Jim Kelly, Jon Bon Jovi won't team up in Buffalo Bills sale

If you were harboring any concern that Jim Kelly would join Jon Bon Jovi's bid to buy the Buffalo Bills, thereby eliminating your best excuse to verbally trash Bon Jovi at every available opportunity, breathe easy: Tim Graham of The Buffalo News reported late Sunday evening that Kelly has decided against joining the Bon Jovi bid.

Bet you could guess why Kelly didn't join forces with Bon Jovi, too: in the words of Graham's source, "Kelly and (Jeffrey) Gundlach do not feel confident that their aspirations for keeping the Bills in Buffalo long-term are aligned with the interests of the Toronto group."

Graham reported on Saturday evening that Kelly and Bon Jovi had met to discuss the idea of joining forces, borne of a mutual desperation to become associated with the winning ownership bid for the franchise. Had Kelly actually teamed up with Bon Jovi, it would have had a major impact on his public perception amidst fears that he plans to move the team to Toronto; the fact that Kelly didn't team up with him, for the reasons that have been made public, will likely have a reverse effect on Bon Jovi in the court of public opinion.

For now, then, Kelly and Gundlach will continue to pursue a partnership with a bid group keeping the team in Western New York, while speculation ramps up that Bon Jovi could pursue even more extreme measures to increase his chances of landing the winning bid.