NFL's first black owner? Byron Allen competes with Peyton Manning, John Elway for Broncos ownership
It looks like Peyton Manning and elway" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">John Elway will have another competitor to deal with when it comes to buying the Denver Broncos. A day after Alec Gores announced his intention to enter the bidding war, the team has another suitor. According to TheGrio, Byron Allen, an African American, has announced that he will be entering the fray to buy 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 said. "And after serious consideration, I strongly believe I can effectuate positive changes throughout the league. And for that reason, I will be making a bid for the Denver Broncos.”
Allen is the chairman and chief executive officer at Allen Media Group (also known as Entertainment Studios, Inc.), which owns The Weather Channel and 36 other affiliate channels of ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. The company is also responsible for 12 24-hour HD channels that can be watched in 180 million homes.
Will Peyton Manning, John Elway win the Denver Broncos?
The Denver Broncos are worth $3.75 billion, but a bidding war could drive the price north of $4 billion. Peyton Manning and John Elway are part of competing bidding groups. Parties come and go regularly, but rough estimates now show eight competing parties that are committed to make a bid for the team.
With every addition, the odds of a former quarterback landing the team shrink. Just a few days ago, when players made up two of the six groups, they had a 33 percent chance at the team at face value. Now, just a couple of days later, the players have a 25 percent chance.
The #Broncos are expected to hire former #Vikings OC Klint Kubiak as their news QBs coach and passing game coordinator, sources say. A big hire for new coach Nathaniel Hackett, as Kubiak helped Kirk Cousins have one of his best seasons in 2021 while calling plays in MIN.
As the time for bidding comes closer, one could expect more bidders to put their names forward. As such, the price of the team will rise accordingly. The more the competition, the higher the price. As such, that further hurts Manning and Elway's chances.
While the two are quite wealthy, their purchasing power falls well short of some of these billionaires with pockets deeper than the Mariana Trench. Manning seems to know his odds are long, as news has broken that the Manningcast has been extended through the end of the 2024 NFL season.
With several billionaires now in the fray as well, one could see it coming down to a one-versus-one showdown between two billionaires.
Either way, fans point to the lack of ownership as the core reason for the team's failings since Manning's retirement after the 2015 season. They cite the lack of accountability as the reason for some of Elway's decisions and misses on various draft picks during his tenure.
Media mogul Byron Allen told @business that he is preparing a bid to buy the #Broncos. A successful bid would make him the first Black majority owner of an NFL team.
Allen says Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft told him 2019 to look into buying a team and he's ready to do it now. https://t.co/39FtHsYuV6
They are hoping a new owner will light a fire under the front-office executives to put in the extra effort needed to build a competitive team. Will a new owner change the trajectory of the team? One can only wait and see. The team is expecting to have the sale finished by the start of the 2022 NFL season.