Terry Pegula

Terrence Michael Pegula (born March 27, 1951) is an American billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer.

He is the owner of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and, with his wife Kim Pegula, the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL).

He is also the president of both franchises.

Amassing his fortune via investments in fracking, Pegula has interests in natural gas development, real estate, entertainment, and professional sports.

His net worth is over $7 billion.

Pegula was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.

His father worked in truck driving and coal mining.

His mother hails from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

He attended high school at Scranton Preparatory School.

From there he attended college at Penn State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering.

After working for a time for Getty Oil and Felmont Oil Co., Pegula founded East Resources a natural gas drilling company, with $7,500 from family and friends in 1983.

It profited heavily upon discovery of deep layers of natural gas in the Marcellus Formation and development of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") recovery process.

Pegula eventually sold the Pennsylvania, New York, and Rocky Mountain assets of the company to Royal Dutch Shell for approximately $4.7 billion.

Beginning in 1985, he was based in Allegany, New York.

In February 2011, Pegula purchased Hockey Western New York LLC (the holding company that owns the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League) from previous owners Tom Golisano, Larry Quinn, and Dan DiPofi for $189 million.

Pegula's purchase made an immediate positive impact, with players, fans and alumni invigorated by his investment in the team, the then First Niagara Center and the building of Harborcenter across the street.

Pegula was quoted as saying, "Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence, will be to win a Stanley Cup."

However, in the decade that followed, the Buffalo Sabres posted a 281-354-94 record and held the longest active NHL post-season drought.

Pegula and his wife have been heavily criticized for meddling in the Sabres' hockey operations.

In May 2011, Pegula began negotiations on behalf of the Sabres to re-purchase the Rochester Americans, which had served as the Sabres' American Hockey League affiliate from 1979 to 2008 (and had been owned by the Sabres from 1979 to 1996); the deal was completed in late June 2011.

As part of the deal the Americans had to be split off from its NLL counterpart the Rochester Knighthawks since Pegula owned the Bandits due to ownership rules at the time.

Along with the purchase of the Americans came upgrades to the team's arena, the Blue Cross Arena.

Many fans and critics alike have attributed the team's firing of six head coaches and three general managers since 2013 to this, as well as other controversial moves such as the trades of Ryan O'Reilly and Jack Eichel.

Included in the Sabres purchase was their National Lacrosse League (NLL) counterpart, the Buffalo Bandits, which have won five NLL championships.

The Bandits won the NLL championship in 2023, giving Pegula his first championship under his ownership of the team.

He sold the Ohio and West Virginia assets of the company to American Energy Partners, LP for $1.75 billion in 2014.

Pegula also owns Greater Rocky Mountain Regional Oil & Gas in Colorado and Wyoming, and JKLM Energy in Pennsylvania.

On September 9, 2014, it was announced that Pegula had placed the winning binding bid to purchase the National Football League (NFL)'s Buffalo Bills, a team that was placed up for sale after the death of the original owner and team founder, Ralph Wilson.

Pegula was a favorite among most local Bills fans and local politicians to buy the team due to his commitment to the Western New York area and local connections.

He competed against future U.S. President Donald Trump and musician Jon Bon Jovi, the latter of whom was backed by principals of the Toronto-based Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, for purchase of the team.

It was reported that the Pegulas made a $1.4 billion bid, all in cash.

On September 17, 2014, the Pegulas were unanimously approved by the NFL's finance committee and were then scheduled to be presented at the NFL owners' meeting on October 8, 2014, for final owner approval; the Pegulas received unanimous approval from the league's owners on October 8 and closed the deal on October 10.

Pegula's first major order of business was to end the Bills Toronto Series, which he did in an agreement reached on December 3, 2014.

Upon the purchase of the Bills, Pegula and his wife Kim introduced One Buffalo, a marketing campaign which has since evolved into a brand used across all of their sports teams and associated products.

On March 28, 2022, it was announced that a deal had been reached between New York State, Erie County and the Pegulas for a 62,000 seat, $1.4 billion new stadium for the Bills in Orchard Park across the street from the current stadium.

New York State will contribute $600 million in funding with Erie County contributing $250 million, the Pegulas contributing $350 million and the National football league via a G-4 loan $200 million.

In addition the Pegulas signed the Bills to a 30-year iron clad lease.

The stadium would be owned by New York State, a change from the current stadium which is owned by Erie County.

New York committed to pay the maintenance and repair costs of the stadium.

It was set to be the largest taxpayer contribution ever for a National Football League facility.