West Palm Beach, FL (WGR550/WBEN) - The annual NFL league meetings, commonly reared to as the Owner’s Meetings, kicked off Sunday here at The Breakers Hotel.
I had a chance to sit down with Buffalo Bills and Sabres Chief Operating Officer Pete Guelli to discuss a number of topics, including the construction and seat sales of the new Highmark Stadium, events and development in and around that stadium, as well as Keybank Center, Bills uniforms, the state of the two leagues, and even the Hallmark movie based on the Bills.
Here is the full transcript of my one-on-one interview with Guelli:
Sal: Welcome to sunny West Palm Beach. It's always fun to be here and get out of the cold for a little while.
Pete: It's not bad being in the warm weather, Sal. feels good.
Sal: So about a year ago, you took the job you're in right now. and I know everything was a whirlwind. How has the last 12 months gone for you in this position? What's it been like?
Pete: I mean it's been busy, but amazing. You know, everything I thought coming back home. working with ownership on these two franchises, trying to help build a legacy for them, being part of the stadium project, is everything that I thought it would be.
Sal: When you say home, can you familiarize yourself with our listeners and what home means for you and why Buffalo and Western New York is home?
Pete: Yeah. Look, I grew up in Rochester, New York, and spent the first eleven years in my career with the Bills. Was fortunate enough to go and make a couple of stops, but it was almost 15 years to the day when I came back.
Sal: What is a day in the life like for a COO of two different organizations, building a stadium, and with all the short-term and long-term planning going on?
Pete: It takes a lot of discipline right now, Sal, just to be, you know, just keep on top of the priorities that we have. There's so many big aspirational projects going on at the same time, which I think people would be surprised are happening in a market like Buffalo, but it is happening. So days are long, you know. You’ve got to try to overcome it with hours. You're working weekends, but it's more about just being really thoughtful about where you're spending your time on because the day-to-day operations of two teams is a lot, but when you layer on these projects and they're so important to the community, you've really got to kind of stay on your game the entire time. There can't be any slips. You’ve got to make sure wherever you're spending your time is the right place.
Sal: Obviously, maybe the biggest non on-field project is the new stadium that's going up right now. Can you give everybody an update on the timeline of the new stadium? Is it on track? And how are things going with construction?
Pete: It is going great. Phenomenal. About 50% done from a construction standpoint. The topping out ceremony is on April 4th. That means the last piece of steel went in. That's kind of a celebratory moment, other than groundbreaking, that's second in the process, and then obviously the grand opening. So it's an exciting time. About 70% of the lower bowl is sold through. We're on sale in the upper level. You know that the premium seats are already sold out. Suits are basically sold out, so things are progressing well.
Sal: So there's been some reporting on some of the numbers and how things are working right now. Where are you in the process of season ticket holders? Have all the season ticket holders been contacted? Have they been into the Stadium Experience?
Pete: We're deep in the process. We're still on track to get every season ticket holder through by the start of this coming season. And then we pivot to the waiting list, and there's seven thousand accounts and about 20,000 tickets on that waiting list right now. So we've tracked pacing literally every single day, and we're on track to sell the stadium. We're on track to get everybody through in a timely manner.
Sal: How does it work from an operational standpoint of selling out a stadium that's 15-20,000 seats less than the current stadium, I guess, and then people who are going to the stadium now, who might not be able to get tickets as far as selling it to the general public for certain games and how all of that works?
Pete: Well, there's always going to be tickets available on the secondary market and I think it's in our interest to keep this generational process of adding fans to the Bills. We have to find ways to get people into the building. So it may be games. It may be offseason events. There could be things around games that people can be a part of. We’re looking, obviously, at long-term development around the building, as well. So we want to make this property a destination. So even if you can't get into the game, there's going to be something for you to do if you want to come to Buffalo.
Sal: I’m glad you brought that up. Around the stadium itself, are there any plans to buy up more parcels, have more development around the stadium going forward?
Pete: It's still preliminary. Obviously, we're keeping an eye on every aspect of that. We're going to be operating the property across the street from the stadium, where our training facility is, that stadium, the old stadium, is going to come down and March of ’27. So we're in that process of trying to determine what it is. Obviously, we're talking about the NFL Draft. We’re talking about the Winter Classic and the Stadium Series, potentially. We’re targeting big events, and we're gonna need room to do those. So we're trying to determine what's the best layout so we can kind of constructively build a plan to host as many events during the season and offseason as possible.
Sal: Green Bay's hosting the draft this year. We know that cities like Green Bay, Buffalo can do this now. What's the process with you and what's the timeline of maybe knowing if and when a draft could come to Buffalo?
Pete: We're in constant contact with the league. We’ve expressed interest. We've kind of gone above and beyond to make sure they know that we think Buffalo would be a special place for the NFL Draft. We're going to send a contingent to Green Bay to see how they do it. Small market. I think there's a lot of similarities. So the process is continuing. We initially applied for 2028 or ’29. If I had to guess, I'd say probably leaning more towards ’29 based on all the work we need to do, and I wouldn't rule out ’28, but directionally, you're probably looking at ’29.
Sal: You brought up the Winter Classic? First one was held in Buffalo in the old stadium. What's the chances of that returning?
Pete: I think they're excellent. I’ve been in constant dialogue with the NHL, as well. They know we're interested. The Winter Classic would be a little bit more dependent on the Bills schedule. So the Stadium Series is something that's in play, as well. We want one of those events. We want it as soon as we're operational. I believe ’28 is the 20th anniversary of the first Winter Classic, so something that may be coincided with that would be great. But the league's aware and we're literally talking to them on a consistent basis about trying to get one of those events here.
Sal: What about other sports, or maybe lower-level college games? Maybe lacrosse, soccer, things like that? Are those, and everything on the table?
Pete: Yeah, we're having dialogue probably around every one of those events right now. We need something significant to kick off the opening of the stadium. Nobody wants to walk in there're cold, so we're trying to determine what's the right event to open things up potentially in July of ’26. And then we need to get through that first season. Then we'll pivot and start looking at what other events could potentially be held there, but I wouldn't rule out lacrosse or college football or rugby or any other big game or championship that we could hold there.
Sal: When people go to the stadium, before they go in, everything surrounding it for the fans, the tailgating, the buffaloes outside. What does that process look like? Have there been a lot of alterations or do you still kind of have a certain vision that what you started with and what we've all seen?
Pete: I think it's pretty consistent with what everybody has seen. I think we're trying to develop a perimeter. We don't want to discourage people from tailgating. That's part of Buffalo culture. That's never gonna stop. But we would like to bring people into the perimeter, potentially earlier, and give them more things to do. And I think the stadium’s set up to do that.
Sal: Have you thought about and talked about anything dealing with the Wall of Fame right now and how to recognize some of the great legends of the Bills?
Pete: Not a conversation I've had yet. You know, we're talking about how we commemorate old Highmark Stadium right now, and as we kind of get through those process, what we move over to the new stadium, we'll start to pick up.
Sal: There are only ten games left and, hopefully more with the playoffs, of course, right? But what do you have planned and what are those discussions like to try and kind of celebrate 50-plus years inside this stadium?
Pete: Yeah, first of all, we're trying to determine all the special moments that have happened and make sure that we're not missing any of those. Talking about what we want to do for season ticket holders and make sure that it's being commemorated the right way. We're looking at things, you know, as granular as what uniforms we're going to wear this coming season. So once the schedule comes out, we'll get a better handle on what we want to do. But we want to make every aspect of this last season as celebratory as possible.
Sal: You just mentioned a very big word with our listeners. Uniforms. We get lots of questions about uniforms. You see teams going with third jerseys, alternate jerseys, uniforms, throwbacks, the standing buffalo. I know you've been involved with this in the past, with the Giants and back in your basketball days, as well. Where do things stand right now with maybe some alterations or changes in what the Bills will wear?
Pete: Yeah, I've been involved in a lot of uniform projects and it doesn't surprise me anymore how excited people get about that. So I think this final year at Highmark is more about optionality. There's a couple of things, but we want to make sure, ‘what are the combinations that we want to wear?’ and when to strike the right tone with our fans. We are looking at some things relative to that first year, the opening of the stadium. Nothing I can disclose at that point, but, you know, I'm invested in the uniforms. It's a huge important part of our brand. I know how much that resonates with our fans. So it's something that we're all focused on.
Sal: Downtown arena, I know that you've also mentioned maybe some development around that area that you've talked about. Has there been any discussions about anything planned for around KeyBank Center?
Pete: Yeah, I'm as excited about what's going on down there as anything that we're working on right now. Through the discovery that we've done, it's pretty clear to understand what a catalyst that arena is for activity in downtown Buffalo. Nothing draws more people. Nothing creates more of an economic benefit to downtown Buffalo than the arena. So I'm excited about what it can be and in the future of that. We did some things last year. We're going to continue to improve the experience every single year. And then we're looking at what our long-term plans for that building are going to be. And we think if we do it the right way, the development will pop up around it. Obviously, you know, the Buffalo-Niagara partnership moved into 79 Perry. We consider that kind of a step in the right direction, but ultimately, we want development all around that arena.
Sal: There, that's obviously the city involved, as well. So, just who are the stakeholders and how you have to go through that process as far as anything happening around KeyBank Center?
Pete: Yeah, we're going to kick off some discussions, late spring, early summer with the city, the county, and even talk to the state about what this could potentially look like. Everyone has a stake in this. They're all constituents in this process, just as important for all the landowners around that. We’ve got relationships with all of them. So we want to really look at this as a, ‘what's the master plan down there? How do we contribute to it?’ Obviously, we're the big draw, so the more people we can get in, which has been a focus to us, as well. I think more than a million people visited last year. More than a million people visited this past year. Those numbers are only increasing. We're looking at every event we can possibly do to get more and more people down there. Again, we think that that's what's going to activate all the development. When you bring people in there, there's opportunities for everybody to participate.
Sal: The NCA tournament is coming to Buffalo next year, in 2026. So are there any other plans beyond what you've already done with the Jumbotron, the roof, anything like that going on inside the arena as these events continue to come?
Pete: Yes. Nothing I wanted to disclose at the moment, Sal, but definitely as I said, improvements everything single year. And, you know, college basketball is a great example. 2026 for the regionals is going to be fantastic. But, we think that building is great for that sport. And so we're talking to all the colleges you would imagine. All the local players. Potentially national opportunities. We want to bring college basketball. We want Buffalo to be a destination for college basketball, moving forward, so we're having a lot of dialogue in that space.
Sal: It was just announced that the Bills are the subject of a new movie from Hallmark this year. How did that come about and was it that they just called you out of the blue or was that a process between you and the and them?
Pete: I have relationships with a couple of the executives at NFL Films, and when I came to the Bills, they immediately reached out. I said everybody loves the brand. They know there's incredible opportunities to create content around the organization, and they mentioned a few different projects and the first one was the Hallmark movie, and asked if we would be interested. I reached out to Terry (Pegula). I found out that there was a number of huge Hallmark fans in our organization, including Brandon Beane’s wife, Hayley, and it just seemed like a great fit. I don't know that there's a better destination for a Hallmark movie around Christmas than Buffalo. So things kind of came together quickly. We brought them out. We hadn't finalized the deal, but we brought them out to the stadium during the season so we could all get a feel for how this process might work. They shot some footage and they came away even more excited. You know how our fans are. They went down to East Aurora, the snow was flying, it was picturesque. They came back and said, ‘we really want to do this,’ and in the last few weeks, the whole deal came together.
Sal: A couple of big picture questions, Pete, about the league itself. You’ve worked for the Giants. You've been in the NFL, you know, for 30 years. How do you see the big picture, and where the league is right now with the TV rights, the international games and where this game is growing? All the streaming services. You know Roger Goodell very well, obviously, and not only that, but where the future is of this game?
Pete: I mean the NFL is incredibly well positioned. It doesn't really matter what vertical we're talking about. They are just ahead of the game. TV's a great example. You know, they didn't dive right in the streaming. They put a strategy in place that made sense. And now they're everywhere that we need to be. We've added dates to the calendar where the game has become even more year-round than it was before. They've turned the draft obviously into a big-time event. I don't think you can do a better job than Roger and his team has done around this sport.
Sal: And then we see hockey revenue going up, as well. We see TV rights going up, the salary cap going up. Where do you believe the NHL is right now positioned from what you've seen?
Pete: The NHL is on a great trajectory. Everything from the playoffs and the Stanley Cup last year to the Winter Classic and some of the other events. The Four Nations was a huge hit. I've said this before. I walked into my first board of governor's meeting, and it's a very impressive ownership group in there. It reminded me of the first time I walked into an NBA meeting. They're progressive. They're commercially minded. They own a lot of different franchises. You can see the league turning in the right direction. It's exciting to be a part of it. I'm thrilled that we have a team in Buffalo and a team that we can grow and be part of that league long-term.
Sal: Before I let you go, as people are going down to the stadium this year, anything they need to know about construction, egress, ingress and any changes in how they should go about understanding what's happening this year?
Pete: I mean, look, until the building is open, it's going to constantly evolve. We’re going to communicate is at a high level to make sure everybody's aware. And all we're focusing on is making sure that that experience is as good as it can be until we get the new stadium opened up.
Sal: Pete, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it.
Pete: You're welcome.
