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Jeff Bezos or Jay-Z: Denver Broncos owners?

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When the CEO and president of the team of Denver BroncosJoe Ellis said there would be a “Timely transition of ownership in 2022”It surely didn’t mean that a hip-hop mogul or the world’s richest human being would be interested in buying the franchise.

“I can’t put in an exact deadline, but trust me, we have to figure it out,” Ellis said on July 27, 2021, just hours before the Broncos began preseason.

Ellis has led the team since 2014, when Pat Bowling got away from the team’s control due to a battle with Alzheimer’s. Bowlen passed away on June 13, 2019, just a couple of months before he was posthumously inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame.

Pat Bowlen’s family disengages from Broncos management

During that July press conference, Ellis explained that “the equipment was not for sale.” He noted that there were still several options for the ownership transition, including one of Bowlen’s daughters, Brittany Bowlen, vice president of Strategic Initiatives for the Broncos, to be the majority owner.

“Selling the team is always possible, obviously,” Ellis said at the time. “If you’re going to stay in the family, Brittany is really the other option.”

Ellis added that, ultimately, the “goal of the Pat Bowlen Trust is timely, responsible and orderly ownership.” Ellis’s goal was to “set a timeline for everyone for a property transition to take place next year before the start of the season.”

Here hip-hop legend Jay-Z comes into action. The man who says he has 99 problems would be helping a franchise he really likes.

When Bowlen passed away, his wish was, as stipulated in his trust, for the Broncos to remain in his family to be operated by his children or, ultimately, to have weight in the day-to-day operations. However, his family does not seem very interested in taking the reins of the team.

A report of September 13, 2021 by AJ Pérezof Front Office Sports said Jay-Z was among the suitors interested in buying the Broncos. The estimated value of the Broncos is $ 3.75 billion (the 10th highest in the NFL), and Perez noted that the new owner would pay roughly $ 4 billion. The median value of an NFL franchise grew 14% across the league, based on Forbes’ NFL Franchise Value Range in 2021. The value of the Broncos is up 17% over the past year.

Jay-Z should partner with a group of investors to make the purchase

Jay-Z has a net worth of $ 1.4 billion, a not inconsiderable amount, but you would probably need to find a partnership through a group of investors. Your involvement is likely to be similar to that of other ex-athletes and celebrities joining forces with an investment group to buy a franchise. Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez (with a net worth of $ 400 million) did just that when he teamed up with e-commerce billionaire Marc Lore. to be majority shareholder of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA and the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA in two years.

Jay-Z has a significantly higher net worth than Rodriguez, but would still need a partnership.

Jeff Bezos would have no problem buying the franchise

However, there is one guy who won’t need to partner with investors and can buy pretty much anything he wants: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

If the Broncos were priced at $ 4 billion, it would be the biggest sale by a professional sports franchise in history. Joe Tsai acquired the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center for $ 2.4 billion in September 2019.

Bezos, the richest person in the world, has a net worth of $ 200.9 billion. Buying the Broncos for $ 4 billion is a pittance for him. Pérez pointed out that Bezos has already shown interest in meeting with the NFL’s group of owners, since he had conversations in February 2021 to buy a 40% stake in the Washington football team.

Pérez maintains that a source with knowledge of the situation told Front Office Sports that Bezos “is still interested in buying a team in the NFL.”

Joe Pompliano from Huddle Up, a daily newsletter that reports on sports money and business, tweeted that if Bezos entered the game, the $ 4 billion “would only be about 2% of his net worth.”

So it seems safe to say that if Jay-Z or Bezos become the Broncos’ next owner, the team could grow sportingly and stop suffering financially.

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