In 2014, Terry Pegula, the owner of the Buffalo Sabres, agreed to buy the Buffalo Bills for an NFL-record price, $1.4 billion. But a new report suggests the more interesting — and perplexing — fight was behind the scenes between the other two bidders, Jon Bon Jovi and Donald Trump.
According to a story in GQ by Ben Schreckinger, Trump secretly backed a grassroots campaign to turn the people of Buffalo against Bon Jovi’s group, which included investors from Canada, in an effort to “scare them off.”
The former Trump adviser and Buffalo resident Michael Caputo told GQ that he secretly helped lead the campaign. Since he was a known associate of Trump, Caputo recruited local fans to serve as the faces of the group that called themselves “12th Man Thunder,” including a double-amputee cancer survivor, who served as the leader.
“Trump knew he couldn’t outbid the Canadians,” Caputo told GQ. “I had it all set up with neighborhood guys who lived by the stadium.”
The group rallied against Bon Jovi’s group based on the speculation that they would attempt to move the team to Toronto if they won the bidding. At the time, the Bills were playing one home game each season in Toronto. The group’s antics included “Bon Jovi-Free Zones” in local bars and a “Ban Bon Jovi” movement to rid the area of his group’s music.
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