Report: Walmart heir planning to bid for team

Rob Walton, the eldest son of Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton, is planning a bid for the Broncos, according to people familiar with the process.

A former chairman of the world’s largest retailer, Walton, 77, is the 17th-richest person on Earth with a net worth of $68.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

A Walmart spokesman declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the Broncos. A representative for Madrone Capital Partners, the Menlo Park, California-based investment firm that manages part of Rob Walton’s fortune, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Media mogul Byron Allen is the only person to publicly declare he’s preparing to bid for the Broncos, which went up for sale in February.

An investor group led by Allen could pay $3 billion to $4 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. If successful, it would make him the first Black majority owner of an NFL team. The Clearlake group would also bring diversity to the NFL: Eghbali was born in Iran, Feliciano in Puerto Rico and Jones is Black.

Fewer than a dozen NFL franchises have changed hands over the past two decades, with the last coming in 2018, when hedge fund manager David Tepper paid a record $2.3 billion for the Carolina Panthers.

NFL owners include several of America’s richest people, including Stephen Ross, Jerry Jones and Stan Kroenke.

Kroenke’s wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, is Rob Walton’s cousin.

In addition to the Rams, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment owns the Nuggets, Avalanche and Rapids, as well as Arsenal F.C. of the English Premier League.