Report: Media Mogul Byron Allen to Bid for Ownership of Broncos
The Denver Broncos are officially on the block! Not the trading block but billionaires the world over will have the chance to organize a bid in a coming NFL auction to buy the Broncos.
It was announced one week ago that the Broncos will indeed be put up for sale after the heirs of the late Pat Bowlen have been unable to come to an accord in choosing one person among them to serve as majority owner.
A new contender to buy the Broncos has emerged as Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that media mogul Byron Allen will bid on buying the team.
“NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft came to me in November of 2019 and asked me to take a good look at buying an NFL team,” Allen, chairman and chief executive officer at Allen Media Group, said in a statement in response to inquiries about his interest in the Broncos.
“And after serious consideration, I strongly believe I can effectuate positive changes throughout the league,” Allen said in a statement. “And for that reason, I will be making a bid for the Denver Broncos.”
Allen is a 60-year-old veteran of the media landscape. A former comedian, Allen's star began to burn bright as a comedian who appeared many times on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on NBC.
Bloomberg reports that Allen "went on to become a television producer and later founded Allen Media, which consists of the Weather Channel and more than 15 local network stations."
If successful in his bid to buy the Broncos, Allen would become the first Black owner in the NFL. It would be a great development in the league to see a minority owner.
The Broncos have recently been raked through the 'racist' mud by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who accused former GM John Elway and CEO Joe Ellis of discriminatory hiring practices back when Denver was looking to hire a new head coach in 2019. Flores' class-action lawsuit filed in Federal Court will ultimately reveal the veracity of his claims against the Broncos and two other NFL teams.
Last week, we learned that Denver native Robert F. Smith, who is also Black, has no intention of putting together a bid to buy the Broncos. Allen, however, is a legit threat to win come auction day but it's no guarantee he'll out-compete the other bidders.
Allen's current net worth is unknown, though an internet search claims he's worth $450 million. If that's true, he'll need to put together nearly 10 times that much to buy the Broncos, an NFL franchise estimated to be worth $3.75 billion by Forbes.
Like Elway's and Peyton Manning's respective buying groups, perhaps Allen will put together a compendium of wealthy partners with him postured as the majority owner. The auction to buy the Broncos is expected to be held sometime in the relative near future.
Come the 2022 regular season, the expectation is that the Broncos will be under new ownership. Will it be Allen? We'll know in due time.
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