Latest news with #TerryPegula
Fox News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
American tennis star Jessica Pegula slams 'absolutely crazy' comments after losing French Open match
American tennis star Jessica Pegula may have suffered a tough French Open exit against wild-card entry Loïs Boisson but she was still taking swings at critics afterward. Boisson, a French wild-card entry for the Grand Slam tournament, defeated Pegula in the fourth round of the tournament. Pegula revealed afterward she received death threats from "delusional" bettors upset over the loss to the relatively unknown tennis star. "These (bettors) are insane and delusional," she wrote on her Instagram Stories on Wednesday, via the New York Post. "And I don't allow dms and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks but they always find a way to my timeline. This stuff has never really bothered me much but does any other sport deal with this to our level? I'd love to know because it seems to be (predominantly) tennis?? It's so disturbing." The daughter of Terry and Kim Pegula, who own the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, also shared screenshots of commenters who ridiculed her for the loss. Some called her "trash" while others said she should just enjoy being the daughter of billionaires. There were other nasty comments as well. "You sold this match on purpose," one person wrote. "Can't wait until Karma spends the block back on you. Hopefully your first born child will be a still birth." Pegula added that "every person" on the Women's Tennis Association deals with some type of awful remark. "I get told my family should get cancer and die from people here on a regular basis. Absolutely crazy," she added. "I've seen stories of comments/threats/stalking making headlines in other sports…well news flash tennis I can guarantee it's 100 times worse. The comments are nonstop for us. Win or lose – it's whatever they bet on. "I actually had threats come through the NHL that they were worried about and sent to me. My response was, 'oh that's it? I get those all the time' that is so messed up that that is my response. Normalizing death threats!" Pegula added that staying off social media was unavoidable because most of their sponsorship deals involve posting on their platforms. Pro tennis players Arthur Bouquier and Caroline Garcia also shared threats they've received in recent years. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
US tennis star Jessica Pegula reveals disturbing fan abuse and death threats after shock French Open exit
Jessica Pegula has revealed that her shock French Open exit was met with disturbing online abuse from bettors - and she called out those 'insane people' on Wednesday. World No. 3 Pegula was eliminated at Roland-Garros in the fourth round, as wild card Lois Boisson beat her 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. And last year's US Open finalist received some horrific comments afterwards, as she posted a thread on her Instagram story detailing what she'd been subjected to. In her Instagram comments - under a post of Pegula mourning the loss of her dog, no less - one fan said that 'Karma' would come for her, and hoped that her first-born child would be a stillbirth. Under the same post, another person said that 'Tucker [her dog] is better off without this loser,' while another comment on the website said: 'Somewhere in the world, there is a tree that's working really hard to produce the Oxygen you waste.' Another commenter posted a picture of a playing card with the words 'You Die' on it. Another accused her of losing on purpose and hoped she delivered a still-born child Pegula, the son of billionaire and Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula, was also called 'useless' by another fan. 'Just quit playing tennis and enjoy your father's money! You are literally the most useless top 10 player ever,' they said. After sharing screenshots of the various instances of abuse, Pegula called the bettors 'insane and delusional.' '... And I don't allow dms and try to remember when to shut my comments off during tournament weeks but they always find a way to my timeline. This stuff has never really bothered me much but does any other sport deal with this to our level? I'd love to know because it seems to be predominately tennis?? It's so disturbing. 'Every person on tour deals with it,' she continued. 'It's so bad. Those are just really small snippets. I get told my family should get cancer and die from people on here on a regular basis. Absolutely crazy.' Pegula fell to Lois Boisson after taking the first set of the match at Roland-Garros She continued: 'I've seen stories of comments/threats/stalking making headlines in other sports... well news flash I can guarantee it's 100 times worse. These comments are nonstop for us. Win or lose - it's whatever they bet on.' After revealing that she had also been notified by the NHL of threats against her (her father owns the Buffalo Sabres as well), she said that such abuse wasn't okay - even if it has 'never really gotten to me.' 'When fans get on us as athletes to be tougher and stronger etc etc. just realize you prob don't have people sending you death threats every day and hoping your family dies and you give birth to a still born child,' she said. Pegula added that it wasn't realistic for tennis players to stay off of social media as they need to be on there to post sponsorships.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Terry Pegula's ownership, Kevyn Adams' rise and the ‘hamster wheel' of Sabres' record playoff drought
BUFFALO, N.Y. — On the day Terry Pegula bought the Buffalo Sabres, he stepped to a lectern inside the pavilion of the team's arena and delivered an emotional opening monologue. Wearing a black suit and navy tie, Pegula got choked up when he saw franchise legend Gilbert Perreault in the audience. He thanked previous owner Tom Golisano for 'saving my hockey team' from bankruptcy. He spoke wistfully about coaching his son Michael in youth hockey. Then, emphatically, he promised a new day was coming. Advertisement 'Starting today,' he said, 'the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup.' Then Ted Black, the newly announced team president, stated, 'A clarion call should go out to the league and hockey players everywhere that Buffalo is hockey heaven.' That was February 2011. The Sabres made the playoffs a few months later but haven't been back since. Their NHL-record, 14-season playoff drought is tied with the New York Jets for the longest postseason famine in major North American sports. They've missed the playoffs more times in Pegula's 14 full seasons of ownership than they did in the 40 previous seasons. The Sabres have been near the bottom of the league in attendance for each of the past five seasons and are the only team in the NHL that has left at least $6 million in cap space unspent each of the last five years. But when Pegula bought the team, his actions backed up those bold words. He spent freely on top free agents that first summer. He empowered the Sabres to make aggressive offers to American stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter when they became free agents. And his investment extended beyond the roster. 'It was like night and day as far as what we were able to do with resources under Terry: the amount of scouting, traveling to scout, more eyeballs on the players, more video, more amateur scouts, more development coaches,' one former front office member recalled. 'Everything was multiplied.' Pegula had transformed Penn State's hockey program by injecting money into it. He wanted to do the same in Buffalo. That's why he built Harborcenter, a multi-use hockey complex that would not only host Sabres practices and prospect tournaments but would also be home to countless youth tournaments and eventually the NHL Scouting Combine. While he was new to the NHL, Pegula was eager to learn. He traveled to Traverse City, Mich., for prospect tournaments. He crowded around decision makers near the trade deadline ('He was there every day,' one former scout recalled), and was ever-present when the NHL Draft rolled around. Advertisement Pegula's engagement became an opportunity for those in the building to make an impression. One former team employee compared the environment to the hit TV show of that era, 'Game of Thrones,' leading to a frequent joke around the office that 'everyone wanted to change their last name to Pegula.' That's when Kevyn Adams, then working in player development, first met the new owner and laid the foundation for a relationship that eventually helped him rise to his role as Sabres general manager. He's held that title for five years. Only nine current NHL general managers have been in their job longer, but the Sabres' win percentage during his tenure is 25th in the NHL. And Adams doesn't appear to be going anywhere. On a Saturday afternoon in December, the Sabres were getting beaten soundly by the Utah Hockey Club in front of a restless home crowd and in the midst of what would become a 13-game winless streak. A day earlier, Adams held a news conference to address the state of the team. At one point, he said Buffalo was not a 'destination city' for NHL veterans and that the Sabres would need to win to change that stigma because 'we don't have palm trees. We have high taxes.' That prompted fans to show up to the arena with inflatable palm trees and chant, 'Fire Kevyn!' The Western New York native had already been booed when he was introduced on opening night. Through it all, Pegula has remained unmoved by fan unrest. The Athletic spoke to 10 people in and around the Sabres organization, many of whom worked directly with Adams and Pegula at various points over the last 14 years, to understand how Adams rose to his position and has kept it despite the Sabres' ongoing struggles. Many of those sources were granted anonymity to speak freely without fear of reprisal. Adams also spoke to The Athletic for over an hour to address his career arc and job performance. Advertisement 'It would be very unfair for someone to think that I didn't sacrifice to come into the position I'm in,' Adams said. 'Whether it was the amount of work I did starting through my playing career, going above and beyond, doing extra, the education I got, the different roles I had. Is it a different path? Yeah. Thirty-two GMs have different paths. Some go right from being agents to GMs. So if someone is saying I didn't sacrifice because I wasn't in Moose Jaw or something, I doubt they know my exact life.' Adams spent 11 years in the NHL, mostly as a fourth-line role player. He played for six NHL teams and won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. His career high was 15 goals and he played 82 games in a season once. But he had an active role in the NHLPA and a deep interest in the business of hockey. When his playing career ended in 2008, Adams worked in a development role for O2K Sports, a hockey agency two of his college teammates founded. It was during that time that he ran into former Sabre Larry Playfair, who is in charge of alumni relations for the franchise. Playfair invited Adams to a Sabres alumni event. When Adams reminded Playfair that he never played for the team, Playfair said, 'You're one of us. You're from Buffalo.' Adams went to a golf tournament where he met Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. Ruff had heard good things about Adams and said he and then-Sabres GM Darcy Regier would be interested in interviewing him. A few months later, in December 2009, Adams was hired in a hybrid role, working with the coaching staff and the front office. In the mornings, he did video work and one-on-one skill development with players. He spent afternoons in his cubicle in the hockey operations department working on special projects for Regier. Adams was in that role when Pegula bought the Sabres. Pegula has always had a passion for the development of athletes, and so he and Adams talked in depth about Buffalo's younger players. Adams' Stanley Cup ring gave him added cachet with Pegula, and when Adams transitioned to an assistant coach role, he got even more time with Pegula in planes, hotels and rinks on the road. 'It was just a lot of time connecting,' Adams said. 'Terry and I always had a good back and forth.' But when Ruff got fired in 2013, Adams, like the rest of the organization, was at a crossroads. Ron Rolston took over and fired Ruff's assistants, including Adams. A few months later, in November 2013, Regier was also fired. Advertisement Adams still had a year left on his contract, so any NHL team that wanted to interview him needed permission from the Pegulas, Terry and his wife, Kim, who also took an active role in managing the Sabres. When he spoke with one team about a hockey operations role, the Pegulas asked him to get together for coffee. Terry Pegula said he saw upside in Adams and envisioned a role for him at Harborcenter, which was still under construction. The role was a 'blank piece of paper,' Adams said. Even though the offer was undefined, Adams was intrigued. He had young kids and enjoyed living in his hometown. So that summer, he wrote up a business plan for what became the Academy of Hockey, a youth development program that would be housed at Harborcenter. In September 2013, the Pegulas announced Adams as the director of the Academy of Hockey. But in the time between him taking that role and Harborcenter opening, there was no academy, and there were no players to train. That meant more time fine-tuning the business plan and finishing his master's degree online through the University of Phoenix. It also meant more day-to-day contact with Terry and Kim Pegula. In 2014, when Harborcenter officially opened, the Pegulas purchased the NFL's Buffalo Bills. That meant less time around the Sabres for Terry. 'Everything Bills was always more important than everything Sabres,' said one former Pegula employee who worked on the hockey side. 'It's just been helter-skelter for the Sabres ever since he bought the Bills.' By that point, the Pegulas trusted Adams and had been grooming him for a leadership position. During his time at Harborcenter, Adams got more responsibility, getting pulled into meetings about the hotel and restaurant sides of the business. After six years at Harborcenter and the Academy of Hockey, Adams was promoted to Sabres vice president of business administration in September 2019. Kim Pegula said in a news release announcing the hire, 'Kevyn brings unsurpassed experience, perspective and vision to this position. He exemplifies our company values of teamwork, respect, accountability, integrity, trust and success.' Advertisement At the time, Kim Pegula was the team president, but Adams would fill in at certain meetings when Kim, who was also president of the Bills, was unavailable. He was the Sabres' alternate governor and went to owners' meetings. He traveled with the team and met other team presidents for dinners to gain a better understanding of the business side of the NHL. By June 2020, nine months after that promotion, Adams made a leap few in the hockey world saw coming. With COVID grinding the sports world to a halt and the Sabres outside of the playoffs for a ninth straight season, Kim Pegula gave then-general manager Jason Botterill a public vote of confidence in an interview with the Associated Press. Three weeks later, Adams got a call from Terry Pegula, who asked him to get on a plane to Florida. A couple of days later, Botterill was fired and Adams was hired to replace him. There were no other candidates. The sudden change was startling to those in the building and puzzling to those around the league. Adams accepted what was believed to be among the lowest general manager salaries in the NHL at the time, according to a source involved in the Sabres' decision making. Before Adams, Pegula had hired two people with more traditional GM resumes and had gotten neither the results he wanted nor the involvement he craved. 'We felt like we weren't being heard,' Terry Pegula said at the time of Adams' hiring. 'We have a vision, and we want to see our vision succeed.' That vision was more about business than hockey. Adams said the focus was on 'right-sizing' the organization. Pegula wanted to move forward with a leaner scouting staff and used the words 'effective, efficient and economic' to describe the Sabres' new ethos. They said they wanted to scale back operations and build them out over time, a process Adams says is ongoing. Advertisement In his first day on the job, Adams informed more than 20 people they'd been fired. Longtime scouts, high-ranking executives and coaches in Rochester all heard from Adams that day. That left Adams as a first-time general manager charged with rebuilding the hockey operations department. 'I had done everything in my career so that I could put myself in a position to potentially be ready to be general manager, and that's no matter what,' Adams said. 'Everybody at some point is a first-time general manager. I felt as prepared as you could possibly be when the phone call came in. Now here I am.' No two general managers in the NHL have exactly the same experience, but Adams' background stands out among his peers. Of the currently employed NHL GMs, Adams is one of six who never held an assistant general manager or vice president of hockey operations title in the NHL prior to his hiring. Of those six, he's one of two who never scouted or consulted in an NHL hockey operations department. The other is Canadiens GM Kent Hughes, who was a longtime prominent NHL agent and has an experienced president of hockey operations above him. Outside of the afternoons he spent in his cubicle in the Sabres hockey operations department from December 2009 to August 2011, Adams had no prior NHL hockey operations experience. 'I think that's what rubs people the wrong way,' said one former scout. 'He wasn't in Fargo watching a game. He wasn't in Medicine Hat watching a game. He wasn't at the U18s in Slovakia in August missing family vacation. That's the grind. That's what pretty much everybody else did unless your name is Joe Sakic.' Sabres executives vetted at least two candidates for potential senior adviser positions to help Adams. He said they couldn't find the right fit and isn't sure if anyone would have had experience with what the Sabres were about to go through. On Oct. 11, 2020, five months after hiring Adams, Pegula stood inside his new general manager's office. At that point, Adams had no assistant GMs. His director of scouting was Jeremiah Crowe, who had three years of pro scouting experience before getting elevated to that role. The analytics department was Jason Nightengale. This was the first day of NHL free agency. Pegula and Adams discussed the possibility of signing Taylor Hall to a one-year, $8 million contract. Advertisement Hall had won the Hart Trophy two years earlier with a 39-goal, 54-assist season for the New Jersey Devils. The Sabres had failed to qualify for the expanded 24-team playoff during the pandemic, extending their playoff drought to nine seasons. 'We sign this guy,' Pegula said to Adams in a behind-the-scenes video released by the Sabres, 'we're not only trying to make the playoffs. We're trying to win the Cup.' 'Yeah,' Adams said. 'I mean this is … yeah.' Hall signed with the Sabres and scored two goals and 19 points in 37 games before he was sent to the Bruins at the trade deadline. Buffalo finished in last place, and Adams fired coach Ralph Krueger. That conversation with Pegula painted the picture of an owner who wants to be heard, a general manager willing to listen and together, a tandem that hasn't been able to bring playoff hockey back to Buffalo. The Sabres haven't spent to the salary cap ceiling during Adams' time as general manager. In the last five seasons, they've been a combined $60 million under the cap while the league's cap has been mostly flat. The business decisions Adams and Pegula made in 2020 not only led to a calamitous 2020-21 season, but they also had repercussions on the team's future. 'They're on a hamster wheel,' said another former Sabres scout. 'They just keep going around in circles.' Jack Eichel, the team's 23-year-old captain and franchise player, wanted to be traded, in part, because the Sabres wouldn't allow him to have his preferred neck surgery. And it was too late to convince Sam Reinhart to stick around after the team had missed multiple chances to sign him to a long-term contract under previous regimes. After having misguided Stanley Cup hopes the previous fall, Adams embarked on Buffalo's latest rebuild. One source described the situation in 2021 by saying, 'There was no plan.' Advertisement The next four seasons reflected the ups and downs of a general manager learning on the job and building a roster with an emphasis on homegrown players. The team got 76 points in 2021-22 and awarded Adams and then-coach Don Granato contract extensions. After getting 91 points in 2022-23, Adams barely changed the roster, and the team regressed to 84 points. Adams fired Granato before his contract extension kicked in. Adams and Pegula then brought back Ruff, 13 years after he'd been fired, for a second coaching stint with the Sabres. The 64-year-old didn't bring any of his own assistants, and the team still entered the season with the youngest roster in the NHL. During the 13-game winless streak that sank the Sabres' season, Terry Pegula flew to Montreal to meet with the team and express confidence in the group shortly after Adams' 'palm trees' news conference. The next night, the Sabres lost 6-1 to the Canadiens. The team spent most of the season in last place in the Eastern Conference and ended with 79 points. In a behind-the-scenes video of the Sabres' trade deadline process, Ruff noted that the team's culture needed to change. In that video, Pegula is on a conference call multiple times throughout the day, weighing in on decisions. That offered a view into the dynamic between Adams and Pegula, a dynamic that other potential general managers might view as a red flag. 'Any self-respecting GM who takes that job is going to say, 'I have to be able to run this for you,'' said one former NHL executive. 'I know it's your team and I have to talk to you about things, but I have to be able to build a team and make decisions. If I have to run a simple (Henri) Jokiharju for a fourth by you, what are we doing here?' Adams and Ruff recently had their end-of-season review with Terry Pegula and his oldest daughter, Laura. Terry Pegula took over duties as team president after Kim Pegula had a debilitating cardiac arrest in 2022. Since firing Ted Black, the Sabres haven't had a president or COO who has worked for an NHL team prior to the Sabres. Advertisement Sitting in the alumni room in the 200-level of the Sabres' arena during the interview for this story, Adams said it's 'not true' that he's unwilling to stand up to Terry Pegula or have disagreements with him. Adams said he was honest with Pegula about what went wrong and where he's made mistakes. He thinks the team needs to improve in puck management, team defense and special teams. After that meeting, Adams hired former Hurricanes teammate Eric Staal as a special assistant to the general manager and changed strength coaches. The team hired former Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen as a senior adviser and hasn't ruled out more additions to the front office. There is a recognition from Adams and Pegula that more experienced voices are needed in the front office. The coaching staff is still the same, though. And it's still Adams and Pegula at the top of the organizational chart, along with Ruff. Adams and Ruff each have a year left on their contracts. 'There's frustration, starting with me, with where we finished in the standings,' Adams said. 'We didn't make a coaching change and bring in an experienced coach like we did with the expectations to not be a playoff team. We were all upset after the season. For me, preparing for those meetings was to make sure I honestly was able to articulate where we are today, what I think we've done poorly, what I think we've done well and where we go from here. There was great alignment coming out of that meeting.' (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; top photos: Tony Ding / Icon Sportswire, Dave Sandford / NHLI, Kevin Hoffman / Getty Images)
USA Today
24-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Jason Kelce delivered a verbal KO to Bills owner Terry Pegula over Tush Push
Jason Kelce delivered a verbal KO to Bills owner Terry Pegula over Tush Push What a week! What a range of emotions! All were caused by a play that was perfectly legal per the NFL's rulebook. This may seem strange, but though the voices in our heads have advised us to 'move on', it's hard to put the Philadelphia Eagles' most recent week in the rearview mirror. Jeffrey Lurie took on the NFL, its commissioner, and 22 of the league's other franchises with only ten allies backing them. And, though the powers that be did all they could to stack the deck, the Birds triumphed. They won by the same margin as the final score in their Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers. How's that for irony? The Tush Push debate is over... for now. This will be revisited next offseason, but in the meantime, everyone is still celebrating. That includes the G.O.A.T., who we believe is somewhere enjoying a cold one after assisting Jeffrey Lurie in facing a jury of his peers. Take that, Terry Pegula! That might be the best chapter of this story. Never forget Jason Kelce's KO victory over the Buffalo Bills owner. Since the Birds' day in court and subsequent social media barrage by their social media team and droves of supporters, some have doubled back to relive Philadelphia's week of victory. Let us not forget the contributions of one of the City of Brotherly Love's most beloved adopted sons, Jason Kelce. The man who will probably be the last to wear the Number 62 jersey for the Philadelphia Eagles was Jeffrey Lurie's secret weapon in Minneapolis. While the NFL played checkers, Lurie played chess, but the story didn't begin in Minnesota. It started during the league meetings in March. Remember when Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula mentioned that Mr. Kelce had retired because of the punishment he inflicted on his body as a result of the tush push? That led to Jason's response on X in April. Jason won his only Super Bowl in Minnesota, and it was there that he helped the Eagles find victory again. Before attending, he poked holes in Pegula's argument by offering the following take on his New Heights podcast with his brother, Travis Kelce. I'll tell you this right now. I'll come out of retirement today if you tell me all I gotta do is run 80 tush pushes to play in the NFL,' It seems strange that the Bills' owner, of all people, would be one of the proponents attempting to ban Philly's controversial play. Buffalo runs its variation and is the team that uses it second most often. That's another story for another time, however. The best part of this story is as follows. Kelce's presence and rebuttal to Pegula's claims that the Brotherly Shove helped force him into retirement (and that it increases the chances of injury) helped sway some of the undecided owners. Philly didn't need another reason to love him, but this one tugs at the heartstrings. Even in retirement, one of the most beloved Birds of all time is still coming through when his organization needs him, and that is one of just several reasons why he's firmly fixated on the Eagles' Mount Rushmore. He won't be lacing the cleats up again, 80 tush pushes or not, but he's helped ensure Philadelphia will win on a few more goal-line plays and short-yardage downs this coming season.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sabres Pondering A Significant Managerial Shakeup
The Buffalo Sabres announced the hiring of former Sabre Eric Staal as a special assistant to GM Kevyn Adams on Wednesday, but this may be the first of many moves within the organization before the start of training camp in September to bolster both the management staff around Adams and possible changes in head coach Lindy Ruff's coaching staff. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported on Wednesday that the Sabres have held exploratory conversations with experienced NHL executives in an effort to beef up their front office around Adams, who is expected to retain his position as general manager with one more year left on his contract. Other Sabres Stories Is Peterka In Prime Position For Big Payday? Sabres Ownership Ranked Worst In NHL By Survey In The Athletic Sabres Facing An Off-Season Of Change The report says that Sabres owner Terry Pegula is exploring a variety of options, including the hiring of a VP of Hockey Operations or Team President that would serve in a position above Adams, possibly a senior advisor to assist the GM in making decisions, or possibly moving Adams up and hiring a new GM. Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News reported on Wednesday that one possible change may be the exit of Sabres Assistant GM Jason Karmanos. Karmanos, who served from 1999 to 2013 as VP of Hockey Operations and Assistant GM in Carolina, and in similar roles with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2014 to 2020, has been with Buffalo since 2021, but according to Lysowski, he did not participate in the club's exit interviews last month. Follow Michael on X, Instagram, and Bluesky @MikeInBuffalo
