Tag: Broncos Owner

Report: Magic Johnson joining group bidding to buy Broncos

Magic Johnson has joined a Josh Harris-led group that’s bidding to buy the Broncos.

The list of millionaires (and billionaires) interested in buying the Denver Broncos is growing.

Five-time NBA champion Earvin “Magic” Johnson is joining a group led by Josh Harris that’s bidding to buy the Broncos, according to a report from Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico.com. Harris is a co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Johnson is already a co-owner of MLB, MLS and WNBA teams. Interestingly, Johnson is part of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group with Todd Boehly, who is also leading a group bidding for Denver’s NFL franchise.

The fact that Johnson’s not joining Boehly’s group is presumably a sign that the ex-NBA star believes the Harris group has a better chance of winning the bid. That might be because Boehly is considered the favorite to buy English soccer club Chelsea. If Boehly’s bid for Chelesea is successful, it might be difficult to also pay a record-breaking price for the Broncos.

All of this would be a moot point, of course, if Walmart heir Rob Walton submits a bid for Denver that no other group could come close to matching. Given his net worth of about $70 billion, Walton is considered the favorite to buy the Broncos.

Five groups — including Walton, Boehly and Harris/Johnson — have advanced to the next stage of bidding for the team. The Broncos are hoping to complete a sale before the start of the 2022 season.

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Walmart heir Rob Walton considered the favorite to buy Broncos

With an estimated net worth of $70.5 billion, Rob Walton could easily outbid any of the other known candidates who are interested in buying the Broncos.

Walmart heir Rob Walton is considered the favorite to become the next owner of the Denver Broncos, according to Josh Kosman of The New York Post.

Walton, 77, is the oldest son of late Walmart founder Sam Walton. With an estimated net worth of $70.5 billion, Walton could easily outbid any of the other known candidates who are interested in buying the team.

The Carolina Panthers were the most recent NFL team to be sold, going for $2.2 billion in 2018, but a sale of the Broncos could double that. Walton is believed to have already submitted a bid north of $4 billion, according to The Post. If successful, that would be the most expensive purchase in U.S. sports history.

Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke — whose family also owns the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Rapids (among other sports teams) — is married to Walton’s cousin, Ann.

Walton became Walmart’s chairman after his father’s death in 1992 and he held that role until retiring in 2015. Walton was born in Oklahoma and he now lives in Arizona.

The Broncos have said they hope to complete a sale of the team before the 2022 NFL season begins in September.

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Todd Boehly a potential candidate to bid for Denver Broncos

Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Lakers and Dodgers, is said to be interested in bidding for the Broncos.

Todd Boehly is “interested in a possible bid” for the Denver Broncos, according to a report from the New York Post‘s Josh Kosman.

Boehly, 46, is the co-founder, chairman and CEO Eldridge Industries. He holds degrees from the College of William & Mary and the London School of Economics. Estimates of Boehly’s net worth vary, but he is believed to be worth about $5 billion.

The Broncos are expected to be sold for $4 billion or more, and they have drawn interest from multiple billionaires.

Boehly is already heavily invested in sports. He is a part-owner of teams including the Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB) and Los Angeles Lakers (NBA). He is also part-owner of DraftKings, an official daily fantasy sports partner of the NFL.

In addition to baseball, basketball and football, Boehly has also attempted to enter the soccer world. In 2019, he tried to buy English Premier League soccer team Chelsea F.C., and he might try again.

Chelsea’s current owner is Russian billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich, who has had his assets frozen by the British government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Before those sanctions, Abramovich was attempting to sell the soccer team. If Chelsea is sold, Boehly would presumably have interest once again.

Boehly grew up in Maryland and he now lives in Connecticut.

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NFL has a new stipulation for parties who want to bid for Broncos

Anyone who wants to bid for the Broncos has to be fully capitalized up front, according to new NFL stipulations.

The Denver Broncos are up for sale and the team is expected to go for $4 billion or more, setting a new record sale price for a sports franchise in the United States.

Even some of the billionaires planning to bid for the team wouldn’t be able to pay that much on their own, so many of the individuals interested in buying the team are teaming up with potential ownership groups.

The NFL is fine with ownership groups — many already exist in the league — but they have a new stipulation for parties interested in the Broncos.

Anyone bidding for Denver’s NFL franchise must have their financing in order at the time of bidding, according to a report from The Athletic‘s Daniel Kaplan (subscription required for link).

The Broncos’ auction-style sale will award the team to the highest bidder, and the NFL wants assurance that the winning (highest) bid will be able to promptly hand over the money.

This new stipulation will ensure that the league won’t miss out on a higher bid that’s not fully capitalized. When David Tepper purchased the Carolina Panthers in 2018, he did not make the highest bid, but the NFL chose him in part because his bid was fully capitalized.

The league is now aiming to prevent that from happening in the Broncos sale, hence the new rule of having funds available at bidding time.

More than two dozen individuals can co-own a team, but the league requires a majority owner/family to acquire at least 30% of the franchise, as has been pointed out by ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio.

In a $4 billion sale, 30% would be $1.2 billion. Owners can also assume up to $1 billion in debt while purchasing a team, so the majority owner could hypothetically contribute $2.2 billion, with the remaining $1.8 billion coming from partner investors.

The team’s looming sale has attracted a growing list of potential bidders, with Peyton Manning and John Elway both interested in minority ownership. The Broncos hope to complete a sale before the 2022 NFL season begins.

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WATCH: Byron Allen talks bid for Broncos on ‘CBS Sunday Morning’

‘CBS Sunday Morning’ aired a feature on Byron Allen earlier this week. You can watch the full interview here.

Media mogul Byron Allen plans to bid for the Denver Broncos, who are expected to be sold for more than $4 billion this offseason.

Allen appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning” earlier this week to talk with Lee Cowan about his entrepreneurship, his bid for the team and more. The full interview can be seen in the above video.

Allen is one of three parties who have publicly expressed interest in buying the team, but many more investors are weighing bids privately. More names should be revealed in the coming months.

The Broncos hope to complete a sale before the 2022 NFL season.

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Cryptocurrency group wants to buy the Broncos

A cryptocurrency group wants to buy the Broncos, with support from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. “I would be excited to be part of it myself,” Gov. Polis told CNBC.

A group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts that includes “attorneys, accountants, software developers, pro athletes, and at least one mathematician” wants to buy the Denver Broncos, according to a report from CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos.

The group plans to launch a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in early March under the name “BuyTheBroncos.” Their goal is to raise $4 billion to purchase the team.

“We know it sounds a bit crazy, but it’s also a bit badass,” Sean O’Brien, one of the groups leaders, told CNBC. “The purpose essentially is to establish an infrastructure so that fans from all walks of life can be owners of the Denver Broncos.”

The idea has even drawn support from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

“I would be excited to be part of it myself,” Gov. Polis told CNBC.

While the idea sounds intriguing, it might be more of a publicity stunt than a practical attempt to purchase the NFL franchise.

“While having a fan-owned Denver Broncos in a DAO-based system would be amazing, that isn’t our final goal,” O’Brien told CNBC. “We want this effort to essentially open up peoples’ eyes to what a DAO can do in the real world and make a tangible connection between this web3 life and the real world. Our thought is that it accelerates DAO adoption for solving real-world problems such as food scarcity or unhoused peoples.”

League rules allow up to 24 people to co-own an NFL team, but every ownership group has to have a principal owner with at least a 30% stake. That rule might complicate the crypto group’s potential bid for the team.

Anyone who can come up with the money has a chance to bid, though, so if “BuyTheBroncos” secures the funds, it might be a group to watch.

The Broncos hope to complete a sale of the team before the 2022 season.

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Broncos potential owner tracker: Who will buy the team?

From Byron Allen to Peyton Manning to Kwanza Jones, many names have been linked to Broncos ownership. We are tracking all of the buzz here.

The Denver Broncos are officially up for sale and the team is expected to be sold for more than $4 billion. The Broncos are hoping to complete a sale before the 2022 NFL season, but the process could take months to finalize.

We will be tracking all of the latest developments on the ownership front on this page in the coming weeks and months.

Confirmed interest

1. Byron Allen
2. John Elway
3. Crypto group supported by Gov. Jared Polis

Reported interest

1. Alec Gores, Dean Metropoulos and Mat Ishbia
2. Behdad Eghbali, Jose Feliciano and Kwanza Jones
3. Josh Harris
4. Peyton Manning

Rumored interest

1. Kanye West
2. Jay-Z

Not interested, per reports

1. Robert F. Smith
2. Jeff Bezos

Pat Bowlen and his family purchased the Broncos from Edgar Kaiser in 1984. Bowlen stepped down from his day-to-day duties in 2014 due to his battle with Alzheimer’s disease, and he died in 2017.

Since Bowlen stepped down, the team has been controlled by the Pat Bowlen Trust, led in part by team president/CEO Joe Ellis. The team’s next owner will assume control of the team.

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Antonio Brown’s tweets suggest Kanye West wants to buy the Broncos

It appears that Kanye West is interested in buying the Broncos, if Antonio Brown’s tweets are to be believed.

The Denver Broncos are up for sale and it appears that they have drawn interest from a company represented by an unexpected suitor — free agent wide receiver Antonio Brown.

Brown, 33, has been one of the NFL’s best receivers of the last decade, but his seemingly disruptive antics have resulted in him bouncing between four different teams over the last four seasons.

Brown was cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January after the receiver had a bizarre outburst during a game against the New York Jets.

Brown now serves as the president of Donda Sports, which was founded by music mogul Kanye West (who is now known as “Ye”).

The Broncos will be sold to the highest bidder, pending NFL approval (a majority of owners have to sign off on the team’s next owner).

Candidates to buy Denver’s NFL franchise include Hollywood mogul Byron Allen and an investment group that includes Dean Metropoulos. John Elway and Peyton Manning are also interested in becoming minority owners.

It remains to be seen if Brown’s tweets will foreshadow any actual interest from Ye and his company.

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Following request from Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft, Byron Allen plans to bid for Broncos

With endorsements from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Hollywood mogul Byron Allen plans to bid for the Broncos, according to Bloomberg.

Hollywood mogul Byron Allen plans to bid for the Denver Broncos, according to a report from Kamaron Leach of Bloomberg (subscription required for link).

“NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft came to me in November 2019 and asked me to take a good look at buying an NFL team,” Allen said in a statement. “And after serious consideration, I strongly believe I can help effectuate positive changes throughout the league. And for that reason, I will be making a bid for the Denver Broncos.”

Allen, 60, started working as a stand-up comedian at age 14 before later making his TV debut at age 18. He launhced his own show in 1992 and it aired for 21 seasons. He founded Entertainment Studios in 1993 and later acquired The Weather Channel in 2018. One year later, he teamed up with Sinclair to purchase Fox Sports Networks (now Bally Sports).

Allen could not afford to buy the team on his own, but Bloomberg reports he is assembling an investment group that could pay $3-$4 billion for the NFL franchise.

The Broncos hope to complete a sale before the 2022 NFL season.

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Report: Group including Alec Gores plans to bid for Broncos

An investment group of three men — Alec Gores, Dean Metropoulos and Mat Ishbia — plan to bid to buy the Broncos, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Denver Broncos are for sale, and candidates to buy the team are starting to emerge.

An investment group of three men — California’s Alec Gores, Florida’s Dean Metropoulos and Michigan’s Mat Ishbia — have a “planned bid” for the Broncos, according to a report from Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.

Gores, 69, is the founder, chairman and CEO of The Gores Group, a private equity firm that buys and sells companies.

Metropoulos, 75, is the chairman and CEO of C. Dean Metropoulos and Company, known for owning Hostess Brands and for buying and later selling the Pabst Brewing Company.

Ishbia, 42, is the president and CEO of UWM Holdings, a wholesale mortgage lender.

The trio are worth a combined $10 billion, according to an estimate from Forbes. Denver’s NFL franchise will likely be sold for $4 billion or more.

“It is uncertain whether the three men would consider additional investors” for their bid, according to Shaikin. Peyton Manning and John Elway are both interested in joining the team’s next potential ownership group.

The Broncos hope to complete a sale before the 2022 NFL season.

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