Rumor: The Jacobs Famly (Delaware North) wants to buy the Sabres but it gets complcated

[My Cozen Dylan]

@Fenway Do you have any insight on a timeline for these potential sales? A year? Five? Thank you for the glimmer of hope!

 

[Fenway]

@Fenway Do you have any insight on a timeline for these potential sales? A year? Five? Thank you for the glimmer of hope!

Much of this depends on the health of Jeremy Jacobs who hasn't been seen in 2 years. JJ was invisible during the Bruins Centennial 2 weeks ago. He has always said the Bruins will not be sold while I am alive but my kids can do what they want after I am gone.

The unexpected sale of the Celtics is fueling this.

 

[Chaos2k7]

If this rumor is that the Jacobs family wants this to happen, then it isn't BS.

The challenge would be the getting Pegula another NHL franchise, like the Penguins.

The other challenge with that is that I am not sure the NFL would be OK with that. I thought they had a rule that an NFL owner could not own a major four sports franchise outside of the same market as their NFL team. But, that might be wrong.

Stan Kroenke does. Rams, Avs, Nuggets...

 

[Fenway]

If this rumor is that the Jacobs family wants this to happen, then it isn't BS.

The challenge would be the getting Pegula another NHL franchise, like the Penguins.

Delaware North has given the Celtics free rent for 30 years to prevent them from building a competing arena.

The Bruins are owned by the family and TD Garden is owned by Delaware North which on paper should be one and the same but that is not how they operate.

We don't know Jeremy “Jerry” M. Jacobs Jr. and Louis “Lou” M. Jacobs at all as they stay in Buffalo running the rest of the company. Charlie Jacobs is the only family member who moved to Boston.

We know the current Celtics lease expires in 2036 but if the team is sold a new owner can opt out. Right now TD Garden is one of the busiest arenas in North America but losing the Celtics as a tenant would be a problem.



Now who winds up with the Celtics is a huge part of the puzzle. Some believe Fenway Sports Group bought the Penguins to get the Bettman secret handshake. Jeff Bezos seems to have an interest in the Celtics but who knows??

Delaware North would be the logical buyer but they most likely can't afford it as this sale looks to be somewhere between 5 and 6 billion. Meanwhile, Pegula is dealing with escalating costs for the Bills' stadium and the future of KeyBank Center.

55 years ago Jacobs should have been the owner of the expansion Sabres but he was radioactive then because of the way his father ran the business. He deferred to the Knox Brothers who were pillars in WNY but as it turned out not as wealthy as people thought.