Bills and Sabres owner Terry Pegula is ranked at No. 128 on the Forbes 400, an annual list of the richest Americans.
Forbes lists Pegula's estimated net worth at $6.7 billion, an increase of 17.5% from last year’s list.
He has seen his placement rise annually, with his net worth listed at $5.7 billion last October, which was No. 188.
As a group, the top 400 are worth $4 trillion, according to Forbes, a decrease of $500 billion from last year. The minimum for the top 400 on the latest list is $2.7 billion. That figure is down $200 million from last year and dropped for the first time since the Great Recession.
Pegula also moved up from No. 20 to No. 15 among sports franchise owners in the Forbes 400.
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The top sports owner listed is former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, and has a net worth of $83 billion. No. 2 is among the newest sports franchise owners, Rob Walton, who recently purchased the Denver Broncos. Walton has a net worth of $56.7 billion.
He is ninth among NFL owners and second among NHL owners. Stan Kroenke, who owns the Colorado Avalanche, has a net worth of $12.8 billion. He also owns the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rapids and English soccer club Arsenal FC.
The Pegulas bought the Sabres for $189 million in 2011 and the Bills for $1.4 billion in 2014.
According to Forbes’ annual NFL team valuations, the Bills are worth $3.5 billion and the Sabres are worth $500 million. The most recent NHL valuations were done last December.
The Bills, New York State and Erie County have agreed to the terms of a 30-year deal for a $1.4 billion stadium in Orchard Park. The state and county would pay $850 million and the team and NFL would be responsible for $550 million. The deadline to complete the stadium deal has been extended to December while the parties wait for the environmental review to be completed.
The $850 million was the largest amount of public money to be spent on an NFL stadium until last week’s agreement in Tennessee for a $2.1 billion stadium for the Titans that calls for $1.26 billion in public money.
The others with Buffalo Niagara ties on the list also have links with professional sports teams.
Rich Products Executive Chairman Robert Rich Jr., 81, ranked 190th, with a net worth estimated at $5.2 billion, up from $4.9 billion in 2021. Forbes said he owns an estimated 75% of the company. He now lives in Islamorada, Fla., and is the owner of the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball team.
Jeremy Jacobs Sr. and his family were No. 271 on the list, with an estimated net worth of $4 billion, up from $3 billion in 2021. Jacobs' fortune comes from the family business, Buffalo-based concessions giant Delaware North Cos. Jacobs also owns the Boston Bruins in the NHL and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017. Jacobs, 82, is Delaware North's chairman. He began handing control of the Bruins team and Delaware North to his six children in early 2019, Forbes said.
Former Sabres owner Tom Golisano was No. 181 on the list with an estimated net worth of $5.4 billion, up from $5.1 billion in 2021, Forbes said. Golisano, who founded payroll giant Paychex in Rochester, owned the Sabres until 2011, when he sold the team to Pegula for $189 million, turning down a higher bid that would have led to the team moving. Golisano now lives in Naples, Fla.
