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(Bloomberg) -- The NFL’s Denver Broncos are for sale following a family legal feud.
Forbes Magazine ranked the Broncos as the 10th-most valuable NFL team at $3.75 billion last year.
“The Pat Bowlen Trust announced today the beginning of a sale process for the Denver Broncos,” said team President Joe Ellis in a statement Tuesday, referring to the trust established by the late Broncos owner.
The Broncos began playing in 1960 as an original franchise in the American Football League and joined the National Football League when the two merged in 1970. They finished their latest season with seven wins and 10 losses. The Broncos won the Super Bowl in 1998, 1999 and 2016.
The sale announcement follows a protracted court battle between family members of Bowlen, who died in 2019. Bowlen purchased the Broncos in 1984 for $78 million, according to Forbes.
Complex Sale
Bowlen, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, had surrendered control of the team to a trust and laid out the terms of succession. In July, a judge in Colorado, dismissed a lawsuit brought by two of Bowlen’s children that had contested his succession plan, The New York Times reported at the time.
“Selling an NFL team is a complex process involving numerous parties and league approval procedures,” Ellis said. “Nonetheless, the trustees hope to have the sale completed by the start of the 2022 NFL season.”
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said he hoped for a quick sale. “Settling the ownership situation is critical to getting the organization’s attention focused back to where it needs to be, which is fielding a successful and competitive football team that all of Broncos Country can continue to be proud of,” Hancock said in a statement.
The Forbes estimate of $3.7 billion is at the “low end” and bidding for the team, its stadium and a training facility could start at $4 billion, said Marc Ganis, president of the sports business consulting firm Sportscorp. Additionally, Ganis said he was confident they would stay in Denver.
That would make it the highest ever price paid for a U.S. professional sporting team, surpassing the previous record of $2.35 billion for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association, the Associated Press reported. The last NFL team to change hands, the Carolina Panthers, sold for $2.28 billion, AP reported.
Steve Greenberg of Allen & Company will be the financial advisor and Joe Leccese of Proskauer Rose LLP will serve as legal adviser for the transition of ownership.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
