A Pennsylvania fracking mogul bid more than $1 billion for the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday — making it likely the team will attract a record sales price for an NFL team.
It was one of only two known bids — which were due by 5 p.m. Tuesday — for the storied NFL franchise, according to the New York Post.
Terrence Pegula, who owns the NHL Buffalo Sabres, made the record-breaking opening offer. The team was put on the block last spring following the March 25 death of owner Ralph Wilson Jr..
Donald Trump made the other offer but has admitted he probably underbid because he's "not going to do something stupid" to call the team his.
It could not be learned whether other bids were received by banker Morgan Stanley, which is running the auction, said the newspaper.
A controversial group fronted by Jon Bon Jovi that includes Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, owner of the NBA Toronto Raptors and the NHL Maple Leafs, and the Canadian Rogers family, which controls Rogers Communications, was expected to bid.
The Bon Jovi group is expected to try and move the team to Toronto. A move that has made the rocker an unpopular figure in the western New York city.
“Man, f–k Bon Jovi,” legendary Bills receiver Andre Reed, told New York Magazine. “You might as well just take this city, throw it in the river, and let it go down Niagara Falls.”
And, as usual, there were rumored bidders who were eyeing a move to Los Angeles, which has been without an NFL team since 1994.
First-round bids are usually just high enough to pique the interest of a seller and kick off the selling process.
The $1.1 billion sale of the Miami Dolphins in 2008 is the highest price ever paid for an NFL team.
