PROSPECTIVE CITIES
TEAMS IN TROUBLE
EXPANISON HISTORY
RELOCATION HISTORY
MESSAGE BOARDS
NEWS ARCHIVE
Wednesday April 23, 2003
Buffalo.com reports that upon formally completing his purchase of the Sabres on Wednesday, Rochester billionaire, B. Thomas Golisano, said he intends to take a balanced approach to determining the team's salary structure.
"Do we have a real open mind about this type of thing? Absolutely," Golisano said. "Are we going to go out and select the top seven paid players in the league? Absolutely not. But somewhere in the middle is the balance, and that's what we're going to try to achieve."
The Sabres, whose estimated $25 million payroll was among the NHL's lower third, finished with a 27-37-10-8 record.
Golisano's arrival ends 11 months of uncertainty after the NHL was forced to take control of the franchise last June when former owner John Rigas was forced to step down as CEO of Adelphia Communications.
Adelphia, the nation's fifth-largest cable television company, was the Sabres' largest creditor, owed up to $160 million in money Rigas used to help purchase and operate the Sabres.
Golisano's purchase closing came two weeks after his offer, valued at $92 million, was approved by both U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the NHL Board of Governors.
"We know this marks the conclusion of a lot of time," Golisano said. "But the final result is the fact that now the Buffalo Sabres are secure and stable in their home in Buffalo."