Kim and Terry Pegula, Buffalo Bills
Education:Kim: Houghton College; Terry: Penn State
How They Acquired the Franchise: The Pegulas purchased the Bills in 2014 for $1.4 billion from the estate of Ralph Wilson, who founded the team in 1959 and controlled the franchise until his death in March ’14. The Pegulas—who also bought the Buffalo Sabres (along with the NLL Buffalo Bandits) in 2011 for $189 million—were among a handful of ownership groups that reportedly submitted bids to buy the Bills, including a group led by President Donald Trump and another group that included rock star Jon Bon Jovi.
Net Worth: Terry’s net worth is valued at $4.3 billion (per Forbes in 2018)
Franchise Valuation: $1.6 billion (per Forbes in 2017)
How They Made Their Money: Terry founded natural gas drilling company East Resources in 1983, thanks to a $7,500 loan from family and friends, and eventually sold some of his company’s assets to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion and American Energy Partners for $1.75 billion in 2014.
In the Owner’s Words: After an apparent touchdown catch by Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin was overturned in a 2017 game, Terry criticized the NFL’s replay protocol in an interview with a Buffalo radio station: “Replay was developed by this league to correct obvious mistakes … I don't know what’s going on, but we have to fix it. And I’m not saying that as the owner of the Bills. I’m saying that as a football fan. We can’t have stuff like this happening in our league.”
Political Donations: Together, Terry and Kim have combined to donate nearly $1 million, almost exclusively to Republican entities: $50K over the years to Pat Toomey, thousands for both John Boehner and Paul Ryan, tens of thousands to the Republican National Committee and hundreds of thousands to the Republican Senate Committee. Kim made a one-off $150K contribution to the Romney Victory Inc. fund in 2012 and sent more than $5,000 to Minnesota Republican Karin Housley—a senator campaigning for Al Franken's vacant seat and the wife of current Sabres coach and hockey Hall of Famer Phil Housley—on the final day of ’17.
NFL Committees:Kim: Business Ventures Committee, Super Bowl & Major Events Committee, NFL Foundation Board; Terry: Health & Safety Advisory Committee.
Next in Line: Terry and Kim have three children together—Matthew, Kelly and Jessica—and Terry has two children from a previous marriage, Michael and Laura. None are actively involved with the team.
