The Buffalo Bandits have had one change of ownership since the team was founded in 1992.
The original club was created under the management of the Buffalo Sabres. The goal was to get more usage from the NHL team’s new stadium.
The latest owners also have an interest in the NHL as well as some other sports.
Who Are The Owners Of The Buffalo Bandits?
The Buffalo Bandits team in the National Lacrosse League is owned by Hockey Western New York LLC, which is part of Pegula Sports and Entertainment.
The parent company is co-owned by husband and wife Terry and Kim Pegula. Terry Pegula built his wealth through gas exploration and fracking.
Terry Pegula, Co-Owner
Terry Pegula graduated from Penn State with a degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering.
He raised $7,500 from family and friends in 1983 to start a natural gas drilling company. That would eventually turn into billions when two things happened.
First, he had the good luck of discovering deep layers of natural gas. Second, he had the tenacity and skill to steer the development of innovative fracking techniques to recover the gas.
Pegula eventually sold some of his assets to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion. He later sold more to American Energy Partners for $1.75 billion in 2014.
He retained some energy companies, but he was now able to use his fortune to get into sports and entertainment.
Before we look at how he acquired the Bandits, let’s take a look at the second (but very important) person in this partnership.
Kim Pegula, Co-Owner
Kim Pegula was born in Seoul in South Korea. Sadly, she was abandoned as a child when she was left alone in front of a police station.
An American couple wanted to adopt a girl from South Korea and eventually took Kim back to Rochester, New York. The young Kim Kerr quickly learned English and had a happy upbringing.
She was a high school cheerleader and went to Houghton College. When she graduated, she and a friend wanted to earn some money to travel.
The pair were waiting at the back of a restaurant to interview for waitressing positions when she struck up a conversation with a businessman eating lunch.
That was Terry Pegula who was running his gas extraction company. He invited her to come and work for him. Two years later, he went to her father to ask for her hand in marriage.
Terry was eighteen years older than Kim and had two children from a previous marriage. But that didn’t deter Kim. For the next twenty years devoted herself to raising three children within the marriage.
Once the children were of college age, Kim took more of an interest in the family business. While Terry had the engineering side nailed, Kim had a flair for communications and public relations.
How The Pegulas Bought Buffalo Bandits
There is old footage of a younger Terry Pegula giving an interview in which he said he’d love to own a sports franchise.
I doubt he was thinking of a box lacrosse team!
When he had sold parts of his gas operations, he now had the funds to follow that early dream. He spent $189 million on buying the company that owned the Buffalo Sabres, an NHL franchise.
Well, we’re not too interested in the Sabres. But the Buffalo Bandits were owned by the same company!
Terry Pegula had now acquired a box lacrosse team as a piece of owning Hockey Western New York LLC.
He folded this LLC into a company called Pegula Sports And Entertainment.
But Terry was still heavily involved in the remaining parts of his energy business. By this time, Kim was ready to get more involved with business affairs.
Eventually, Kim would become President of Pegula Sports And Entertainment. That puts her in the position of being more involved in the direct operations of the Bandits.
Other Sports Franchises (And One More NLL Team)
The Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bandits were the first sports franchises acquired by the Pergolas. But they didn’t stop there.
Their next step was to reclaim the Rochester Americans. This had been an affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres, but the two hockey teams had to be separated with the initial purchase of the Sabres. The reasons were due to some complex ownership rules I won’t get into here.
The Pegulas went on to buy the Buffalo Bills, an NFL franchise up for sale due to the death of its founder. They beat out bids from Donald Trump and Jon Bon Jovi to seal the deal.
The next acquisition was the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League. Purchased in 2017, the Pergulas divested the franchise in 2019.
The last acquisition was the Rochester Nighthawks in 2019.
The Bandits’ Owners Have Deep Pockets
Many fans of professional sports franchises get worried that the owners will run out of spare cash to splash on vanity projects like a sports team. Or that their business dealings will go south and take all the other operations down too.
But that doesn’t look likely to be a problem for the Pergolas.
Aside from investing in sports, they have also made notable philanthropic donations.
Terry Pergola gave $102 million to Penn State to build an ice hockey complex. Kim Pergula donated $12 million to Houghton University to upgrade its athletic facilities.
If you’re curious about the kind of team salaries they have to support, check out our article on what players earn with the Buffalo Bandits.
We don’t cover every player but we give salary ranges based on experience. You’ll find the full roster for the Bandits here.
