Today, it has been made official that the Denver Broncos are up for sale. While this has long been expected, the announcement confirms the beginning of the sale process, which could very well end up as the most lucrative in NFL – if not North American professional sports – history.
[Related: Broncos To Be Sold]
In a pair of tweets, the team relayed statements from president Joe Ellis and the Pat Bowlen family. The former notes that the franchise has retained Steve Greenberg as a financial advisor and Joe Leccese as legal advisor for the sale process, which the team hopes to have finished by the beginning of the 2022 season. It concludes: “The Broncos are a special franchise that is part of the fabric of this region and whoever emerges as the new owner will certainly understand what the team means to our great fans and this community”.
The latter, meanwhile, acknowledges the fanbase’s role in the team’s success during Bowlen’s tenure as owner and CEO: “our family is overwhelmed with gratitude for what this organization and community have meant to us. There are truly no words to express our deep appreciation to all of Broncos Country for its unwavering support during the past four decades”. It continues, “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for this incredible ride. It has been the honor of our lifetime”.
As Ryan O’Halloran of the Denver Post details, this sale will be somewhat unique in that it is an auction, the proceeds of which will go from trustees to the beneficiaries (seven of Bowlen’s eight children). Again, that was already know prior to today, but it is part of the reason this sale is expected to be so lucrative. It is widely believed, and has been for quite some time, that the price will end up around the $4B mark, part of which may be covered by Broncos icon John Elway. That figure would easily break the NFL record for sale price, which was set in 2018 when David Tepper bought the Panthers for $2.275B. It would also eclipse the North American record of $2.35B, set by the Brooklyn Nets’ sale.
I bid one dollar!
Maybe if everyone on this site pools their money together, we can form an ownership group?
I doubt Goodell wants an ownership group of several hundred people who can rarely agree on anything.
crosseyedlemon Hey, we can’t possibly do any worse of a job as owners then Dan Snyder, and Goodell’s cool with him.
Goodell actually demoted Danny Boy below his wife Tanya just to humiliate him.
I wonder if there is a reserve price? It’s not like the list of potential buyers is that long.
Most teams are owned by ownership groups. Whoever you know as the “owner” for most teams actually just owns a pluriality share, not the whole thing. Could be a small amount just larger than all the other owners. So it just takes a bunch of millionaires to get together, not necessarily only the richest of the rich.
In addition, banks, hedge funds etc.. would be willing to help finance such deals. Almost guaranteed Broncos will be able to pay their creditors back just fine, so it’s low risk.
All this to say the pool of possible owners is much larger than you think. But it takes a while to get together this much capital which is why if you want to buy the team you likely would’ve started the process months ago, which is why there’s already like 6 or 7 known possible ownership groups who will be bidding. It’s still possible for a Jeff Bezos type ultra billionaire to get in the action, they don’t need to do much to get all the money. And there could still be time for other ownership groups to try and form but time is running out on that front, quickly
Somehow I don’t see Goodell being impressed by a hedge fund manager who is offering financial backing with Dogecoin or Game Stop shares.
Homer Simpson is finally selling the Broncos?
That joke never made sense, actually, the Broncos were pretty darn good in the decade prior.
Every team has drown years no one can keep it going forever . Fans are just grumpy . They good with elway and they were good when manning came .
More The Simpsons’ writers than fans, but…
link to youtube.com
Maybe throw in the Rockies!!
They’re trying to RAISE the value of the proposition, not lower it…
Damn, that’s a lot of money. I would imagine that includes the stadium and auxiliary real estate.
A lifetime supply of Coors beer should also be part of the deal.
Cheers to that!
The article states that it’s an auction, but does a potential buyer have to pass some sort of “fit for ownership” test? Or will the winner just be the highest bidder? What if the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund that just purchased the English Premier League club Newcastle, bid on the team and won the auction, would the NFL move forward with that or are there other factors in play here beyond money?
Government entities can’t own the team.
With the exception of the GB Pcakers who were grandfather in.
MLB owners, as other leagues, have to approve the sale of any team. So if some creep ownership group tried to buy it, you’d imagine there would be media coverage and owners would be pressured against it, among many other reasons to vote against them.
So with all that said, I’m sure anyone could bid. But it could waste the team many months and cost them millions of dollars if they don’t vet the potential bidders ahead of time and exclude anyone who doesn’t pass the vetting process. So they do.
Can you break a nickel?
Eleventy Billion Dollars