Report: Sabres owner Terry Pegula 'on verge' of buying Buffalo Bills

For all the talk of celebrity ownership groups, the favorite to purchase the Buffalo Bills long has been a gas and oil man few outside of upstate New York could pick out of a lineup.

And according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, that man — Terry Pegula, also the owner of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres — appears to be close to sealing the deal with the Bills.

Although groups led by Jon Bon Jovi and Donald Trump got all the press in the past several months for their attempts to bid on the Bills, it was the multibillionaire Pegula who was most well-positioned. After selling off some real-estate holdings this summer, Pegula freed up the cash he needed to make a strong bid.

Pegula's cleaning and reshuffling of the Sabres franchise has local fans convinced that the same would happen with the downtrodden Bills, who have endured losing seasons in 13 of 14 years and haven't made a playoff appearance since 1999.

In addition, local support for Pegula in Buffalo — a city that badly wants to keep the Bills franchise in town — has been far stronger than his more well-known competitors. Fear of either the Bon Jovi-led group or Trump's team moving the Bills elsewhere has run rampant, despite those groups' efforts to ensure that was not in the cards.

No matter. It appears that Pegula will be the one who steps up the buy the Bills and perhaps be approved as the team's owner to succeed Ralph Wilson, who passed away last year. And based on speculation in recent reports, the purchase price is expected to be well north of $1 billion, perhaps in the $1.3 billion range.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm