Buffalo Bills Announce Diverse Group of New Investment Partners
By Pat Freeman, The Mighty O’Ba
Pat Freeman, The Mighty O’Ba
The announcement of a new limited ownership partner group shows the emphasis the NFL has made to change their image of being one of the last collections of mostly white male owners in this country’s most popular sport. Though the effort is there the results appear to me to have failed to address some of the factual issues surrounding specifically this franchise in Western New York which is still in principal run by Terry Pegula.
Mr. Pegula has failed to show diversity in his marketing dollars since taking over the Sabres and the Buffalo Bills year after year, many of us just scratch our heads as to why he has continued to adequately address revenue with accredited media outlets of color. The reason I use the term accredited is not to exclude any other media entity but to emphasize the outlets that have dedicated credentialed members that cover his sports franchises, but he continues not to reciprocate out work that helps him promote his sports products. You would think implementing a diverse marketing campaign would really benefit an owner of two major sports franchises? Well, Mr. Pegula has continued his segregated marketing program by continuing to shut out Black media that accommodates his local coverage with professional production despite being left out of the Bills marketing program.
Black media has continued to cover these franchises without receiving any reciprocal dollars from the Pegula organization since he took over the Sabres in 2011 and the Bills in 2014. When will these Jim Crow style media policies stop in Western New York is hard to say but I believe it needs to be said that these two sports entities exist today because of a massive influx of taxpayers dollars which the ownership receives but a segment of the accredited media does not get any reciprocal dollars from these professional organizations in the form of advertisement or other benefits that other outlets enjoy.
Facts: Buffalo Criterion Newspaper did submit a marketing proposal to the professional football organization this year that was not acknowledged.
Segregated Economics continues to be practiced by Western New York professional sports despite efforts to ignore this glaring economic omission