(Englewood) The Denver Broncos are looking for a new owner in what is expected to be the most lucrative team sale in American sports history.
Posted at 5:35 p.m.
The Pat D. Bowlen Trust announced on Tuesday that it was “at the start of a sale process”.
The Broncos are valued at four billion and the auction could take the sale price well beyond that figure.
The highest price paid for an American professional club is 2.35 billion, paid in 2019 for the Brooklyn Nets by Alibaba Group co-founder Joe Tsai.
In 2018, David Tepper bought the Carolina Panthers for $2.275 billion.
Bowlen died in 2019, a month before his Hall of Fame induction, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Several years earlier, he had appointed a three-person trust to determine the future of the organization.
Denver hopes to have a new owner by the start of next season, team president and CEO Joe Ellis said.
The value of NFL rosters has skyrocketed as a result of new broadcast deals and the league welcoming sports betting with open arms.
The Broncos have appeared in seven Super Bowl games since 1984, when Bowlen bought the team from Edgar Kaiser.
General manager George Paton was hired a year ago when John Elway took over football operations.
Last week, Paton hired Nathaniel Hackett as head coach, replacing Vic Fangio.
Elway and Peyton Manning, who has lived in Denver since retirement, could be minority partners in a new owner.
The Broncos won the Super Bowl in 1998 and 1999, with Elway as their quarterback. They also triumphed in 2016 with Elway at the top and Manning at center in his last career game.
The club lost its last four games this season, finishing the campaign with a 7-10 record.