It’s a two-man race, between Bon Jovi and Buffalo Sabres’ owner Terry Pegula. A year ago, everyone involved thought the club could be had for as little as its book value: $850-million (U.S.).
It’s now likely to land in the $1.2-billion to $1.3-billion range. Add a stadium into mix and you’re looking at least a $2-billion outlay. In Buffalo, there isn’t going to a condo tower attached. Its hard, and maybe impossible, to make those numbers work in that city.
Having got the key concession from his rival, this would be a wise time for Pegula to back out. He’s already cemented his working-class hero status. It’s a little too everyman to go broke proving it.
Though it doesn’t really make financial sense any more (or, at least, not nearly as much as it would have in Toronto), you can’t see Bon Jovi and his partners turning this down now. They’ve been at this for too long.
They are you and I, in the midst of looking for a new house downtown. You start out with standards and a budget. You bid on a few things. You lose. You become unmoored from reality. Eventually, you don’t care what shape the house is in or where it is or what it costs. You just want any house.
In giving up on Toronto, that’s what Bon Jovi and his partners are left bidding on – any team, rather than the team they wanted.