Tom Golisano finally submits bid in Buffalo Bills sale process

In case you hadn't yet noticed, news about the sale of the Buffalo Bills picked up a head of steam on Thursday, as Morgan Stanley and the trust running the sale process began hosting potential owners for one-on-one meetings.

Tim Graham of The Buffalo News did most of the heavy lifting on the reporting front yesterday, with reports that as many as eight bidders were scheduled to meet with the Bills, that Donald Trump was the first to attend one of those meetings, and that Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly has joined forces with one of the unconfirmed bidders (believed to be Jeffrey Gundlach) and met with the higher-ups on Thursday.

It's all in this report that Graham filed and routinely updated yesterday, and he added this expected nugget yesterday afternoon: former Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano is now the fourth confirmed bidder on the team. (John Wawrow had it, too.)

Golisano had been expected to submit an initial bid for the Bills back on the original deadline of July 29, but he missed that, and took more than a week after the fact to officially throw his name into the mix. He joins Trump, current Sabres owner Terry Pegula, and the Toronto group headed up by Jon Bon Jovi as confirmed bidders.

Speaking of that Bon Jovi group: they have been asked a second time to submit assurances about the team's long-term future in Western New York, according to John Kryk of the Toronto Sun. Multiple reports say that the Bon Jovi group is scheduled to meet with the trust next week in New York City, but according to Kryk, that might not happen unless the Toronto group can satisfactorily clarify statements on their intentions for the team in the Buffalo area.

It's the latest hurdle for the Bon Jovi group to clear, following a PR disaster in the form of an open letter to Bills fans - which may have violated the non-disclosure agreement in the sale process - and the trust's first request to provide assurances about the team's long-term viability in Buffalo.

Kryk also relays the words of sources that are skeptical about the accuracy of the eight-bidders report. Those same sources also say that no meeting took place between a bidder and the trust on Thursday. Sorting through the various reports from this point forward is going to be too much fun, isn't it?

We're keeping track of everything sale-related in this StoryStream, if you feel the need to get caught up on any of it.