The Buffalo Bills and Terry Pegula are proud to confirm the addition of 10 limited partners to the ownership group. The non-controlling, minority interests were approved earlier today at the NFL meetings in Dallas, TX. This represents the first time in franchise history that minority owners have been added.
The new limited partners, pending final closing of the agreements, include:
Arctos, a private investment firm that provides bespoke growth and liquidity solutions, differentiated thought partnership and value creation services to sports franchises
Rob Palumbo, Co-managing partner of Accel-KKR, technology-focused private equity firm
Sue McCollum, CEO and owner of beverage distribution companies Eagle Brand Sales and Double Eagle Distributing
Theresia Gouw, Co-founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Acrew Capital
Rob Ward, Co-founder, general partner of venture capital firm Meritech Capital
Mike Joo, COO, Global Corporate & Investment Banking and Head of North America Corporate & Investment Banking at Bank of America
Tom Burger, Co-founder and managing partner of the investment firm Gridiron Capital
Vince Carter, Former NBA player; member of Basketball Hall of Fame
Tracy McGrady, Former NBA player; member of Basketball Hall of Fame
Jozy Altidore, Former US National Team Soccer Player and MLS Champion
The team has added a diverse array of limited partners spanning the world of business, sports and entertainment. The group includes many with deep personal ties to the Buffalo Bills as well as connections to key geographic areas for the organization.
The Bills partnership with Arctos, marks one of the first-ever private equity investments in a National Football League franchise. Arctos is the only firm approved to invest in equity across each of the five most popular major North American leagues and currently has investments in professional sports teams in the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, NASCAR, the English Premier League and Formula One.
Founded in 2019, Arctos’ proprietary approach to sports investing is anchored by its operational expertise, including a roster of experienced advisors, as well as the firm’s unique quantitative research and data science platform, Arctos Insights.
“This has been an incredible journey to add such an impressive and diverse group of limited partners along with a reputable private equity partner in Arctos that has an extensive track record of success with professional sports franchises,” said Bills Owner/CEO Terry Pegula.
“They all have all achieved high levels of success in their respective industries and we’re grateful for their interest in our team, our sport, and the future of the Buffalo Bills. Most of them have a personal attachment with our team, Western New York or Southern Ontario which was a very important factor to me.”
“There are so many people I’d like to thank for their assistance and guidance throughout this process: Steve Greenberg, Terry Morris, Mike Melnitzky and the rest of the crew at Allen & Company. Roger Goodell, Christine Dorfler, Joe Siclare, Jay Bauman, and Cyrus Ghavi from the National Football League. Joe Leccese, Jason Krochak, Amanda Nussbaum, Sean Wildes, Alon Elhanan, Bowon Koh and Alexander Amir at Proskauer. Our team at the family office, including my daughter, Laura Pegula, Adam Gusky, Gary Hagerman, and John Sieminski, deserves a lot of credit as well as Pete Guelli, Terry Gilbride and Josh Dziurlikowski at the Bills. It truly was a total team effort.”
