Among upstate New York billionaires lining up to bid on the Buffalo Bills, Terry Pegula has been seen as the one to beat.

But don't underestimate Tom Golisano, who has now decided to bid alone and bid aggressively, QMI Agency has learned.

"There's no way he'll be a passive bidder," said a source familiar with Golisano's intentions.

It was just in early June that the payroll-systems billionaire originally from Rochester, N.Y., said publicly he would bid only out of a sense of philanthropic civic duty, of sorts -- to keep the beloved, iconic Western New York franchise in Buffalo.

Not anymore. He's in it to win it.

Golisano, 72, similarly rescued the bankrupt Buffalo Sabres in 2003 because he wanted the NHL team to remain in town, and no one else locally with the financial resources was stepping up to do so.

After putting the Sabres back on solid financial footing, Golisano sold the team in 2011 to Pegula, an oil-and-gas multi-billionaire. Pegula has not yet confirmed whether he will attempt to buy the Bills.

"The important thing is someone buys (the Bills) and keeps it in Western New York," Golisano told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on June 5, after receiving an award for his philanthropy at an area high school. "Do I feel it has to be me? No. I'm not possessed about owning the Buffalo Bills, just as I wasn't possessed about owning the Buffalo Sabres.

"They were in danger of leaving, too. In fact they were a lot closer to leaving than the Bills are. I got involved then because I wanted to keep that entity in Western New York, and I want to keep the Buffalo Bills in Western New York."

Such detached dispassion is now gone, the source said.

Golisano is the founder of Paychex, the second largest payroll processor in the U.S., according to Wikipedia. A native of Rochester, he now resides in Naples, Fla.

Last year Forbes estimated Golisano's net worth to be $1.9 billion, ranking him No. 296 in the magazine's annual list of the 400 richest Americans.

On May 21 QMI Agency was first to report that Golisano had decided to bid on the Bills, either alone or in partnership with one other deep-pocketed local businessman.

A week later, the Associated Press and Buffalo News reported that Golisano and developer Scott Congel were in talks to perhaps jointly bid on the NFL club.

Congel is the son of Robert J. Congel, founder of The Pyramid Companies -- the largest private mall developer in America, based in Syracuse. Among the malls Pyramid built, owns and operates is the Walden Galleria in suburban Buffalo, a popular destination for cross-border shoppers from Ontario.

Congel has proposed a $700-million, multi-purpose development on family-controlled property in West Seneca, N.Y. -- just east of the New York State Thruway, between the I-190 and highway 219 intersections. Congel envisions a convention centre, community centres, hotels, stores and now a new Bills stadium too, all on the massive, mostly unused, Pyramid-owned grounds of the long-since demolished Seneca Mall.

Following his June 5 speech in Rochester, Golisano strongly denied reports he was in partnership discussions with Congel.

"It's all wrong," he told Rochester's WHEC-TV. "I don't know who put it out there, I don't know who perpetuated it.

"I have not had any partnership discussions with Congel. I know him, and we've talked a little bit about the problem. But that's as far as it goes."

On Saturday, the Buffalo News reported that Golisano and Congel will not team up on a bid.

QMI Agency has understood that while the two men indeed talked, and stayed in touch for a time, it never got anywhere close enough to warrant the assessment now that their joint bid is off. It was never on.

Once each man learned there are no equal partners in NFL ownership -- that is, whoever is deemed the principal owner alone enjoys all the control and power -- talks progressed no further, a source said.

A source close to Congel, meantime, said the developer now intends to bid for the Bills separately from Golisano, perhaps alone.

Congel is both rich and fluid enough to lead his own bid group, the source said, but his preference would be to be a No. 2 partner who comes armed with the new-stadium answer.

What's more, QMI Agency has learned that Congel this week plans to announce he has hired a "major" stadium design firm, and he is close to announcing a financial adviser who will guide him through the Bills bid process.

The net worth of Congel, a developer in his own right now, is not known. Neither he nor his father last year made Forbes' list. It took a net worth of at least $1.3 billion to get on that list.

The Bills are expected to sell for more than $1 billion. By NFL rules, a lead bidder must have a minimum 30% stake, and only $200 million of the entire purchase amount can be financed; the rest must be paid in cash.

The trust of the late Ralph Wilson, founding owner of the Bills who died in March, is overseeing the sale. Prospective purchasers have until July 29 to inform the trust's investment bank and law firm jointly running the sale whether they intend to bid.

A source told QMI Agency last week that the word on Wall Street is more than 60 prospective purchasers of the Bills received, signed and returned non-disclosure agreements, granting them access to the initial sales book, which was made available before the Fourth of July long weekend.

As is usual in pro sports franchise sales, this document contains only the thinnest of summary financial details.

Access to the Bills' financial books might be granted only to finalist bidders, according to an expert in sports team sales, especially if dozens of bidders step up by month's end.

john.kryk@sunmedia.ca

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