[Preds]

I can finally be a fan of my hometown team again. I've been completely ambivalent to them the last 7 years or so as the team was run into the ground with poor management and the impending doom of the team leaving.

Seriously, until the Pegula's emerged out of nowhere in 2011 and bought the Sabres there was pretty much a consistent belief that the Bills would relocate to Toronto upon Ralph Wilson's death. The Bills in Toronto series only enhanced that belief. The Rogers family, Tanenbaum and Bon Jovi had been scouting stadium locations in metro Toronto, even as recently as this past January. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion in many minds.

Then the Pegula's emerged on the scene 3 1/2 years ago with surprising deep ties to the region (Kim grew up in nearby Rochester and is a huge Bills fan and STH, Terry grew up in Pennsylvania but spent many years living in the southern tier of NY south of Buffalo and has been a STH and fan of the Sabres since the 70's), just nobody knew who they were because until 2010 they weren't billionaire's, just businessmen who owned some "small" company called East Resources. Then Terry sold the rights to portions of their natural gas/fracking rights and land holdings to Shell/Conoco for over $4 billion in cash. On top of that they recently sold additional land rights for another $1.7 billion, which they're using to buy the Bills reportedly in cash without financing. Simply amazing.

Who knew they'd make the most of their new-found wealth by creating a legacy. They've invested heavily into the city of Buffalo by purchasing both major league franchises, running the Sabres as a first class organization with no budgetary limits (night and day to the previous couple owners, reestablishing ties with former players and treating anyone who's ever played for the team like family), as well as propping up the downtown core with huge investments such as the $180 million Harbor Center project which is nearing completion, and has already been propped up with strong ties to USA hockey and will be hosting several big international tournaments,

In just 3 1/2 years they've entirely changed the perception of Buffalo in hockey circles. I'm real curious to see what they do with the Bills and football.

FWIW. rumors are already circulating that they are developing plans for a new downtown stadium / retail / hotel complex for the Bills in conjunction Delaware North Companies (owned by local billionaire and Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs) as well as some other developers.

Yesterday was a good day to be a Buffalo fan. And for once the future is no longer cloudy.