Two surprising developments learned by QMI Agency on Tuesday night are sure to rock the Buffalo Bills sale process.

First, former Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano did not submit a bid by Tuesday's 5 p.m. EDT deadline, as expected.

Secondly, the investment bank conducting the sale of the NFL club for the trust of the late Ralph Wilson received only three bids in total, said a source closely involved in the bid process.

Golisano was seen as one of four shoo-in bidders. The other three followed through on Tuesday, namely:

-The Toronto group comprising rocker Jon Bon Jovi, MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum and the Rogers family.

-Current Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula, a cash-flush oil-and-gas multi-billionaire who is helping to spearhead downtown Buffalo redevelopment efforts;

-Manhattan multi-billionaire Donald Trump, who like Pegula is bidding alone but who on Monday dismissed his chances

They're the only bidders, the source said. A different source close to the sale process had hinted to QMI Agency last week that no one outside of that trio and Golisano would likely bid.

That Golisano, a payroll systems billionaire originally from Rochester, N.Y., did not submit a bid by the deadline is a total surprise.

The word on Golisano is he can be a renegade when it comes to high-stakes business deals, and perhaps this is just a ploy on his part to make a point about something he dislikes about the bid process, and that he might yet wind up bidding.

Just two weeks ago, a source in the position to know told QMI Agency that Golisano not only would bid, but bid aggressively.

Golisano himself said in June he would do so, to ensure the Bills remain in Buffalo.

Golisano could not be reached for comment late Tuesday night.

That only the Toronto group, Pegula and Trump placed bids is surprising because Morgan Stanley, the trust's investment bank, had reportedly been combing Wall Street all summer to try to add cash-flush billionaires to the bidding ranks.

Apparently they struck out.

The trust overseeing the sale announced nothing by Tuesday evening, and that's not a surprise. It isn't expected to say a word publicly until a new owner is in place this fall.

An NFL sale process is private, and bidders have signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from publicly discussing the bid process.

QMI Agency was first to report late Tuesday afternoon that both Trump and the Toronto group had submitted their notices of intent to bid along with their first ("indicative") bids.

Tim Graham of the Buffalo News later confirmed that Pegula had done likewise.

That there were apparently no other bidders to augment those who had been seen for months as likely bidders, if not automatics, must be a huge disappointment for the trust.

Didn't Morgan Stanley distribute 60+ non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in late June to prospective owners?

Yes.

Before Tuesday, informed sources disagreed as to how many people or groups would bid. Some predicted few besides the known four. One said possibly no other bidders would emerge. Another source expected more than a few to jump in. Some reports said the number could go as high as 10, or more.

The number of signed and returned non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) might have provided insight, but conflicting information on that bounced around for weeks.

The NDA enabled potential bidders to: (1) receive access to the financials-thin initial sales book that Morgan Stanley made available in the first week of July, and (2) become eligible to bid.

A source told QMI Agency in early July the word on Wall Street had been that more than 60 NDAs had been returned. Not true. While more than 60 NDAs indeed went out, far fewer came back signed.

So what does the trust do now? Advance all three bidders to the finalist round? Cut down to just two? Or quietly extend the deadline for first bids?

The trust can alter dates, deadlines and procedures in the sale process at any time, however it sees fit.

The trust has set aside next week and the week after to meet individually with finalist bidders. After that, finalists were scheduled to be asked to submit binding, final bids.

Some prospective bidders' names had got out. Graham of the Buffalo News reported that bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach explored placing a bid, as had C. Dean Metropoulos, owner of the Pabst brewing company.

And Western New York developer Scott Congel had mulled bidding either alone or with someone else, merely to aid his objective to build a new Bills stadium as part of an immense, multi-pronged redevelopment of a large property his family controls in West Seneca, just south of Buffalo.

Trump sounded anything but confident about his chances during an interview Monday night on Fox News Channel's On the Record with Greta Van Susteren program.

"I'll put a bid in," Trump said. "Everyone knows I'm doing that.

"I would say the chances (of success) are very, very unlikely because I'm not going to do something totally stupid (in bidding) -- maybe just a little bit stupid, but not totally stupid."

The Toronto group will inform the trust via Morgan Stanley that it intends to keep the team in Buffalo, rather than relocate it eventually to Toronto -- a decision the group made just last month.

The group is set to meet Congel this week to discuss his stadium idea, as well as with another Buffalo-area developer hoping to build a new stadium.

Few people in Western New York and Southern Ontario believe the Toronto group is sincere in its about-face. They're not the only ones.

Former star Bills wide receiver Andre Reed -- who on Saturday night enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- is quoted as saying this in New York magazine:

"Man, f--- Bon Jovi! You might as well just take this city, throw it in the river, and let it go down Niagara Falls."

john.kryk@sunmedia.ca

@JohnKryk

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