Report: Broncos sale expected to fetch at least $4.5 billion

The Broncos’ sale will go where no team in North American professional sports has gone before — to a tally that could approach $5 billion.

According to Ben Fischer of Sports Businesss Journal, the Pat Bowlen Trust expects to receive “multiple bids” of at least $4.5 billion next Monday. That is when the second round of bids is due from at least four groups.

Multiple bids of $4.5B or higher are expected on Monday in the Broncos sale, source tells me.

Depending on how much space there is between bids, things could move quickly from there.

— Ben Fischer (@BenFischerSBJ) June 1, 2022

The projected purchase price will shatter the previous North American record of $2.3 billion. Hedge-fund manager David Tepper paid that figure for the Carolina Panthers in 2018. A bid of at least $4.6 billion would double the previous record.

Per KUSA-Ch. 9’s Mike Klis, the race for the Broncos is down to four groups. Representatives of each group met with Broncos officials and toured Empower Field at Mile High and UCHealth Training Center in recent weeks.

• A group led by Josh Harris, who holds controlling interest in the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and Crystal Palace F.C. of the Premier League. One member of his partnership is Fanatics owner Michael Rubin. Another is ex-NBA star Earvin “Magic” Johnson, a minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers of MLB.
• S. Robson Walton and Greg Penner, the former and current chairmen of Walmart. Walton is the son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. With a net worth of at least $70 billion per various estimates, Walton would become the wealthiest owner in the NFL if he and Penner are successful.
• A group led by Clearlake Capital co-founder Jose Feliciano. Also involved is another Clearlake co-founder, Behdad Eghbali. Eldridge Industries co-founder and chairman Todd Boehly joins them. Boehly is the point person of this consortium’s recent purchase of Premier League club Chelsea F.C. According to Klis, Feliciano would be the managing partner if this group’s bid is successful.
• Mat and Justin Ishbia. Mat Ishbia Is the chairman of United Wholesale Mortgage. The net worth of the siblings is estimated at between $6 and $12.4 billion.

A group led by television executive Byron Allen has also been connected with the ownership derby. But according to Klis, Allen and his group have not visited Broncos headquarters.

If the Feliciano-Eghbali-Boehly bid is successful, that group will have pulled off the two most expensive purchases in team-sports history within weeks of each other. Last month, Boehly and the associates at Clearlake Capital purchased Chelsea for £4.25 billion — which is $5.31 billion in American dollars.

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