Tag: Carrie Penner

Meet the new Broncos ownership group

The Bowlen era has come to an end. Here are the Broncos’ new owners.

The Bowlen era has come to an end in Denver.

NFL owners met Tuesday and unanimously voted in favor of a new Broncos ownership group led by Rob Walton, who agreed to pay $4.65 billion to the Bowlen family to purchase the team earlier this summer.

The late Pat Bowlen bought the team from Edgar Kaiser Jr. for $70 million in 1984. Denver’s NFL franchise went on to win three Super Bowls under Bowlen’s leadership before he died in 2019 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

After Bowlen’s death, the team was run by a trust led in part by team president/CEO Joe Ellis. Bowlen’s children could not agree on a controlling owner among them, so the trust put the team up for sale earlier this year.

Tuesday’s approved sale marks the end of the Bowlen ownership era. Here’s a quick look at the team’s new ownership group that will be led by Walton starting this season.

Greg and Carrie Penner expected to handle Broncos’ day-to-day operations

Rob Walton will become the Broncos’ new majority owner, but Greg and Carrie Penner are expected to handle the team’s day-to-day operations.

The Denver Broncos will soon have a new majority owner: Walmart heir Rob Walton, a 77-year-old businessman. He’s the son of late Walmart founder Sam Walton.

Walton led a group that has agreed to purchase the team for $4.65 billion, pending NFL approval. As the controlling owner, Walton will pay at least 30% of the purchase price ($1.395 billion), and possibly more.

Walton’s daughter, Carrie Walton-Penner, and his son-in-law, Greg Penner, are also joining the team’s new ownership group as minority investors. Mellody Hobson is expected to join as well.

Carrie, 51, and Greg, 52, are “expected to be the top two day-to-day Broncos bosses,” according to a report from KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis. They currently live in California but the Penners have lived in Colorado in the past and they will presumably do so again as the team’s new day-to-day owners.

Greg has served as the chairman of Walmart since 2015, which is when Rob retired from that position.

Klis also reported that one or two of Rob Walton’s grandchildren could also be involved in ownership, a sign that the team will be a family business, just like Walmart.

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Pending new Broncos ownership group will include Mellody Hobson

Mellody Hobson, 53, is the co-CEO of Ariel Investments.

A group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton has agreed to buy the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion, pending NFL approval.

Walton will be the majority owner. His daughter, Carrie Walton Penner, and his son-in-law, Greg Penner, will become minority owners.

The Walton-Penner group announced Tuesday evening that Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson will also be joining ownership.

Hobson is a 53-year-old businesswoman with an impressive resume.

“Beyond her role at Ariel, Mellody is an influential leader in corporate and civic organizations across the nation,” Rob Walton said in a press release.

“Mellody currently serves as Chair of the Board of Starbucks Corporation and is also a director of JPMorgan Chase. We know she will bring her strategic acumen and leadership perspective to our team.”

After the Broncos announced they were going up for sale in February, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league wanted the team to sell to a diverse ownership group.

The team’s pending new ownership group includes two women in Carrie Walton Penner and Mellody Hobson, the latter a Black minority owner.

Hobson and her husband, George Lucas, live in California with their daughter, Everest.

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