Giants lose chief business officer Pete Guelli to Bills

New York Giants chief business officer Pete Guelli is joining the Buffalo Bills (and Buffalo Sabres) as their chief operating officer.

Pete Guelli, who has served as the New York Giants’ chief business officer for the past five years, will be moving on to a similar role (COO) for the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL beginning next month.

“It was hard not to be impressed with the experience and overall business acumen of Pete Guelli,” Terry Pegula, co-owner of the Bills and Sabres, said in a statement, via ESPN. “He is a proven leader with tremendous skills and experience in the sports business landscape. With the upcoming changes on the way in both team’s venues, we are happy to have Pete to help lead our teams.”

Guelli thanked the Giants for his time there in a social media post this week.

Guelli, 59, goes back to Western New York where he began his career in sports in 1998 as the Bills’ Senior VP of Business Ventures for 11 years. He also worked for the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA from 2009 to 2019 as their COO.

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Pete Guelli named new COO for Bills (and Sabres)

Pete Guelli named new COO for #Bills (and #Sabres):

Pete Guelli has been named the new chief operating officer of the Buffalo Bills… and, for those curious, the COO of the Buffalo Sabres as well.

Guelli, 59, previously worked from 1998 to 2009 as President of Business ventures for the Bills and is a Rochester native. In addition, he has held roles with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets and NFL’s New York Giants.

Guelli will oversee the business operations for the Bills and Sabres. General manager Brandon Beane will still be in charge of football operations.

According to a new release, Josh Dziurlikowski, who was serving as the interim COO of the Bills, was named senior vice president of finance and business operations of the Bills.

Team owner Terry Pegula released this statement on the Guelli hire:

“I’d first like to thank Josh and Rob (Minter–Buffalo Sabres) for their outstanding work and leadership as interim COO’s. It was a challenging transition and period for each of them and we are fortunate to be able to retain them in other leadership roles within each organization.”

“It was hard not to be impressed with the experience and overall business acumen of Pete Guelli. The New York market is the largest in our country and highly competitive and he did an outstanding job on all levels of their business operation.

“His work in helping turn around the Charlotte Hornets franchise in the NBA was remarkable. He is a proven leader with tremendous skills and experience in the sports business landscape. With the upcoming changes on the way in both team’s venues, we are happy to have Pete to help lead our teams.”

Guelli replaces John Roth as COO, who was fired in October 2023.

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Giants legacy branding will be nostalgia heaven for fans

The New York Giants won’t just be bringing back their classic uniforms in 2022, they will provide an entirely nostalgic experience.

The New York Giants revealed earlier this week that the team’s legacy uniforms would make a return in 2022. They will be worn against the Chicago Bears in Week 4 and the Washington Commanders in Week 13.

But the Giants didn’t stop there. In addition to the legacy uniforms, the team will also feature unique endzones and stadium branding during those games. That includes graphics and even the music that is to be played.

“We’re going to try to take you back in time,” chief commercial officer Pete Guelli told “The Giants Huddle” podcast. “Everything that’s done around those games is going to be thematically tied to that history. So, when you walk in the building and you see the end zones [painted like the ones in Super Bowl XXI], you’ll remember them. When you walk in and you see the graphics on the walls, you’ll understand what we’re doing. When you hear the music that’s being played, the video graphics that go up, and you see how we integrate alumni and the merchandise that we tie in and the giveaway that we’re doing at the games, which is a retro pennant, all that stuff is connected to that part of our history. If you’re a longtime Giants fan and you have fond memories of that window and those two Super Bowls, you’re going to want to be here.”

The path to this point began two long years ago. The Giants were methodical in their planning and approach, making sure that no detail — however minor — was left out.

One such detail will be the navy helmets with “GIANTS” logo and white facemask. And thanks to the NFL’s new two helmet rule, the Giants will even be able to use a modernized version of the old shell.

“They were lucky enough to be one of the teams that will be able to pair their throwback helmet with their throwback uniform, that old shell,” said Rory Durkin, who manages on-field partnerships and consumer products at the NFL. “We worked hand in hand with Riddell to make sure that color and the striping and the details were on par with what it looked like in the late ’80s and ’90s. It really was great timing for us, and I think it’s really going to help adopt this uniform even more.”

What’s likely to excite Giants fans even more is that this isn’t going to be a one-and-done scenario. Rather, the organization has laid out a five-year uniform plan that may also include the eventual return of their red jerseys.

And there will be plenty of other surprises as well.

“I never want to rule anything out,” Guelli said, “but what I will say is we put a five-year plan together that started a couple years ago. I don’t think it’s a secret that we will be celebrating our 100th anniversary here in the near future, so there’s a lot of exciting things on the horizon.”

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