Jessica Pegula open to helping family run Bills, Sabres someday

Jessica Pegula is the No. 3 player in women’s tennis, but the daughter of Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula already has an eye on life after her playing career.

“I can’t say that wouldn’t be exciting if I got to help out with the organization one day,” Pegula said during a sit-down with CNBC Sport. “I always thought that I wanted to be in the sporting world when I was done with tennis.”

She would rather her family keep the teams, too. Pegula noted she would not want her parents to sell despite record valuations sweeping across professional sports that suggest they could fetch a hefty price tag and return.

The Pegulas purchased the Bills for $1.4 billion back in 2014, and CNBC now pegs the franchise’s worth at $8.5 billion, per CNBC. The Sabres came into the family for $165 million in 2011 and carry a $1.42 billion valuation today, per CNBC’s Official NHL Team Valuations.

On the field, Buffalo is a perfect 3-0 this season under head coach Joe Brady, with MVP quarterback Josh Allen keeping the franchise among the NFL’s top contenders, and they have around a wide competition window ahead of them as a current Super Bowl contender with a young and competitive roster.

The Sabres also are seeing a resurgence following a lengthy rebuild under the Pegula’s ownership, and were a playoff team last season aiming this year to continue to build on their success.

Then there is the experience that many in the team’s front offices and rosters experience, of growing and building through the ups and downs of personal and professional challenges along the way, but doing so as part of the Buffalo community.

“I think it’s been an amazing part of our family and a way we’ve grown closer,” Pegula noted.

She also opened up about her mother’s long recovery from a cardiac arrest in 2022. Kim once ran Pegula Sports and Entertainment as its president and CEO, a run that made her the NFL’s first female team president.

“That was really tough,” the US Tennis star shared. “She went into cardiac arrest, and that was a lot to deal with. But I think for the most part, we’re on the other end of it now.”

A court declared Kim legally incapacitated in 2023 after the arrest left her with a brain injury that touched her motor skills, language and memory.

“But now I think she’s able to travel, she’s able to experience things with us,” the daughter of the Bills owners continued, “and I think at the end of the day, that’s the most important and the part that we cherish the most, being able to spend time with her and her being able to enjoy things with us again.”

Tennis also provided Pegula with an outlet and release through the hardest stretch of it all.

“She’d want me to be out there playing tournaments and competing,” she said of her mother. “So I think, ultimately, tennis really helped me get through that.”

The younger Pegula also believes that her Father would like the teams to stay with the family.

“I think my dad, I’m sure, would love to keep it in the family,” she added. “I think we learned that after what happened with my mom, that you never know what’s going to happen.”

The teams are not for sale, and the Pegulas and Buffalo have a long term relationship in the past and present that project well for the future.

And their Tennis pro daughter, sitting at world No. 3, is keeping the door and her mind open to what the next chapter of her professional life could entail once her playing career is over. Fresh off a US Open semifinal run, Pegula’s season rolls on, as does the Bills.

This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Jessica Pegula open to helping family run Bills, Sabres someday