The Broncos are going up for sale.
A judge in Denver's second district court has terminated a right of first refusal agreement between the estates of two former owners: Edgar Kaiser who owned the team from 1981 to 1984, and Pat Bowlen who owned the team since.
This was the court dispute: When Bowlen bought the team from Kaiser in 1984, he gave Kaiser the right of first refusal (granting him the ability to match any offer) if Bowlen ever chose to sell the team. Kaiser passed away in 2012. And Bowlen later passed away in 2019, putting the ownership of the Broncos into uncertain territory.
When The Pat Bowlen Trust indicated it would sell the team, the Kaiser estate claimed they still possessed the right to first refusal.
That claim ended Tuesday when a judge ruled the right of first refusal agreement could not be transferred after Kaiser's death.
With the disagreement settled, now a sale can move forward for one of the most popular franchises in the NFL. In August, Forbes valued the Broncos at 3.75 billion dollars.
