Russell Jerome Brandon (born June 1967) is an American sports executive, and current CEO and President of the United Football League (UFL). Brandon is best known for his 21-year tenure in the front office of the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Career

Early career

Brandon is a 1989 alumnus of Saint John Fisher College. In 1990, Brandon began his career with the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...

, then the Triple-A affiliate of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

, where he was a member of a staff that included

Joe Altobelli Joseph Salvatore Altobelli (May 26, 1932 – March 3, 2021) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who played for the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball. He was also a manager for the San F ...

, Glenn Geffner, Joe Kehoskie,

Josh Lewin Josh Lewin (born ) is an American sportscaster who works as a play-by-play announcer for the UCLA Bruins football and basketball teams. Early life and education Lewin was born and raised in Rochester, New York. He attended Brighton High Scho ...

, and Bob Socci. Brandon had risen to co-general manager of the team by the time he left in 1993. After a brief stint with a

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

division called Sports Advertising Network, he eventually joined the front office of the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The team plays its home games at LoanDepot Park. The ...

and was there as part of the

1997 World Series The 1997 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1997 season. The 93rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National ...

championship team.

Buffalo Bills

Six days after the Marlins won the World Series, Brandon joined the

of the

on November 1, 1997. Brandon was first named to a high-level executive position within the franchise in 2006, being named director of non-football operations alongside

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Marv Levy Marvin Daniel Levy (; born August 3, 1925) is an American former football coach and executive who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons. He spent most of his head coaching career with the Buffalo Bills, lea ...

. Brandon, although his title did not change, assumed Levy's responsibilities as ''de facto'' general manager after Levy retired. Brandon was promoted to CEO upon the hiring of Buddy Nix as the Bills' general manager. Among other things, he is credited with expanding the Buffalo Bills fan base throughout the Western New York-Southern Ontario region in a time when the team's on-field fortunes were poor (Brandon was with the team throughout its 17-year playoff drought), and was instrumental in the deal for the Bills to play two games per season (one preseason, one regular season) in Toronto, Canada. An influential NFL executive, Brandon also served on several league business and marketing committees. As CEO, Brandon increased his influence on the team and handled most of its day-to-day operations while owner

Ralph Wilson Ralph Cookerly Wilson Jr. (October 17, 1918 – March 25, 2014) was an American businessman and sports executive. He was best known as the founder and owner of the Buffalo Bills, a team in the National Football League (NFL). He was one of the f ...

's health began to decline. This culminated in Wilson officially naming Brandon as president on January 1, 2013, giving Brandon full control over the franchise.Brandon is the third person to serve as president of the Bills, after Wilson and Tom Donahoe. Since Wilson's retirement, Brandon had served as the team's representative in owners' meetings in lieu of Wilson, a position he continued even as his widow inherited the trust that held ownership of the team.

Buffalo Sabres

Shortly after

Terrence Pegula Terrence Michael Pegula (born March 27, 1951) is an American billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer. He is the owner of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and, with a consortium of private equity firms and athletes, th ...

purchased the Bills, Brandon was also assigned the role of president of the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

following the dismissal of previous president Ted Black on July 27, 2015. With his assumption of the Sabres role, Brandon also became president of the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Rochester, New York. They are the American Hockey League affiliate of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home g ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

. The change also changed Brandon's title with the Bills to that of "managing partner," but despite the title change, Brandon did not receive a partnership stake in the franchise (unlike predecessor

Larry Quinn Lawrence J. Quinn (born March 9, 1963) was an All-American lacrosse goaltender at the Johns Hopkins University from 1982 to 1985, leading the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1984 and 1985, and two additional ...

, who owned a share of the Sabres during his time of managing partner).

Resignation

Brandon announced his resignation from

Pegula Sports and Entertainment Pegula Sports & Entertainment (PSE) was an American sports and entertainment company based in Buffalo, New York. The company was established after billionaire Terry Pegula combined his sports, property and entertainment assets into one company. ...

on May 1, 2018. In a statement to the press, Brandon stated that the departure had been planned since he had reached 20 years with the Bills franchise in November 2017 and that he fulfilled his duties to the Bills and Sabres for the remainder of the season before tendering his resignation. A report in ''

The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. On January 29, 2020, th ...

'' claimed that Brandon had been subject to an internal investigation regarding inappropriate relationships with female employees; neither the Bills nor Brandon mentioned such in their statements. Pegula's wife Kim, already active in the Bills' operations as a part owner, took over Brandon's positions.

XFL/UFL

On November 8, 2021, Russ Brandon was named president of league and football operations of the XFL, succeeding the departing

Jeffrey Pollack Jeffrey Pollack (born 1965) is an American sports executive and business consultant. After a brief career in politics, Pollack moved into the industry of sports business where he's held executive roles with the NBA, NASCAR, World Series of Poke ...

. In July 2023, he also assumed the role of CEO for the league. Brandon became the President of the United Football League (UFL) when the XFL and USFL merged on December 31, 2023.

Filmography

* '' Draft Day'' (2014) (as himself)

Personal life

Brandon is from East Syracuse, New York, the son of Russell E. Brandon Jr. and Lydia Raflowski.Russell E. Brandon Jr. obituary
retrieved September 28, 2023 His brother Gregg Brandon was the executive vice president and general counsel for Pegula Sports and Entertainment. He is married to Amy Brandon.

Career

Early career

Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Sabres

Resignation

XFL/UFL

Filmography

Personal life

References

Notes

Further reading