Terry Pegula buying the Buffalo Sabres discussion

[PASabreFan]

PA was the one that showed the article in the first place. Just enough, 'possibly' , 'been reported' a 'friend told me', 'assuming' stuff to keep his credentials.

 

Yep. The thing that intrigues me is all of the quotes and background material that Bucky got for his profile on Pegula that gave us all chubbies -- even you ladies.

 

Great reporting? Or stuff that fell into his lap? People were definitely willing to talk, and I suspect they wouldn't have unless Pegula or Pegula's people said it was OK to do so.

 

Putting pressure on by using the media? Did OSP object to that tactic?

[Robviously]

Bucky wrote that Pegula went to NYC to meet with league officials. Wrong. Some of Pegula's people, or even Pegula himself, contacted Bucky to try and put pressure on the negotiations by going public. Maybe OSP didn't like that.

 

The only local reporting that has been worth anything to me is Jeff Russo of Channel 7 picking up the phone and calling the NHL to see if Pegula was going to attend the Board of Governors meeting. He was told no, and he was never scheduled to attend.

 

I'm still optimistic. But I know we won't find out about it until the story is hand delivered to the local "media." It'll probably come out of the blue again.

 

I just don't see how the Sabres current ownership goes forward with the fan base having heard about the perfect owner being out there. I guess when they miss the playoffs for the 16th time in five years, they can always finally fire Lindy and Darcy. Will that be enough?

 

I don't think Pandora's going back in the box.

Agree with all of this. Dude, you should be a writer or something.

 

After finding out that there was this magical hockey-super fan billionaire with ties to Buffalo that we'd never heard of who wanted to buy the team, there's no way we're going to be happy with Golisano. We weren't happy with him owning the team before this! Plus, HE doesn't even want to own the team. If the man had any interest in hockey before, it's gone now.

 

I don't even want to imagine the deflated feeling we'll all have if Golisano doesn't sell the team to Pegula. It'll be like watching Kasparitis end the Sabres' 2001 playoff run with a weak 40 foot wrist shot through Hasek's legs again.......times a million.

[LabattBlue]

So where there is smoke, there is NO fire? I will be disappointed if this sale does not happen, and OSP/LQ are still in place at the start of next season.

[shrader]

So where there is smoke, there is NO fire? I will be disappointed if this sale does not happen, and OSP/LQ are still in place at the start of next season.

 

Pegula wants the team. If he didn't, we would have a quote from him that he is not interested. He has nothing to gain by letting this rumor live if he doesn't want the team. So the two sides have definitely had talks, we just have no clue if they were serious and how serious they were. There is definitely fire, but is it an inferno or just a candle?

[Patty16]

The board meeting was in Florida. Bucky reported that Pegula was in NYC to meet league officials.

 

Bucky has been shoddy and should stick to commentary.

 

This is probably a story that should have been assigned to real reporters in the paper's business section.

 

 

My mistake, Bucky actually didnt say NYC. Is there somewhere else he says it was in NYC bc its not in that article??

 

He clearly states it was a report out of Canada. He wasnt saying that what he heard from his sources. Quoting another report about the board of governors isnt reporting as his own. Its pretty clear from reading the article that Bucky didnt have an inside scoop on what was happening with the sale.

 

Is there something Bucky reported as his own that is flat out wrong?

 

No one who knows whats going on with a potential sale is talking.

[Derrico]

Agree with all of this. Dude, you should be a writer or something.

 

After finding out that there was this magical hockey-super fan billionaire with ties to Buffalo that we'd never heard of who wanted to buy the team, there's no way we're going to be happy with Golisano. We weren't happy with him owning the team before this! Plus, HE doesn't even want to own the team. If the man had any interest in hockey before, it's gone now.

 

I don't even want to imagine the deflated feeling we'll all have if Golisano doesn't sell the team to Pegula. It'll be like watching Kasparitis end the Sabres' 2001 playoff run with a weak 40 foot wrist shot through Hasek's legs again.......times a million.

 

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH, well put!

[spndnchz]

My mistake, Bucky actually didnt say NYC. Is there somewhere else he says it was in NYC bc its not in that article??

 

He clearly states it was a report out of Canada. He wasnt saying that what he heard from his sources. Quoting another report about the board of governors isnt reporting as his own. Its pretty clear from reading the article that Bucky didnt have an inside scoop on what was happening with the sale.

 

Is there something Bucky reported as his own that is flat out wrong?

 

No one who knows whats going on with a potential sale is talking.

 

I think this appeared to, presumably, expected to, believed to, virtually all signs, suggested that, this is the article.

[Patty16]

I think this appeared to, presumably, expected to, believed to, virtually all signs, suggested that, this is the article.

 

ahhhh gotcha. So Bucky's sources said he was going to NYC to meet with league officials. Is there a report that he didnt? I saw the report that he didnt meet with the board in florida.

[wallybarthman]

The latest rumor I heard (from a decent source) is that they brought in a franchise lawyer from an outside firm to look things over. It sounds like things are moving in a good direction, but it's far from a done deal.

[Patty16]

The latest rumor I heard (from a decent source) is that they brought in a franchise lawyer from an outside firm to look things over. It sounds like things are moving in a good direction, but it's far from a done deal.

 

 

They as in pegula or golisano?

[PASabreFan]

ahhhh gotcha. So Bucky's sources said he was going to NYC to meet with league officials. Is there a report that he didnt? I saw the report that he didnt meet with the board in florida.

 

Bucky shot down his own report in his Sunday column last Sunday (not yesterday). He reported, without sourcing, that Pegula was actually in NYC to see a performance of a young woman one of his firms represents.

[JohnRobertEichel]

Bucky shot down his own report in his Sunday column last Sunday (not yesterday). He reported, without sourcing, that Pegula was actually in NYC to see a performance of a young woman one of his firms represents.

 

What kind of "performance" are we talking about?

[PASabreFan]

What kind of "performance" are we talking about?

 

Hey now.

[wallybarthman]

They as in pegula or golisano?

 

Pegula.

[PASabreFan]

Very, very thin gruel here, but a couple of mentions in hockey circles the last couple of days:

 

Sabres sale?

I was told by a source Saturday that billionaire Terrence Pegula continues to show serious interest in buying the Buffalo Sabres. There is nothing imminent, but the source said something could possibly be in place by the end of this season.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/2463/weekend-wrap-kaberle-richards-rumors-flyers-net-questions-caps-struggles

 

---

 

Look for Buffalo to be sold to billionaire Terry Pegula in the coming months. To avoid another ownership embarrassment, the NHL is scouring Pegula's history before he can buy the club (reportedly for $175 million) from Tom Golisano.

 

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2010/12/12/poor-hockey-adds-up-to-poor-crowds.html?sid=101

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

:death:

[Two or less]

Latest from Bucky Gleason -

 

It's a painstaking process littered with background checks, number crunching and bureaucracy, but every indication Wednesday continued to point toward billionaire businessman and flag-waving Sabres fan Terry Pegula purchasing his favorite team from owner Tom Golisano for $175 million.

 

Link- http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/article285178.ece

[nfreeman]

Latest from Bucky Gleason -

Link- http://www.buffalone...ticle285178.ece

Pretty interesting article. Notably, Bucky is taking a firm stand that the deal is going to happen:

 

The unknown lately hasn't been whether Pegula will buy the team but his plans for the Sabres when he does.

 

I've criticized Bucky plenty over the years, but I think if he's that definitive about this deal, it's most likely going to happen.

 

In a related point, here's a WSJ piece today about the business that made Pegula wealthy, and the approach NYS' brilliant elected leadership is taking (with an explanation of "fracking" to boot):

 

New York State urgently needs more jobs and new tax revenue, so naturally its political class has decided to reject one of the best economic opportunities in decades. And people wonder why Albany is bankrupt. Governor David Paterson made headlines last weekend when he vetoed legislation that barred natural gas exploration in the Empire State. He then undercut his own pro-investment message with an executive order that is almost as restrictive. Imagine California, 1848, closing its border to gold miners.

 

The U.S. is in the early stages of what can only be described as a Shale Gas Rush. About a decade ago the drilling industry made a technological breakthrough in attempting to tap into the Barnett Shale formation in north central Texas. America was suddenly able to extract, cost-effectively, huge amounts of natural gas from tightly packed shale rocks.

 

That has opened up vast new exploration possibilities, including the 65 million-acre Marcellus Shale formation, which extends from Ohio and West Virginia up through Pennsylvania and upstate New York. A recent Penn State study estimates that Marcellus is the second largest natural gas field in the world. The study notes that Pennsylvania had $4.5 billion in Marcellus-related investment in 2009, generating nearly $400 million in state and local tax revenue and 44,000 jobs.

 

And New York? Once a manufacturing powerhouse, the upstate economy has withered under global competition and the taxes and mandates that flow out of corrupt, liberal, government union-dominated Albany. The region has lost 90,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001.

 

The drilling industry could compensate with new jobs in construction, trucking, engineering and a variety of attendant services. The industry also pays royalties and leases land from landowners, who pay taxes and buy goods. A July study by the American Petroleum Institute estimates production in the Marcellus could provide $15 billion in economic output and $2 billion in state tax revenue over nine years.

 

Instead, New York has imposed a de facto drilling moratorium because of dubious environmental fears. Shale drilling relies on hydraulic fracturing, the process of blasting a solution that is 99% water and sand (less than 1% chemicals) into rock to release gas deposits. Fracking has been commercially viable since 1949 and is responsible for 30% of domestic oil and gas production.

 

The recent advances in shale gas have come from combining fracking with "horizontal" drilling, which permits wells to move laterally under the surface. Horizontal fracking lets the industry get much more energy out of one well. The industry uses steel casing and cement to prevent fracking fluid from polluting wells and underground reservoirs.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Ground Water Protection Council, a nonprofit made up of state regulatory agencies, have published studies concluding that fracking is safe. While energy exploration is never risk-free, the Ground Water Council hasn't found a single documented case of fracking having polluted local ground water.

 

That hasn't stopped New York's powerful green lobby from predicting disaster, and three years ago the state's Department of Environmental Conservation obliged by announcing it would rewrite all regulations, stopping new permits in the meantime. The legislature went further and outlawed even vertical fracking.

 

Mr. Paterson vetoed this, but his executive order backs the agency ban on horizontal fracking—the real future of the industry—until the new regulations are issued, which he insists should not happen for at least six months. The agency issued draft regulations a year ago that are so onerous they would guarantee that drillers go elsewhere.

 

Contrast that with Pennsylvania, which has for the most part welcomed the drilling industry. Between July 2009 and June 2010, Pennsylvania's 632 Marcellus wells released 180 billion cubic feet of gas, doubling state production. The Keystone State has used this development to attract more investment in company headquarters, training facilities and service sites—brick-and-mortar capital lost to the Empire State.

 

<a name="U401631485957HWC">It is also positioning itself to lure new manufacturing on the promise of cheap natural gas. Bowing to liberal pressure, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell issued a moratorium earlier this year on drilling permits on state land, though the drilling boom on private land continues. Both Pennsylvania and Canada are looking to lock in gas contracts with businesses in New York, which is one of the country's largest users of natural gas.

 

Political elites in Albany and New York City live off Wall Street and other service industries, and they think of upstate New York as an environmental museum: a nice place to visit on the weekend but they wouldn't want to develop the resources there. No wonder the once great Empire State can't pay its bills and keeps losing taxpayers to places that want their citizens to prosper.

 

 

 

[R_Dudley]

Pretty interesting article. Notably, Bucky is taking a firm stand that the deal is going to happen:

 

 

 

I've criticized Bucky plenty over the years, but I think if he's that definitive about this deal, it's most likely going to happen.

 

In a related point, here's a WSJ piece today about the business that made Pegula wealthy, and the approach NYS' brilliant elected leadership is taking (with an explanation of "fracking" to boot):

 

 

Wow That article hits the nail on the head is so right about all that is wrong in NYS currently being run by a corrupt political machine and process.

 

It is a wonder any of my family still manages to work and live in my home town and state.

[Eleven]

Wow That article hits the nail on the head is so right about all that is wrong in NYS currently being run by a corrupt political machine and process.

 

It is a wonder any of my family still manages to work and live in my home town and state.

 

But it only tells half of the story; the Buffalo News had some coverage about a month ago concerning people on the other side of the NY/PA border who are having serious problems with their drinking water, etc. because of hydrofracking.

[PASabreFan]

But it only tells half of the story; the Buffalo News had some coverage about a month ago concerning people on the other side of the NY/PA border who are having serious problems with their drinking water, etc. because of hydrofracking.

 

There's also a fair degree of skepticism about the incredible claims of hundreds of thousands of jobs being created for Pennsylvanians. For now, it seems like the early drilling activity has involved out of state crews that come in and stay in motels, or even have their own RVs and the like.

 

But as this article http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10099/1048898-28.stm points out, the workforce in PA is not yet up to speed. The article suggests that the Marcellus Shale "rush" could last 100 years and will quickly rely on local workers. The economic spinoff is quite impressive.

 

As always, the key is going to be finding a balance between jobs and environmental concerns. Terry Pegula will say fracking has been around a long time and doesn't cause problems.

"Over the years, our company has drilled thousands of wells, and every one of them is fracked," said Terrence M. Pegula, the chief executive officer of East Resources. "I can't believe we have to sit now and try to explain it."

http://connect.sierraclub.org/post/Team/Marcellus_Shale_Gas_Drilling/blog/fracking_under_pressure.html?cons_id=&ts=1292546629&signature=986a55a35f9839fa321d391803413436

[nfreeman]

But it only tells half of the story; the Buffalo News had some coverage about a month ago concerning people on the other side of the NY/PA border who are having serious problems with their drinking water, etc. because of hydrofracking.

 

Well, I wouldn't say the WSJ piece ignores the water pollution issue -- it just takes a different position on it than that of the plaintiffs in the PA lawsuit who are claiming that their water has been contaminated (and I wonder whether that group has attorneys who have dollar signs in their eyes?). The article says:

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Ground Water Protection Council, a nonprofit made up of state regulatory agencies, have published studies concluding that fracking is safe. While energy exploration is never risk-free, the Ground Water Council hasn't found a single documented case of fracking having polluted local ground water.

 

There's also a fair degree of skepticism about the incredible claims of hundreds of thousands of jobs being created for Pennsylvanians. For now, it seems like the early drilling activity has involved out of state crews that come in and stay in motels, or even have their own RVs and the like.

 

But as this article http://www.post-gaze.../1048898-28.stm points out, the workforce in PA is not yet up to speed. The article suggests that the Marcellus Shale "rush" could last 100 years and will quickly rely on local workers. The economic spinoff is quite impressive.

Well, I don't think anyone has claimed that hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created. The WSJ article mentioned 44,000 jobs created, which is a great thing (and would certainly be great for NYS), and the axe-grinding article you linked to stated that the Penn State survey, which was issued in 2008, said that 107,000 jobs COULD BE created in 2010.

 

BTW, if you google Jannette Barth the "president of a research and consulting firm" cited by the article, it quickly becomes apparent that she's an anti-fracking environmentalist. But ol' Bill Toland of the PPG didn't bother to mention that. I wonder which side of the debate he's on?

[Eleven]

Well, I wouldn't say the WSJ piece ignores the water pollution issue -- it just takes a different position on it than that of the plaintiffs in the PA lawsuit who are claiming that their water has been contaminated (and I wonder whether that group has attorneys who have dollar signs in their eyes?). The article says:

 

 

 

Well, I don't think anyone has claimed that hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created. The WSJ article mentioned 44,000 jobs created, which is a great thing (and would certainly be great for NYS), and the axe-grinding article you linked to stated that the Penn State survey, which was issued in 2008, said that 107,000 jobs COULD BE created in 2010.

 

BTW, if you google Jannette Barth the "president of a research and consulting firm" cited by the article, it quickly becomes apparent that she's an anti-fracking environmentalist. But ol' Bill Toland of the PPG didn't bother to mention that. I wonder which side of the debate he's on?

 

The News series didn't mention a lawsuit at all.

 

I just think there's more to this than the typical "Albany lock." There may be real reasons for preventing hydrofracking in our state.

[nfreeman]

The News series didn't mention a lawsuit at all.

 

I just think there's more to this than the typical "Albany lock." There may be real reasons for preventing hydrofracking in our state.

I don't disagree that it's not just Albany incompetence/corruption. Knee-jerk "no" reactions by environmentalists are a significant factor here. Of course, if one wanted to be cynical about it, one could easily start conjecturing that Con Ed, Keyspan and the other big NYS energy producers are well connected politically here and have no desire for new players to enter the market.

[PromoTheRobot]

But it only tells half of the story; the Buffalo News had some coverage about a month ago concerning people on the other side of the NY/PA border who are having serious problems with their drinking water, etc. because of hydrofracking.

People's well water not only can turn toxic but flammable with gas seeping through their plumbing. Not every environmental issue is about hugging trees. How would you like to be the person trying to sell a house with a toxic,explosive well?

 

PTR