from Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News,

The Pegulas now own two franchises going nowhere rather than just one. The Bills missed the playoffs for a 16th consecutive season with no end in sight. The Sabres entered Tuesday’s games in 26th place in the NHL. They were two points ahead of Anaheim, which had two games in hand and was one stop from the bottom.

OK, so the Sabres are in better shape now than they were two years ago. The same could be said about the Bills’ quarterback situation. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that neither could get much worse. Temporary improvement speaks to low standards more than it points to overall progress.

The cold truth: As it stands now, the Pegulas are in over their heads.

It sounds harsh, but my intention isn’t to tear down ownership while ignoring the Pegulas’ greater body of work. They single-handedly changed the landscape downtown. They pumped millions of dollars into our region, which boosted confidence among other investors and led them to do the same....

It’s all true but so is this: When it comes to owning professional sports franchises, they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s not their fault. Can you imagine a banker or lawyer – or sports columnist – trying to run a natural gas and oil company? The Pegulas had good intentions for both teams, but pro sports were foreign territory.

And now they need help.

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