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July 9, 2021 By: Mark Knudson

The Denver Broncos are for sale – What will John Elway do?

There’s a “For Sale” sign on the lawn in front of Denver Broncos HQ in Dove Valley. You might not be able to see it, but it’s there.

It won’t be too much longer before the Denver Broncos have a brand new owner. And no, it won’t be Brittany Bowlen.

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Team CEO Joe Ellis and the Broncos Trust, who’ve been running the team and dragging out the process of finding new ownership for years now – all so they could hold on to their current gigs – have finally run out of downs.

Time to punt.

The latest development – the postponing of the trail set to begin July 12^th that would have pitted the two eldest Bowlen siblings Beth and Aimee against the Trust – is the surest sign yet that a sale is eminent. The Bowlen daughters were set to kick the Trust’s tail in court, so a settlement was always likely to happen.

Roger Goodell and the NFL brass have run out of patience. Ellis’ propping up of the wet-behind-the-ears Brittany Bowlen as an owner in waiting may have fooled some fans and media who worship at the predominantly orange alter, but it was never going to happen.

When this finally became obvious to the league and they pulled back the curtain, they found Ellis and Company with puppet strings in hand. And they brought scissors. Now even Ellis has come to grips with the fact that the team has to be sold, and he will no longer be a part of running it.

This is all very good news for Broncos fans who have suffered through five-straight losing seasons under the Ellis regime. A change for the better is badly needed.

Sources say that the sale price for the Denver Broncos could be in the $5-7 BILLION range. That’s Billion with a B. Those same sources say as many as SIX potential buyers have already entered the picture.

When their names become public, none of those six will be named John Elway…but does that mean that the face of the franchise will no longer be involved in the team’s operations in any way?

If there was a Mt. Rushmore of Denver Broncos icons, it would have just one face – not four – on it. That’s because regardless of how great Floyd Little and other Hall of Famers were (and they certainly were) none were at Elway’s level, both as a player and an executive. He. Is. The. Man.

And now Number 7’s current tenure with the Broncos – he’s strictly a Vice President now – is set to come to an end at the conclusion of the coming season. At that point, he’ll collect a reported $30+ million “completion bonus” according to those sources. That’s a nice going away present. But is he really going away?

Isn’t it also possible that Elway turns that capital gain into a partial ownership share of the team? It’s no secret that he’s wanted to be an owner for some time. Is his time now?

Wouldn’t be the worst idea, especially if an out-of-towner wins the bidding war. It’s very unlikely that someone like Jeff Bezos would venture out of his comfort (Eastern time) zone to come to Denver, but if he did, he’d be foolish not to try to keep Elway involved.

On the other hand, if someone like the Anschutz family – Christian Anschutz is a Denver businessman and his father Phil a Denver native who’s the owner of the Los Angeles Kings, part owner of the LA Lakers and the Staples Center – won the bidding to own their hometown team, they’d probably want to proceed with a whole new crew in charge. You can’t really blame them for that.

Until the names are revealed, it’s all speculation of course, but it’s easy to deduce that if Elway were to stay involved, Peyton Manning wouldn’t be. Manning has also voiced desire to have a meaningful front office role. A partial ownership stake (and he can probably afford it too,) would scratch that itch. But the two Hall of Famers couldn’t co-exist in a front office any better than they could have coexisted in a huddle.

We can spend all day guessing as to who the new owner might be, but we had better also be hoping that he’s got at least some of the acumen that made Pat Bowlen the best owner in Denver sports history and one of the best ever, period.

You can’t put a price tag on that.