Denver Broncos are likely to go on sale in ’22, but the high price tag will test the strict rules for NFL owners – The Athletic

There is general consensus in NFL and sports banking circles that the Denver Broncos will go on sale after the season ends. An investment banker advising a potential buyer assured that he would start an auction early next year.

The seven heirs of the owner Pat Bowlen, who died in 2019, have to agree on which of them is the controlling partner in order to keep the club out of the market according to his will, and this goal seems hopeless. Two of his daughters filed a lawsuit in July contesting his will in what appears to be paving the way for a sale.

The more interesting question is not so much whether the Broncos are meant for a sale, but whether that would be the first test of whether the NFL’s conservative ownership rules are finally clashing with skyrocketing ratings. According to reports, a Broncos sale is valued at $ 4 billion, almost double the last sale by an NFL team – the Carolina Panthers, in 2018. Even assuming the NFL bends its debt ceiling, and say one billion US dollars in debt, there aren’t many who are able and willing to raise $ 3 billion in cash.

“They tell me who can write a check like that,” asked a banker, considering the hypothetical $ 3 billion breakdown, “That’s why it’s a fundamental issue.”

The first name that always comes up is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (and there’s no doubt he could cut the check).