Brittany Bowlen wants to be next team owner
President/CEO Ellis addresses ownership, naming rights, anthem
For the first time, Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis said Brittany Bowlen has “expressed an interest” in serving as the next controlling owner, a significant development in the path toward choosing Pat Bowlen’s successor.
The 28-year-old Bowlen is one of Pat’s seven children. Ellis is a part of a three-person trust established by Pat to run the team after he stepped down four years ago because of his Alzheimer’s and determine if one of his children is qualified to be the owner.
“She’s taken some steps, some good steps, along the way in terms of her education,” Ellis said Friday of Brittany Bowlen during a news conference at Dove Valley team headquarters to mark the opening of training camp.
Revealing Brittany Bowlen’s intention moves along the narrative that she is on her way to fulfilling the qualifications — both tangible and intangible — to allow her to replace her father someday. But it won’t be soon. A likely scenario is her rejoining the Broncos as an executive to receive on-the-job training from Ellis before taking over control of the team.
Since July 2014, when Bowlen stepped away because of Alzheimer’s disease, Ellis has run the Broncos’ daily operations.
“We’re not anointing anybody or anything like that, but (Brittany Bowlen) certainly has expressed an interest and she knows it’s going to take some time for her to get ready,” Ellis said. “She’s not ready yet — she’s admitted that to us, obviously. We’ll see where it goes.”
Where it currently stands is the NFL remains content with the trust running the Broncos until a candidate is deemed equipped to handle the job.
Future ownership of the Broncos was one of many topics Ellis covered during a 15minute briefing, including the stadium naming rights issue and the team’s stance on the national anthem. But the ownership topic remained front and center, and justifiably so.
Ellis said Brittany Bowlen will soon start working at McKinsey & Co., a world-
wide management firm after interning with the company last year. Her path includes a finance degree from Notre Dame, a year apiece working for the NFL and the Broncos, an MBA (master’s of business administration) from Duke and now McKinsey. Bowlen will be based in Denver.
“We talked it through and she’s going to get some incredible business experience from strategic management to marketing to finance — overall management perspective where they work on case studies,” Ellis said. “She’s excited about that.”
Ellis’ praise for Brittany Bowlen essentially confirmed two long-held beliefs: The trustees will choose Brittany or put the team up for sale, and Beth Bowlen Wallace is not on their radar.
Earlier this summer, Bowlen Wallace, Pat’s second-oldest child and Brittany’s half-sister, went public with her desire to become the Broncos’ next controlling owner.
“I am ready right now,” Bowlen Wallace told The Denver Post, citing her employment with the Broncos (2011-15) and her law degree from the University of Denver among other qualifications.
The trustees — Ellis, Broncos general counsel Rich Slivka and attorney Mary Kelly — disagreed and responded with a statement that said they had “thoroughly evaluated whether Beth is capable of succeeding her father as controlling owner,” and concluded she was not a viable choice.
Asked on Thursday what Bowlen Wallace is lacking to be considered, Ellis said: “We addressed (Bowlen Wallace’s) press release that she issued in the form of our own release from the trustees and a statement from me on behalf of the Broncos. That will speak for itself.”
Endorsing the Broncos’ plan was general manager John Elway. “I will tell you this: I have got no worries about what’s going on with ownership; I’ve got zero,” Elway said. “That will get handled. Mr. Bowlen put a plan in place and wanted the trust to execute it. I have total confidence in the fact it will happen the way Mr. Bowlen wanted it to happen.”
A likely plan of action would be Brittany Bowlen joining the Broncos as an executive and learning on the job alongside Ellis. Having Brittany replace her father would keep the team in the family and off the market.
Ellis responded by saying “not really,” when asked if the trustees have discussed putting the team up for sale.
Ellis said the trustees do not have a “specific timetable” for making a decision.
“It should be as soon as we can, but we take this charge very seriously,” Ellis said. “We’re not going to rush it.”
Ellis also does not have a timetable for a new stadium naming rights contract. This season, the venue will be called Broncos Stadium at Mile High.
“We’ve talked to a lot of people that we thought might be good, but then (weren’t) sure they would be viable in the long run,” Ellis said. “We’re still having conversations. I’m optimistic we will get a deal. … For now, we have the place-holder name.”
On the issue of the national anthem, Ellis declined to comment, citing the league’s dialogue with the NFLPA and the pulling off the table of the policy approved by the league’s owners in May.
“I want to wait and see what comes out of the conversations with the NFL and the NFLPA,” Ellis said. “I don’t know what effect it will have on how we implement a certain policy the league does or does not mandate. I don’t know the timeline on that — obviously before the start of the regular season.”