With the Buffalo Sabres hiring of a new chief operating officer to lead the business side of the organization, a team executive who worked in a similar role is now out.
The Buffalo News has learned that Mike McFarlane is no longer with the senior leadership team of Pegula Sports & Entertainment, which runs the day-to-day affairs of the Sabres and Buffalo Bills, less than three years after he was named senior vice president of finance and administration for the Sabres. McFarlane is no longer listed on the team’s staff directory.
This move comes as Pegula Sports & Entertainment named John Roth to the role of COO earlier this month. Roth had worked at Fidelity Investments for the past 24 years and has been a friend of Sabres owner Terry Pegula’s for the past 12 years.
The Sabres were not immediately available for comment.
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For months, the Sabres have also gone without the presence of Kim Pegula as team president since she suffered a serious illness and was hospitalized in June due to “unexpected health issues.” A spokesperson for the Sabres has said that the hire of Roth has “nothing to do” with Kim Pegula's health or her absence from PSE affairs.
McFarlane, who brought more than two decades of finance and business administration experience to Pegula Sports & Entertainment, ran the Sabres day-to-day business operations, along with the financial operations of PSE entities.
Before coming to Pegula Sports & Entertainment, McFarlane served as CFO and part of the management team of Petri Baking Products, a provider of soft-baked cookies, overseeing the financing for three major facility expansions at the Silver Creek-based company.