If Jon Bon Jovi did not have disdain for Buffalo when it was believed that he wanted to buy and move the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, he sure does now.
Reflecting on that 2014 Bills bidding war with Terry Pegula and Donald Trump, Bon Jovi offered bad medicine to Buffalonians with one pre-pandemic interview comment GQ released in a new article: “I will never go back to Buffalo, New York.”
Good riddance, as far as Buffalonians are concerned. They held onto their beloved Bills, who appear headed to the playoffs for the third time in four years as the franchise has resurged under Pegula.
But maybe their fear of Bon Jovi was not so justified.
In 2017, a Buffalo radio station and GQ revealed that Michael Caputo, who worked for the Trump presidential campaign, created a grassroots fan group with the message of keeping the Bills in Buffalo. It was implying that Bon Jovi’s group, which included Toronto businessmen, would move the Bills.
He was livin’ on a prayer.
“We showed up with a billion three, sitting there with a (check),” Bon Jovi told GQ. “And we could have easily bought it at any price. We didn’t get to get back in the room. (Pegula) said, ‘What do I have to do to not leave this table without owning the team?’ ”
Pegula bought the Bills for $1.4 billion. The franchise already is estimated to be worth $2 billion now.
“You will never see my face in Buffalo ever,” Bon Jovi said in GQ. “I have knocked it off the map.”
Buffalo will be OK. Either its people move on without hearing 30-year-old songs live or they drive two hours to Toronto for them.
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