Report: Walmart Heir Rob Walton to Bid on Broncos Ownership
The race to become the next owner of the Denver Broncos has been a source of rumor and conjecture. Finally, Broncos Country is poised to receive some clarity when an opening bid for the iconic franchise emerges in the coming days.
For all the speculation that has gone on since the team was officially put up for sale, the battle to purchase the Broncos would be fought between a very exclusive group of millionaires and billionaires.
Fitting perfectly into that bracket is Walmart heir Rob Walton, a man whom Forbes magazine has estimated to own a fortune worth $70 billion. On Friday, the New York Post reported that Walton is set to bid on the Broncos.
Walton almost effortlessly meets the ‘must be moneyed’ criteria of NFL ownership and that of commissioner Roger Goodell, who is well known to move in such exclusive billionaires circles.
Indeed, the 77-year-old from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was the chairman of the world’s largest retailer from 1992 until 2015, could easily make the rumored $4 billion purchase without relying on any additional investors or business partners.
Walton’s opening gambit could see many less powerful ownership groups like that of Broncos' Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks John Elway and Peyton Manning fall away pretty quickly. With the Broncos demanding that bids start at $4 billion anyway, the sale will certainly be record-breaking.
When David Tepper bought the Carolina Panthers in 2018, he paid $2.2 billion but that looks like it could be doubled, or even more, especially if a bidding war erupts. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos might be just the man who feels like getting involved in a game of boardroom high-stakes poker, but he is yet to show his hand publicly.
The New York Post reported that Josh Harris of Apollo Global Management is all-set to throw his weight behind a bid, and he has at least gained pro sports ownership experience previously with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.
Now that the heavyweights are lining up to duke it out, the final tally on the sale of the Broncos could approach $5.5 billion. Chump change, you might suggest, for some of the world’s richest men, but with their collective reputations for making massive acquisitions, they will still be applying the utmost due diligence.
When you consider the stratospheric rise in value of NFL franchises over the last four years, especially matched with the scarcity of teams hitting the open market, you can easily understand why billionaires are so desperate to add one to their diamond-studded portfolios.
In a game that so starkly contrasts sweaty jockstraps against mega-rich billionaire owners, it certainly doesn’t sit well with some Broncos fans that the team is finally slipping away from the Pat Bowlen family, but that ship has sailed as the late owner's heirs could not come to an accord on which among them would be the team's majority owner.
You can’t stand in the way of progress. On that note, the Post reports that Walton's maneuver could spoil the NFL's hope of ultimately coaxing Robert F. Smith — a Denver native and the nation's richest Black man — into bidding on the Broncos.
Follow Keith on Twitter @KeithC_NFL.
Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
