Report: Bills owner Terry Pegula transfers 'small' ownership stake to daughter

Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula has transferred a small percentage of his ownership stake in the team to his daughter, Laura, Tim Graham of The Athletic reports.

Oct 8, 2023; London United Kingdom; From left: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Buffalo Bills owner / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula has transferred a small percentage of his ownership stake in the team to his daughter, Laura, Tim Graham of The Athletic reports. Pegula transferred the small share to his daughter sometime after the 2023 NFL owners' meetings in Phoenix, per Graham; Laura represented the Bills at said meetings.

The move positions Laura, a child from Terry's first marriage, as Bills' ownership's succession plan. According to Graham, teams are required to submit an updated succession plan to the NFL each year. Graham notes that Laura's presence around the Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres (also owned by Pegula) has grown throughout the last year, though Bills and Sabres staffers still "remain unclear" as to what her exact role is.

Laura, who, according to The Athletic, was previously most heavily involved in her father's petroleum business, assumes the role of Buffalo's succession plan in place of Kim Pegula, Terry's wife who suffered cardiac arrest and a resulting brain injury in 2022. Graham reports that Pegula "filed to have Kim ruled incapacitated and to be made her guardian" in February 2023; a judge ruled him her "plenary guardian of the person and property" the next month.

Kim previously served as the president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment in addition to her role as owner, her hands-on mentality making her an oft-available figure for the Buffalo faithful. She took a front-facing approach to ownership, even appearing in a team-produced Bills-centric podcast.

The family's previous succession plan, according to Graham, was for Kim to manage both the Bills and Sabres before ultimately passing the clubs onto the Pegula children. Jessica Pegula, Terry and Kim's daughter who is currently a professional tennis player, previously appeared to be the presumptive primary successor; her husband Taylor Gahagen, a once high-ranking employee within Pegula Sports and Entertainment, was let go from the company last year.

Exactly when the stake transfer from Terry to Laura took place is unclear, as is just how large the percentage share is. Further changes could ultimately be coming to the Bills' ownership group; Graham reported earlier this month that Pegula had placed 25% of the team up for sale.