ORCHARD PARK, NY – Any new owner of the Buffalo Bills could be facing something far worse than a $400 million penalty if he wants to move the team to another market. He could also end up paying hundreds of millions in additional legal damages and possibly even spend some time in jail.
That’s according to a report over the weekend in the Buffalo News, which says the provisions of the Bills’ 10-year lease on Ralph Wilson Stadium and an accompanying non-relocation agreement are so tough that a new owner who wants to move the team would likely be in for a rough encounter with the law.
The report by Jerry Zremski says that the Bills’ founder and owner Ralph Wilson Jr., who died March 25, agreed that the county or the state could go to court to get an injunction barring the team’s move.
If the Bills’ new owner violated such an injunction, the owner could be charged with civil or criminal contempt of court.
A civil contempt charge and hundreds of millions of additional penalty dollars would be most likely. But in the highly unlikely circumstance that a new Bills owner were charged with criminal contempt after moving the team – he could also face jail time.
Sources have said that Donald Trump, Jeffrey Gundlach, Terry Pegula, B. Thomas Golisano and Jon Bon Jovi could be potential bidders for the Bills. But any bidder would have to contend with Wilson’s wish to keep the team in Buffalo. Legal experts say the lease’s call for an injunction to prevent the team’s move is the most ironclad stadium lease they have ever seen.
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