An NFL team is about to gain new ownership. According to Sportico, the Denver Broncos have had meetings with “sell-side bankers,” which indicates that are getting ready to sell the team. Yahoo Sports reports that at least four different groups have met with the team that is currently controlled by the trust of late owner Pat Bowlen. Team spokesman Patrick Smythe told Yahoo Sports that the Broncos are “currently not for sale.”
“As [team CEO and Bowlen trustee] Joe Ellis said in July, the ownership transition will be addressed at some point after the season,” Smythe said. Sportico recently valued the Broncos at $3.8 billion which ranks 11th in the NFL. The franchise is currently being controlled by Patrick D. Bowlen Trust which was established in 2019. Bowlen died without announcing which of his even children would be the owner. Bowlen’s children own 11% of the team, and some of them want the team to be sold. Other children want to Broncos to stay in the family, which could mean Brittany Bowlen could be the controlling owner if it happens.
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Pat Bowlen died in 2019 at the age of 75. He gave up day-to-day operations in 2014 as he was battling Alzheimer’s disease. “As many in the Denver community and around the National Football League have speculated, my husband, Pat, has very bravely and quietly battled Alzheimer’s disease for the last few years,” his wife Annabel said in a statement at the time, per CBS Denver. “He has elected to keep his condition private because he has strongly believed, and often said, ‘It’s not about me.’”
Bill Bowlen, Pat’s younger brother spoke to CBS Denver about the impending sale and revealed it has torn the family apart. “It didn’t have to happen this way, that’s what really gets me,” Bill said. “It’s really sad that this has been able to tear a family apart the way it has, and that really hurts.”
The Bowlen family purchased the Broncos from Edgar Kaiser in 1984. Under the leadership of Bowlen, the Broncos won seven conference championships and three Super Bowls. The team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. They joined the NFL as part of the merger in 1970.ย
