Topline
A family consortium led by Walmart heir Rob Walton has agreed to buy the Denver Broncos for a reported sum of $4.65 billion, putting an end to several years of court battles and family drama surrounding the ownership of one of the NFL’s most successful franchises.
A family consortium led by Walmart heir Rob Walton has agreed to acquire the Denver Broncos.
Key Facts
In an official statement announcing the sale, Broncos President and CEO Joe Ellis said he was confident the group will help the team “achieve great things on and off the field.”
In the statement, Walton said he was “thrilled” to move forward with the purchase, adding that his family has always admired the Broncos.
Besides Walton, the new ownership group includes his daughter Carrie Walton Penner, her husband and Walmart chairman Greg Penner and Mellody Hobson the co-CEO of Ariel Investments.
The Walton-Penner family’s bid to acquire the team was one of four which had progressed to a second round earlier this week, according to ESPN.
The deal is still subject to approval from the NFL and will need to garner at least 24 favorable votes from the owners of the other 31 NFL teams.
Big Number
$58.2 Billion. That is the current net worth of Rob Walton, according to Forbes’ real time tracker. If the deal goes through, Walton would become the richest owner of an NFL team, overtaking Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper whose current net worth stands at $16.7 billion.
News Peg
The deal’s reported $4.65 billion value would make this the biggest sale in the history of North American sport, according to ESPN. The previous record for an NFL team sale was Tepper’s 2018 purchase of the Panthers for $2.3 billion. In 2020, billionaire and hedge fund magnate Steven Cohen bought the New York Mets baseball team for $2.4 billion.
Key Background
The sale was carried out by a group of trustees representing the team’s now deceased former owner Pat Bowlen. It had been the subject of a major feud and court cases in the Bowlen family. In 2014, Bowlen handed over control of the team to a board of trustees after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The trustees were in charge of deciding whether the team should be sold to new owners or handed over to a member of Bowlen’s family. This triggered infighting among members of Bowlen’s family, prompting the trustees to move forward with a sale. Two of Bowlen’s daughters attempted to halt the sale by filing a lawsuit which was eventually dismissed even before a trial in 2021. The franchise was officially put up for sale in February.
Further Reading
Walmart Heir Rob Walton Agrees to Buy Denver Broncos for $4.65 Billion (Wall Street Journal)
Denver Broncos NFL team sale: The bidders, price, timeline and everything we know (ESPN)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/06/08/group-led-by-walmart-heir-rob-walton-agrees-to-buy-denver-broncos-for-465-billion/