OWNERSHIP SHIFT
Bowlen sibling to sell shares back
The Denver Broncos are staying in the Bowlen family for the foreseeable future.
Nearly five months after John Bowlen, the brother of Broncos majority owner Pat Bowlen, announced his intention to sell his non-voting minority interest in the team, he and the Broncos have agreed that a portion of his stake would be sold back to the team.
“The Denver Broncos have reached an agreement to purchase a portion of minority owner John Bowlen’s share of the team, pending final approval from the NFL that is expected in the next few days,” the team said in a statement.
“This transaction further consolidates Pat Bowlen’s majority,
ownership interest in the Broncos while keeping 100 percent of the team in the Bowlen family. The acquisition of this share is independent of Mr. Bowlen’s succession plan that is being administered by the Pat Bowlen Trust. John has been a great partner for many years, and we are very pleased he will remain a minority owner of the Denver Broncos.”
Out of respect for John Bowlen, the team declined to state the percentage they bought back and the purchase price, but the cost of the transaction is undoubtedly significant. According to Forbes magazine, the team is valued at $2.6 billion, a steep jump from the $78 million Pat Bowlen and his siblings paid Edgar Kaiser in 1984.
The transaction is separate from the team’s succession plan, which anticipates Pat Bowlen’s controlling ownership will be passed down to his children provided one of them earns the right to be the controlling owner.
But the move has notable implications for the team, for Pat Bowlen and his children, for John Bowlen, and for the Broncos’ future.
Pat Bowlen, the sole controlling owner of the team, stepped down in 2014 because of Alzheimer’s and his ownership was placed in a trust overseen by trustees Rich Slivka, the Broncos’ general counsel; Mary Kelly, a Denver attorney; and Joe Ellis, the Broncos’ president and CEO. Ellis, however, is Controlling Owner Delegee and makes the final decisions on the day-to-day operations of the team.
Though John Bowlen’s interest is a non-voting share, buying back a portion of his stake keeps 100 percent of the team within the Bowlen family and essentially enlarges the pie that will be split equally among Pat’s seven children if and when the team’s ownership is passed down to them. (The trust has the authority to sell the franchise, but it has stated repeatedly that it hopes to appoint one Bowlen child controlling owner when he or she has proven capable.)
The move also keeps John Bowlen as a significant minority owner and a key piece of the team’s overall ownership. Over the years, John has become a well-re- spected partner of the team and he is not expected to sell his remaining interest for the foreseeable future.
Most notably, though, it prevents a non-Bowlen from joining the ownership group. It was Pat Bowlen’s wish to keep the team within the family and, for now, it will. The deal will be officially filed with the league in the next few days.
Since Pat Bowlen purchased the team from Kaiser, he has bought back his brother William Bowlen’s interest and his sister Mary Elizabeth Jagger’s interest over the late 1990s and early 2000s, making John the sole minority owner. At one point, John’s interest was close to 49 percent. When he told The Denver Post last October that he was entertaining offers for his share, his interest was said to be around 30-35 percent.
At the time, John said his intention to sell was not because of discord with the team or the trust. Financially, it simply made sense for him. He and his wife suffered a big financial loss when Regent Resources, an oil-and-gas company in Canada founded by John and his father, filed for bankruptcy in 2016.
“Personally I think the price is going to be good and we seem to have some interest,” John Bowlen told The Denver Post last October. “So that’s it.”
But in selling a portion to the Broncos, John remains a minority owner. And the Broncos remain in the Bowlen family for at least the near future.