keep in mind if this heats up: Terry Pegula. He’s the guy who forked over the $88 million gift for Penn State to build a rink and fund scholarships for Division 1 hockey. Pegula’s wife, Kim, is from suburban Buffalo, a good sign for the locals. No one ever wants to leave the Buff.
Pegula is also quite the hockey fan. From today’s Buffalo News:
Pegula told the Philadelphia Inquirer in September that he became a passionate hockey fan in the 1970s while watching the Flyers during their “Broad Street Bullies” days. He became torn during the 1974-75 season while living in the Buffalo area and watching the Sabres and Flyers meet in the Stanley Cup finals.
“It was the Philadelphia Flyers’ style of play that got me into it,” Pegula said after presenting Penn State with the largest private gift in the university’s history. “Then I moved to Western New York, and I became more or less a Buffalo Sabres fan. ... The Flyers and Sabres played for the Stanley Cup, and it was difficult. I liked both teams.”
The best news of all for Sabres fans? With other potential buyers, the future of the Sabres in Buffalo was less certain, but if Pegula does in fact wind up purchasing the team, his ties to the area make it seem much more likely that they’ll be staying put.
For more, visit our Sabres blog, Die By The Blade.
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