Terry Pegula foiled Jon Bon Jovi’s bid for Buffalo Bills but daughter would trade $9bn fortune for Australian Open glory
It’s make or break for the Buffalo Bills in the coming weeks.
With a wild-card win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL Playoffs last weekend, their Super Bowl LX dream is still alive.
The Bills are the most experienced team left on the AFC’s side of the postseason bracket, with the best quarterback in Josh Allen, and have a real shot of lifting the Lombardi Trophy for the first time.
To make things even better, they will not have to compete with the Kansas City Chiefs this year. That nemesis has knocked Buffalo out of the playoffs four times in the last five seasons, including in two AFC Championship Games.
But Patrick Mahomes & Co. failed to reach the playoffs this time around. Instead, it’s the No. 1-seeded Denver Broncos that stand in the way of Buffalo in the divisional round on Saturday.
Win that, and the Bills will be just one win away from returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1994.
The AFC is wide open in 2026, and a franchise that has been on the periphery of glory for so many years could finally come smashing through the door.
But things could have been very different in Buffalo — especially if one man had won an infamous bidding war back in 2014.
How close was Jon Bon Jovi to buying the Bills?
When the franchise hit the market 12 years ago after the death of founder Ralph Wilson, none other than Jon Bon Jovi was interested in taking ownership.
The musician fronted a group of Toronto investors, and put serious money on the table.
However, Donald Trump was also an interested party, and is said to have sunk Bon Jovi’s hopes of buying the team.
Trump, it emerged, had hired Republican operative Michael Caputo to push rumors that the artist would move the team to Toronto, which sparked calls to boycott his music at bars and radio stations throughout Western New York.
Bon Jovi has always denied those claims, but for a time he was described as ‘the most hated man in Buffalo’.
On one level, Trump’s under-handed campaign worked. The musician did not get the team. But neither did the future US President.
Instead, the Bills ultimately went to a third bidder.
Who beat Jon Bon Jovi to the team?
Billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer, Terry Pegula — who was already the owner of the NHL‘s Buffalo Sabres — reached an agreement to buy the Bills in September 2014.
The price was reported at $1.4 billion, a then-NFL record. That money, though, is a drop in the ocean for the Pegulas, who now boast a family fortune of $9.3bn.
Terry and his wife, Kim Pegula, garnered massive local support at the time.
They had no intention of moving the team from Buffalo, and the announcement of the sale came with the blessing of controlling owner Mary Wilson, widow of Ralph.
Bon Jovi, meanwhile, has vowed never to return to Buffalo.
“We showed up with a billion three, sitting there with a cheque. And we could have easily bought it at any price,” he told GQ in 2020 of his failed attempt to purchase the Bills.
“We didn’t get to get back in the room. (Pegula) said, ‘What do I have to do to not leave this table without owning the team?’
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“I won’t ever go back to the city of Buffalo. You will never see my face in Buffalo ever. I have knocked it off the map.”
Bills Mafia probably won’t lose any sleep over that.
Under Pegula’s ownership, the team have become perennial playoff contenders, have the NFL‘s reigning MVP at quarterback, and have real hopes of winning Super Bowl LX next month.
They are also building a state-of-the-art, $2.2bn stadium in Orchard Park, which is set to be ready for the 2026 season.
Football, though, isn’t the only sport close to the Pegula family.
Tennis star Jessica Pegula eyeing Grand Slam glory in 2026
Terry’s daughter, Jessica Pegula, has been one of the most consistent and reliable players on the WTA Tour in recent years.
After turning pro in 2009 at the age of 15, the tennis star has since gone on to establish herself as one of the world’s best.
She has reached the quarterfinals of every Grand Slam, and contested the US Open final in 2024, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in front of a home crowd.
Pegula made it to No.3 in the world back in 2022, and boasts more than $25 million in career earnings, but is yet to lift a major.
Her family is worth an incredible $9.3bn, but time is running out for the 31-year-old, who once admitted she would trade that fortune for Grand Slam glory.
In 2026, Pegula will be chasing her own dream once more, and will hope to advance to the latter rounds of the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday.
She will no doubt be watching closely as the Bills continue their Super Bowl quest against the Broncos, too.
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