Terry Pegula transferred small percentage of Bills to daughter Laura Pegula

Nearly two years after she suffered a debilitating heart attack, Kim Pegula is still listed as a co-owner of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres alongside her husband, Terry. The Pegulas used to own the Bills 50-50, but that is no longer the case.

Palm Beach County Circuit Civil Court documents show that on Feb. 13, 2023, Terry Pegula filed to have Kim ruled incapacitated and to be made her guardian. A panel of three court-appointed examiners recommended incapacitation, and on March 23, 2023, a judge named Terry the “plenary guardian of the person and property” of his wife.

The documents also show that many of Kim’s assets have been placed in a trust, with Terry and longtime petroleum business collaborator Bob Long listed as co-trustees.

“The court has determined that the ward lacks capacity to handle all of their affairs, and everything that can be delegated has been delegated to someone else,” said Stacy Beth Rubel, chairperson of the Florida Bar’s guardianship, power of attorney and advance directives committee.

“Kim is not coming back” to the Bills or Sabres front office, a longtime Pegula family associate briefed on her condition and prognosis said.

Three days after Kim became Terry’s ward, Laura Pegula, Terry’s daughter from his first marriage, represented the Bills at NFL owners’ meetings in Phoenix. Shortly thereafter, The Athletic learned, Terry transferred a small percentage of the Bills to Laura to satisfy a league policy that aids in succession planning.

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The Bills declined to comment through a spokesperson. The NFL didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

Laura, 41, has long been involved in what the Pegula family refers to as the “home office” — the core petroleum businesses that made Terry a multi-billionaire. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a geology degree and is an executive with JKLM Energy (named for Laura and her three half-siblings: Jessica, Kelly and Matthew).

The Pegula children have always been visible around the teams, but Laura has become a more conspicuous presence over the last year. She recently sat in on executive Q&A sessions with rank-and-file Bills and Sabres employees.

When commissioner Roger Goodell delivered his annual state of the NFL address last month in Orlando, Laura represented the Pegulas while Terry sat near the lobby bar with Scott Radecic, senior principal of Bills stadium architect Populous.

Although her name doesn’t appear in either team’s front office directory, Laura is a Sabres alternate governor and represents the club at NHL meetings. She was the only Pegula child in attendance on April 24 for the Sabres’ introduction of new head coach Lindy Ruff, standing next to her father in the photo op.

To ensure the most efficient succession plans possible, the NFL discourages franchise ownership by a single person. For decades, majority owners had to maintain control of at least 51 percent of the team, but the threshold has been continually throttled down over the years, with a “controlling family” now required to own at least 30 percent and individual family members allowed to own as little as 1 percent.

Each May, teams are required to file an updated succession plan that must be approved according to established league guidelines. An NFL source who has been involved in succession planning says to be compliant teams are required to designate a successor with a controlling interest, an effort to make any transition smoother and curtail potential family infighting.

Before his 2019 death, Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen asked trustees to run the team and name a successor as his Alzheimer’s disease worsened. Some of Bowlen’s seven children fought for control of the team — several lawsuits were filed — and eventually the trustees agreed to sell the team to a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton for $4.65 billion in 2022.

Terry and Kim Pegula bought the Bills for $1.4 billion a decade ago. Forbes’ most recent analysis, published in August 2023, estimated their worth at $3.7 billion.

The team has received significant public aid to build its new stadium, scheduled to open in 2026. The State of New York contributed $600 million when the deal was announced in 2022 and will give $100 million more over 15 years and $300 million more over 30 years (adjusted for inflation). Additionally, Erie County will contribute $250 million.

The new stadium agreement includes a 30-year lease with a non-relocation clause, but fans and taxpayers want to know the succession plans, especially now that Terry Pegula has hired a firm to explore selling a chunk of the team, with The Athletic reporting an estimate of 25 percent available. Limited partnership deals commonly include the right of first refusal to purchase a larger stake or the remainder of that team if it were to change hands.

Many Bills and Sabres employees, from executives to interns, remain unclear on Kim’s prognosis and Laura’s role. Turbulence in their front offices has only added to the confusion.

Terry Pegula hired John Roth as Sabres chief operating officer and executive vice president in January 2023, then made him Bills COO upon firing Ron Raccuia and dissolving Pegula Sports and Entertainment that July. Less than three months later, Pegula fired Roth and general counsel Kathryn D’Angelo for an inappropriate romantic relationship. The COO roles were handled on an interim basis for five months until former New York Giants chief business officer Pete Guelli took over two weeks ago.

When Terry and Kim Pegula bought the Bills, he declared the team was in Western New York to stay. He said he would bequeath the Bills and Sabres to his children someday. Given the disparity in their ages — he’s 73, and she’s 54 — the initial succession plan was for Kim to run the teams until their kids were ready to take over.

For years, Bills and Sabres executives assumed the teams would be stewarded into the next generation by Terry and Kim’s oldest child, tennis star Jessica Pegula, and her husband, Taylor Gahagen. Terry Pegula promoted Gahagen to director of corporate development and used to gush about his future within the organization.

Six days before Terry petitioned the court to appoint him Kim’s guardian, Jessica went public about her mother’s condition in a column written for The Players’ Tribune. In the column, Jessica revealed that Kim had gone into cardiac arrest in June 2022 and suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. Jessica disclosed that her mother suffered from “significant expressive aphasia and significant memory issues.”

“She can read, write, and understand pretty well, but she has trouble finding the words to respond,” Jessica wrote. “It is hard to deal with and it takes a lot of patience to communicate with her, but I thank God every day that we can still communicate with her at all.”

Jessica also wrote about taking over as Bills and Sabres president once her playing career was over: “My mom always wanted me to be involved. She wanted me to learn and eventually do what she was doing.”

Within three months of the column, Gahagen was fired and Laura Pegula was given an equity stake in the Bills. No other member of the Pegula family has commented publicly about Kim’s condition.

Terry, who also serves as CEO and president of the Bills and Sabres, has neither granted an interview nor taken questions at a news conference since naming Kevyn Adams the Sabres’ general manager in June 2020. Terry hasn’t answered Bills-related questions since the March 2019 owners’ meetings.

Manny Navarro contributed to this report.

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(Photo of Terry, left, and Laura Pegula, right: Kirby Lee / USA Today)