Is the Denver Broncos Franchise Worth $4 Billion?

The business might be for sale.

It is a rare occurrence when a National Football League team is for sale. But that appears to be the case as the people running The Patrick D. Bowlen Trust, the ownership group of the Denver Broncos, have decided to hire an investment firm, Allen & Co., to explore the options in the possible sale of the business. Whoever is interested in buying the Denver Broncos business better have some serious cash. It may take as much as $4 billion to get the franchise. The Denver business could be the first NFL franchise to be on the market since 2017. Carolina owner Jerry Richardson ran into problems when he was accused of sexual misconduct and uttering a racial slur about a scout. Richardson announced he would step aside and sell the business in December of 2017. David Tepper purchased the franchise for $2.2 billion six months later. In 1993, Richardson and his partners paid $140 million for the right to own an expansion franchise in Charlotte, North Carolina. The NFL expanded by two markets that year, Jacksonville, Florida backers also paid $140 million. The two franchises hit the field in 1995.

The cost of an NFL franchise quickly accelerated after that. In 1998, Al Lerner paid $530 million for the Cleveland expansion franchise. Jimmy Haslam would buy the Cleveland franchise in 2012 for $1.58 billion. In 1999, Robert McNair purchased the right to operate a Houston franchise in the NFL for a record $700 million expansion fee. The first billion-dollar transaction was in 2009 when Stephen Ross paid a little more than a billion dollars buying Wayne Huizenga’s Miami Dolphins business. There are a number of people who apparently are interested in the Broncos business. NFL teams are profitable thanks to numerous revenue streams. Denver is a good middle size market but is the business worth $4 billion?

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