Advisory Board Bio – Russ Brandon

Russ Brandon serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Football League (UFL) and is an Operating Partner at Red Bird Development Group. At the UFL, Russ oversees day-to-day operations for the professional spring football league directing strategic planning for business and football operations on both the league and team levels.

 

Prior to joining the UFL, Russ served as Managing Partner and President of the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, President and Alternate Governor of the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres, and Chief Operating Officer of Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE), managing all aspects of the day-to-day business and administrative operations of the three entities.

 

For over two decades with the Bills, Russ earned several promotions. After joining the team as Executive Director of Business Development in 1997, he moved through the ranks to become Chief Operating Officer in 2008. In 2010, Russ was promoted to Chief Executive Officer before being named President and CEO in 2013. He played a lead role in the sale of the franchise in 2014 from the Ralph Wilson estate to the Pegula family for a then record-breaking $1.4 billion transaction, securing the Bills’ future in Western New York.

 

Russ was the chief architect of the team’s regionalization strategy to drive deeper economic and fan engagement by moving training camp to Rochester, N.Y., and holding preseason and regular season games in Toronto, Canada. He led several value-enhancing initiatives by overseeing multiple stadium and training facility renovations, as well as lease extensions. Russ secured the first-ever stadium naming rights in Bills history with New Era and was instrumental in the creation of the NHL Winter Classic– the NHL’s annual outdoor regular-season game held at football or baseball stadiums–when the Buffalo Sabres played the Pittsburgh Penguins in Orchard Park, N.Y. in 2008.

 

In addition, Russ led efforts to bring major events to Buffalo’s Key Bank Center and New Era Field (now called Highmark Stadium), including the NHL Draft, NHL Scouting Combine, NCAA March Madness, IIHF World Junior Championship, NCAA Frozen Four, and several concerts at both facilities.

 

Respected throughout the sports industry, Russ was appointed to several NFL working groups during his tenure with the league, which included NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appointing him to the NFL’s Business Ventures Committee that oversees various business verticals of the league, including Consumer Products, Sponsorship, and Marketing. He began his sports business career as an executive with the Rochester Red Wings minor league baseball team (then Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles), serving in many capacities, including Assistant General Manager. He also had a four-year stint in the front office of the Florida Marlins, helping to guide the club to their first World Series title in 1997.

 

The East Syracuse, New York native received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from St. John Fisher College, where he was a four-year letterman in baseball and football. In 2004, he was inducted into the St. John Fisher College Sports Hall of Fame and was named to the Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal’s Forty-Under-40 Class in 2001.