“I’m Excited For This Opportunity” | Buffalo Sabres & Buffalo Bills COO Pete Guelli Press Conference

“I’m Excited For This Opportunity” | Buffalo Sabres & Buffalo Bills COO Pete Guelli Press Conference

Hi Pete welcome to Buffalo we would like to thank you for taking some time to speak with our local media today if you would like we can get started with an opening statement yeah that’d be great um first of all just thank you for all for being here a lot of familiar names

And faces and I’m really looking forward to seeing everybody in person I just want to start by thanking John maror and Steve Tish I’ve loved being here with the Giants every minute of it and they’ve been incredibly gracious and professional during this entire process quick thank you to Joe Shane and Brian

Dball true Partners since they set foot on the ground here I’m going to really miss working with those guys everyone of the Giants and my staff we all know we’re only as good as our teams and my wife Patty very happy that career and geography has finally aligned

And um can get her back she’s as excited as I am to return home and just finally Terry and the Pula family wanted to thank them there’s so much opportunity with these franchises I’m humbled that he’s put me put his faith in me to help lead both organizations and I can’t wait

To get started we will open it up to questions now and the first question will be from John Moro hey Pete how you doing good John good to see you yeah welcome back I guess you can come back home again apparently what I mean aside from the

Obvious what was the lure and how much pride might you take in having you know played a role in keeping the bills in Western New York given the work you did back in the early 2000s and what you’re seeing from them right now as being a su

A successful franchise yeah I like it’s a it’s a surreal moment I think um from the minute I left there’s always a little bit of me that wanted to come back and you just never expect things are going to work out like this but it’s almost like a gravitational pull in some

Ways when you come from the area and you take a lot of pride in growing up there and representing your hometown teams and you’re right I think there was an incredible Foundation built then and it’s carried over and all Terry and his family has done is improve upon it and

Now we’re looking at something like this new building in 2026 that’s absolutely an aspirational project and something that the people of Buffalo deserve so yeah it’s very rewarding and exciting to come back and just um one other question on the Sabers given your experience in Charlotte how much how much does that

Provide you some insight on maybe some of the challenges you face in in in getting this franchise back to where it should be I I I can’t wait to get to work on the Sab I really think that that is a the potential there I think is

Incredible to your point I spent 10 years working in an arena model down in Charlotte I know exactly how it needs to operate those buildings are Community assets they’re the Staples of the city and they’re the Catalyst for growth in markets if they’re handled the right way

So I I can’t wait to get get to work on the Sabers I’m just as excited about the Sabers as I am about the bills thanks so much Pete and welcome back thank You hey Pete it’s h Bron Wilson from wbn news radio first off congratulations and welcome back to Buffalo thanks wanted to get yeah I wanted to get your thoughts in terms of just the undertaking now as as now becoming the new COO of the bills and the Sabers with uh the projects that

Are going to be going on uh not only at KeyBank Center this upcoming summer with uh the roof and the new video board but also everything that’s going on with the stadium down in Orchard Park as well yeah I don’t know you can’t be excited about it again I’ve spent 16 years

Working in the NFL I’m very familiar with the league business model you know we have a massive facility here that we’re managing on a day-to-day basis having spent time working in an arena I think I’m kind of uniquely positioned to help with both properties um yeah it’s

Going to be a lot but it’s not like I’m going to be doing it alone there’s great people already on the ground there I’ve already spoken to Josh with the bills and Rob with the Sabers and um they’re doing a tremendous they’re doing tremendous work right now and I’m going

To dig in with both of them and I feel like you know this is the kind of opportunity that you want to put yourself in position to be involved in and um I’m just thrilled to be a part of it and I think I think the great people

We already have there are going to be a huge asset to get me up to speed hi Pete Matt Fairburn from the athletic welcome back to Buffalo thanks Matt uh you know obviously we know about your experience with the Giants and and down in Charlotte in the NBA I’m curious what

Your uh relationship to the sport of hockey is like what your your background and knowledge of the sport is yeah you know I grew up in Rochester so you know I was an amrick fan growing up and we didn’t have professional sports you know high level professional sports there so

Through the Amar became a Sabers fan it’s always been my team I wouldn’t say I’m a hockey expert Matt by any means but I love the sport I’m thrilled to kind of dig in and you know really spend some time with Kevin and Don and kind of

Understand their vision for the team I know the team’s been playing well recently I know we got a lot of young talent and there’s a ton of potential there and like I’m hope hopeful that you know we get everything right with the arena that the team is growing at the

Perfect time and everything comes together I’ve seen it and when that happens it’s a special time you I was in Buffalo when that Barn was full every night and the TV ratings were through the roof so I I think it’s there and I think we just have to unlock that

Passion again what do you see as you know obviously you you’ll know more as you you get on the ground and and you know have those conversations but what do you see as kind of the biggest challenges from a business side with the Sabers uh as you enter this job yeah no

Look I I don’t I think Terry and I have had lengthy conversations um about the Sabers and he’s incredibly committed and passionate about that team I don’t think anybody wants to see it be more successful than him uh I think there’s some things with this Arena that we need

To take a look at I mean it’s all about experience you can’t control exactly what’s going to happen on the ice but you can control what people see and do from the minute they step on the street till the minute that they’re in their seat so that’ll be a focus kind of going

Through that process making sure that the experience is great feeling like the value proposition is there you know candly it’s not just the sabers like that building hosts 100 plus events every year it’s everything that’s going on in that Arena that is important so I think one of the things we’ll definitely

Focus on because I’ve heard a lot about it is the experience of being a Sabers fan and what it’s like to walk into that building thank you you’re welcome hi Pete nice to meet you virtually I’m map with wkb WKBW in Buffalo like everybody else has said congratulations um two questions for you

The first one being from the time that you left in 2009 and then in the 15 years since what’s the biggest thing you’ve learned in the roles that you’ve been in that you are going to try and Implement to these organizations you know the like the NBA

Especially when I got there it’s always been kind of a Challenger brand it’s very entrepreneurial and Scrappy and you know fortunately I I took a lot for Buffalo you’re in a small Market you know you really have to work hard and really strategic and smart but the NBA

At that time I felt was almost like grad school for Sports Marketing and I I just learned a lot about how to operate a franchise how to operate it efficiently how to make sure it’s profitable how to make sure that the customer experience is great and then coming back to the NFL

You know it’s all about scale you’re leveraging this massive brand in the biggest Market in the country so I think you know just all those experiences together are kind of put me in a great position to kind of come back and leverage them against both properties

Moving forward so it’s kind of hard to summarize it all Matt but um it’s been a lot like going um to Charlotte and spending 10 years there and literally rebuilding that operation from scratch and then coming to the Giants and spending five years here and trying to modernize the

Business operations of a of a 100y old franchise I’ve just acquired a lot of institutional knowledge that I’m looking forward to apply here in Buffalo and how do you find a balance between the two knowing that both of them deserve so much time and effort but also realizing

That there’s only one of you and you can’t be in two places at once I think you do it with your team you know I mean the plan is again I’m not going to do this by myself I’m going to come in and we’re going to do some Discovery around

Both properties and the goal is to make sure that we’re set up for sustained Success With both franchises so you know I think it’s about putting a team together and making sure that this is not one person who you’re depending on it nobody should be overwhelmed

Including myself so I you know I’ve done this before I feel confident I can come in and and put a structure in place that’s going to benefit both organizations thank you Pete nice meeting you thank you K you’re up next you can go ahead and unmute yourself looks like we are having some

Technical difficulties so we will go to South hi Pete how are you s capacho here from WG radio um I’m driving right now so I I don’t want to show my face and do that but in the meantime uh welcome back to Buffalo congratulations um I know we’ve

Never met but I think you um left I think the organization maybe a couple years before I came back so it is always good to come back to Western New York there’s just something that it gets you pulled back I would say isn’t there agreed thanks thanks S I appreciate it

No problem and I just pulled over there so good to virtually meet you here um similar question to Matt a little while ago um about what you’ve learned how has being involved in different sports kind of taught you a little bit along the way because obviously they are all a little

Bit different what can you take from the NBA that you can take to the NFL and I believe even like a soccer background in some respect as well and now even to the NHL like I don’t want to double up on the same question but they are different

Obviously what can you learn about how they can operate kind of the same in a business model but they are so different yeah I mean look the the disciplines and the business verticals are similar right it’s really just different product um probably the biggest adjustment was

Moving moving from the NFL to the NBA and moving into more of an an arena model again where you’re not necessarily just focused on the team the team obviously critically important but we had a lot more going on than just that and it was important to create a

Narrative and the right Optics around that franchise so people understood a win or lose in Charlotte that that Arena was very important to the community and so that’s something that I can clearly bring back here from an NFL perspective you know working in a small Market was

Great working for Mr Wilson who’s one of the founding fathers of the league think he certainly taught me the value of small markets and how important they are to the power of the 32 NFL teams when I went to work in Charlotte and work for

MJ you know it was all about brand and authenticity and um I learned a ton from a ton from him and then coming to New York where you know John and Steve and John’s family are really stewards of the league and understanding you know how important the league model is the

Business so again just I think the culmination of all that experience and bringing it all to bear in a market like Buffalo is going to be really important like there’s a lot of big projects and a lot of opportunities but when you’re in a a smaller market like Buffalo you just

Got to work harder you got to be better you got to be more strategic so and I’m hoping that everything I’ve learned is going to help us put these properties in the absolute best position and if we can go back I mean you’ve been through the

Years and I mean I grew up here thinking the bills would leave all the time right a new stadium needed and you went through that you went through the 90s and the early 2000s you were here to see this come to where it is now and for you

To come in now on hey this thing’s being built right we’re in the ground here what’s that been like for you that’s why it’s important to have an owner like Terry I mean this ownership is about commitment and resources and he’s providing both and I think it’s clear

Right you can see how successful this team has been over the years you see where we’re going with this new stadium uh it’s gratifying you know to even you know like I never I I was the opposite I never thought it would leave I really thought that the bills belong in Buffalo

They’re synonymous here like it can’t it’s the identity of the city it cannot go anywhere so I was always was very hopeful that that would never happen and then to have someone like Terry come in and solidify that and now to come back and be part of the future um and

Hopefully create a legacy for him and his family here again that’s extremely gratifying well I haven’t had a chance to meet you yet in person look forward to that I do have uh mutual friends obviously in colleagues that know you well so I look forward to meeting you

Myself absolutely look forward to it s okay hey Pete how you doing this is Mike Petro with the Buffalo News uh on the job good to meet you thank you you know I know you kind of covered a little bit about some of the challenges of overseeing uh two teams and managing two

Teams at once on the business end um but I I thought maybe you could uh just sort of Enlighten us about it was that something that you know excited that excited you appeal to you did you uh see it as sort of a challenge to do that yeah you know absolutely I think

You know when the request initially came in to interview me um you know I wasn’t completely sure exactly what the scope of the role was going to be but I prepared to have the conversation about both organizations because I just think there’s a lot of synergy there and I

Think there’s an opportunity you know with my background to help in both areas and quickly found out that both teams were a Hot Topic when we we met again we spoke as much about the Sabres as we did about the bills uh Terry and his family are Inc incredibly passionate about the

Team and so you know having my background of working in the arena side I was really excited to have that conversation you know we talked really more conceptual Mike you know it’s hard if you haven’t been in there and you haven’t done the due diligence yet to

Know exactly what to do but I think a lot of the things that we did in Charlotte aligned with Terry’s vision for for the team so I I you know when we come in and take a hard look at everything we’ll refine the strategy um

But yeah I’m it was a huge draw you know to be able to participate with both and assist with both was something that I was very interested in I’m very happy it worked out that way and and with the work that you did in Charlotte you feel extremely prepared for what’s going to

Go on at the Key Bank Center yeah you know when I walked into Charlotte it was an interesting landscape uh it was so bad I wasn’t sure I was going to take the job um but when I went down I saw a relatively blank canvas still wasn’t convinced um and

Then um you know I got the word from the team that MJ was going to be investing and be the majority owner and I thought like this is this is a game changer you’re never sure if it’s going to work out but pretty confident we can leave it

Better than we found it and um it was an incredible 10 years better than I could have anticipated I really enjoyed working in that environment like I said it’s really entrepreneurial there’s a lot of things you can do there’s so much activity in that building that you can

Leverage on a day-to-day basis that it was just a really really fun Challenge and from the business side you know we were incredibly successful down there so I’m I’m looking know things that make sense I’m looking to I’m hoping we can recreate here um but it’s going to take

Everything’s different right it’s going to this is a custom opportunity but I’m hoping again some of those experien are going to be beneficial when we get when we dig in on the Sabres thanks for your time welcome hey Pete it’s Wilson from wbn again I did have a a quick followup I

Know that um we’re still very early in the process here I know that you just recently were hired but given your past experience with regards to um psls with the new bill Stadium I know that there are some fans that are concerned that the prices of these psls once they’re

Presented them um it’s it’s going to drive them either to uh divy from where they were sitting before or even just completely just drop out of uh buying season tickets or psls for the new stadium just wanted to get your thoughts in terms of how you are planning to go

About handling that and uh whether or not uh the team has plans to share cost information with these psls at any time forward I don’t have that answer yet Brighton but that’s obviously a priority and one of the first things that I’ll dive into I think the good news is I’m

Working with a PSL model right now here in New York so I’m very familiar with how that operates you know the bottom line is you have to have a a value proposition that works for your fans so we’ll take a hard look at it I’m looking forward to diving in with everybody on

The bills I’m looking forward to talking to the people Legends I know leadership at Legends extremely well so I’m confident that we’ll be able to work closely together on it and as soon as I get in there the first thing I’m going to do is go to the experience Center

Bron and take a look for myself so once I have a little bit more information I’ll I’ll be able to give you a more definitive answer on that hey Pete John warl once again just want to give you a you hello Pete yeah I can hear you John okay

Good want to give you a chance to uh just kind of um expand on an answer that you gave earlier on talking on on wanting to talk to Kevin and Don about you know just the Sabers in that sense um there’s I guess I just wanted to just

You’re still on the business side and Kevin still answers to Terry and and that’s that’s my assumption and it’s always been a touch point of conversation among sabes fans about the value of having a team hockey President of Operations just want to get your thoughts on that because the bills have

Done well without a without a president of football operations what are your thoughts about that position now that you’re entering this U this this new role I think our setup’s going to be great John I’ve worked in this environment before I’ve already been in contact with Kevin he’s been great you

Know he’s down at League meetings right now and we’re going back and forth sharing information I know Terry is U is a huge fan and big proponent of what Kevin’s trying to build there so I think I think the model where somebody’s operating the business and somebody’s operating the performance side and they

Tree up to the owner to honestly to me is the preferred model um and I’ve seen it in multiple Sports and I know it works if you have the right people and I’m highly confident that Kevin and I are going to collaborate very closely I’m really excited to work with him you

Know he was been on the ground for a while he was doing a lot on the business side he’s going to be an incredible resource to get me up to speed and um I’m just excited to work with him I I think that model in my history and my

Experience is a good one thank you you’re welcome that is all the questions we have for today thanks again for your time and welcome back to Buffalo thanks everybody look forward to seeing you guys soon

Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills Chief Operating Officer Peter Guelli spoke with the media after the announcement of his hiring on March 19, 2024. He talked about his excitement about the opportunity, his experience with both the NFL and NHL, and more.

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