Draft:Pete Guelli

Pete Guelli (born December 28th, 1964) is an American sports executive serving as the Chief Operating Officer of both the Buffalo Bills franchise of the National Football League and the Buffalo Sabres franchise of the National Hockey League. Before assuming his current roles, Guelli served five years as the Chief Business Officer for the NFL's New York Giants and a decade with the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association as their Chief Operating Officer. He began his sports career with the Buffalo Bills where he worked from 1999-2009 and served as the Senior Vice President of Business Ventures. Guelli is also a minority owner of NJ/NY Gotham FC of the NWSL since 2022.

Buffalo Bills
Guelli began his sports career with the Bills initially in 1998 to oversee the teams expansion into the Rochester, NY market as well as the movement of teams training camp from Fredonia College to St. John Fisher University.

Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets
In 2009 Guelli was recruited to become the Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer of the then Charlotte Bobcats. There he led the transition of team ownership from Bob Johnson to Michael Jordan. Jordan was the first former player to become the majority owner of an NBA team. In 2014, Guelli spearheaded the organizations rebrand back to the Hornets. Under Jordan’s leadership, Guelli rebuilt the entire business operation turning around years of operating losses experienced under previous ownership. During Guelli's career the franchise led efforts to secure a new television rights deal, oversaw the launch of the organizations G League team, led the teams participation in the NBA Global Games in China, oversaw the renovation of the Spectrum Center and managed a successful bid to host the NBA All-Star Game 2019. Guelli also served as the President of the Hornets Charitable Foundation focused on community investment in Charlotte.

New York Football Giants
In 2019 Guelli became the NY Giants first Chief Commercial Officer. During his tenure the Giants have established a business intelligence and analytics department, launched new branding initiatives including the return of team’s classic uniforms and established marketing efforts into the Hispanic community. The organization also created a new and exclusive partnership with DraftKings in the sports betting space and were the first team in the NFL to create a cryptocurrency deal. Guelli also negotiated to bring Giants legend Eli Manning back into the organization and developed the Eli Manning Show which won an Emmy® award in 2021.

Return to Buffalo
In 2024, Guelli was appointed to the position of chief operating officer for both the Buffalo Bills and Sabres, marking a return to a unified leadership role overseeing the business operations of both organizations.

NJ/NY Gotham FC
Guelli became a minority owner in NJ/NY Gotham FC of the NWSL in 2022. He was announced as a new investor along with New York Giants legend Eli Manning. He joined a group of high profile investors that include Kevin Durant, Rich Kleiman, Sue Bird and Carli Lloyd. The team has been owned by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and his wife Tammy since 2007 when it was founded as Jersey Sky Blue. The Tisch family, which co-owns the New York Giants became minority investors in the team in November of 2023. Gotham FC won their first NWSL championship on November 11th, 2023 with a 2-1 victory over the OL Reign.