Bon Jovi’s Bid To Buy Bills Becoming Bad Medicine

Jon Bon Jovi still may become the head owner of the Buffalo Bills. It depends on who you talk to.

The Gloversville (NY) Leader-Herald is reporting the last three teams are preparing their final binding bids to acquire the Buffalo Bills. The first prospective suitor, Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula, is currently considered the favorite. The second, Donald Trump, still has few friends in the NFL with his casino and USFL ties. The last group is a Toronto-based group led by Jon Bon Jovi, despite reports that Bon Jovi himself is no longer with the group — though no official word either way has been announced.

Pegula’s group seems to have mad serious progress in securing funds and local support. Trump, who seems to have enemies in the NFL ownership club, is a longshot at best to get back in. This leaves Bon Jovi and his seemingly splintered ownership group. It was reported earlier this week Bon Jovi, because of financial concerns, was dropped from the group made from Larry Tannebaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and the Rogers family, which controls Rogers Communications. The dissolution has yet to be reported in any news recently.

The Asbury Park Press is reporting that Bon Jovi doesn’t have enough money as the price of the Bills is inching over $1 billion, according to the New York Post. Bon Jovi, as the potential controlling owner, needs to put up at least 30 percent of the purchase price. But as his net worth is around $300 million, according to the Post, he doesn’t have enough for a winning bid, so Tanenbaum and Rogers may be looking for a new partner. Yet another version is that Bon Jovi is still with Tanenbaum and Rogers but, as their highest bid can “only” go up to $1.2 billion, they’re not expecting to get the deal.

This is also the same group who ruffled some hardcore Bills fans with an investigation into possibly moving the Bills to the Toronto area, which has angered many of the core fans in Buffalo, For that move to happen, though, the new owners would have to wait until 2020, when a clause in the lease states that the ‘Bills can buy out the remainder of the lease for $20.4 million, then move to a new home. Bon Jovi and his group have said since that investigation, it was decided that staying in Ralph Wilson Stadium is best.

The fans didn’t seem to buy it, so even if Bon Jovi is still part of the group or not, many Bills fans feel the Pegulas would be the best new owners.