With a new coach in play, it’s time to go looking for a new owner.
Via Sports Business Daily, the Broncos have hired both a banker and a law firm for its looming sale. Allen & Co. will do the deal, and Proskauer will handle the legal side of the transaction.
Forbes has placed a value of $3.75 billion on the franchise. Ultimately, however, it’s worth whatever someone will pay for it. With gambling-related revenue expected to nudge values higher and higher, someone could place a premium on purchasing the Broncos.
Proskauer represented Panthers founder Jerry Richardson in 2018, when he sold the team for $2.28 billion. That’s the most recent sale of any NFL team.
Pat Bowlen, who died in 2019, bought the team in 1984. His seven children own roughly 11 percent each, with Bowlen’s brother, John, holding the remainder.
During his battle with Alzheimers disease, Pat Bowlen placed the team into trust. The three trustees were tasked with identifying which of the seven children would be best suited to running the organization. Although they eventually targeted Brittany Bowlen, in-fighting among children from two different Bowlen marriages prevented the seven heirs from getting on the same page, necessitating a sale of the team.
The impetus for the sale was the league’s recent insistence that all teams have one controlling owner, with clear and undisputed power to speak on behalf of the franchise. The NFL’s position on this dynamic helped clean up a long-simmering ownership issue in Tennessee, without an external sale. In Denver, the league’s demand for one owner in charge means that the franchise will be getting a new one.