This article is incredibly unbalanced. The bias is absurd. The Trustees are upholding the wishes of Pat Bowlen with the blessing of the NFL. There is a much more balanced perspective on this in the WSJ article from earlier this week.
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Lots of women are at, or near, the top of NFL teams. I do not know their complete names but the Titans, Bills, Lions, Raiders are a few of the teams. Think the Titans (Adams family) and Lions (Ford) are two by virtue of inheritance. Now, Joe Ellis is G.H.W. Bush's nephew and has been at the Broncos forever, since the early 80s. The way I see it if you have a mentally-impaired owner (Bowlen) then what is stopping Ellis et al from just gumming up the works for awhile? Ellis has connections (for money), three young adult children (jobs) and could possibly be angling for a takeover.
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This is all surreal in its importance. Yet, it has concrete importance for the more we know where our money and time goes to, the fuller picture, the better it is for us as human beings. The fact that anyone reading what I wrote who might say it is "irrelevant" is making the point of what I have said.
Again, thank-you NYT.
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it is always fun to watch the super rich, made so by tax breaks and insane pricing structures, battle it out. The loser will benefit as much as the winner. So, who really cares
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Let’s see if I have this right? A male can amass the riches to buy a team and be “qualified” to own and run it, but his female heir isn’t ready? What year is this?
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It's even worse than portrayed in the article
No mention of Bowlen's son, self-proclaimed "blood of the city" and his arrests for intoxication, DUI, and assault on his girlfriend.
This needs to end like the Jack Kent Cooke issue:
If the Bowlens can't get along (it appears they can't)
SELL THE TEAM.
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Seems to me like a bunch of old men don't want to give over their cash cow to some young lady who may well send them all packing.
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The reporter failed to mention a crucial item in this story. In the early 2000's Pat Bowlen fired his daughter,Beth Bowlen, from her position as Director of Special Projects for the Broncos. No reason was ever given and the entire incident was swept under the rug.
My editorial comment: Beth must have done something pretty egregious for her father to fire her. I suspect the Trustees know the reason and agree that this disqualifies her from consideration.
FYI, my information comes from several stories published in the Denver Post.
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The article doesn’t mention that John Elway is also a trustee. A man who many once thought could walk in water. But as a trustee and the GM of the Broncos, he’s destroyed the team. Nobody wants to coach under him. And he’s proven that he’s part of the rich, white male entitlement club. He needs to go. Put a woman in charge!
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King Lear, Bronco style.
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Surely you jest. You can't possibly imagine those three trustees letting go of the team, especially to a woman. Didn't Bowlen have more than 1 male heir?
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@Ralph The other potential heir, the one favored by the board, is a woman.
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@Ralph
Pat has a one 29 year old son named John. After,being arrested for domestic violence, he told arresting Denver police officers, he was the "blood of the city".This piece of work was recently busted for driving drunk and speeding at over 100 mphon the shoulder on US Highway 101 near San Luis Obispo. After arrest,he kept asking the CHP officers if they knew who he was.
This is a dumpster fire in Denver. Like Seinfeld said about pro sports "we're really just rooting for laundry". Maybe, we are better off spendng our money watching the college kids most of whom will go pro in something besides sports. In addition, the Huskers will never be relocated to LA from Lincoln!
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"An intense listener and avid storyteller, she seems comfortable in her own skin, which has a healthy glow, presumably from the time she spends riding horses."
I think it's time for the NYTimes to hire an editor to read for irrelevant, gendered detail. I'd say in this story of ambition and quest for power, her healthy glow and it's source is the least important (and least interesting) thing you could say about her. Why is there nothing about how she thinks the football team ought to be led?
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@Diane Levitt Completely agree, Diane. That passage stuck out like a sore thumb. I see what the writer is trying to accomplish but that description doesn't fit. It's clumsy and honestly, it seems to indicate the writer fawning over Ms. Bowlen Wallace.
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Rich peoples problems.
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My congratulations to Ms. Bowlen Wallace's PR team for planting this hagiography. Nicely posed photo, too. The coverage in other national publications has been somewhat less flattering. To be continued.
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Isn’t there an end date on this process? The father dies and the assets go into the estate. Then the assets get probated. The author does not make clear what the will and trust say after death. Any actions now could hurt the flexibility of future owners. I also did not understand the idea of assigning ownership. As found by the Robbie family, those decisions have serious tax implications.
Setting up qualifications was an asinine idea. The team is not going anywhere. Let the father die, the will probates and the shares pass to new generation. I am pretty sure the NFL does not allow a trust to actually own the team. Then the owners, including family members if part of that group, decide who will lead the ownership group as the Titans did. The only thing that qualifies someone to run a team is to own a team. Figure out the owners and problem solved. Trying to judge it like a civil service step increase is ridiculous.
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Either Pat Bowlen couldn't make a decision and intended this undefined horse race, or poorly planned the transition by not giving the trustees a deadline to pick a new CEO.
Either way, I am not sure why this is worthy of an NTY article.
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@Jack Sonville "Either way, I am not sure why this is worthy of an NTY article."
Because it describes the battle for the future ownership fate of a family business worth $2.6 billion dollars that is currently being held hostage by a group of ethically and financially compromised trustees. That certainly sounds newsworthy to me.
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@Jack Sonville Agreed. It felt kind of smutty reading through the entire thing.
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Doesn't sound like any of them deserve the franchise. They were all just handed jobs they weren't qualified for by their nepotistic father so they wouldn't be a drag on the family and a stain on his legacy. He gave them a bunch of conditions to meet because he knew they were all flunkies and wouldn't do anything with themselves unless he found a way to motivate them.
I used to watch a lot of NFL football. Now days I only watch college football. I just can't bring myself to feed money to these people. At least in college some of the money goes back to the school and not some undeserving billionaire's pockets.
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I'm glad to see she's going public. The trustees seem to only be looking out for their own employment and compensation. They have failed their fiduciary duty to the Bowlen family.
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Wow, doesn't this sound just like our government? A bunch of old white men gripping the reins with all their might desperate to hold onto power. Denying the very capable sounding Bowen-Wallace and her right to mange the assets of her family, is a travesty.
The trustees need to be fired. Surely there is an escape clause for this family?
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The board's behavior in just another example of how the league is out of touch and losing market share rapidly.
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Tell me again why I would care about who may possibly be the owner of the Denver Broncos 2 years from now? . Most fans who follow the NFL couldn’t name 5 current owners. To me this is just another nonsensical dig at the NFL. Children fighting over a parent’s estate? That’s newsworthy?
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As has been said, One cannot choose one's family or neighbors, just one's friends.
I suspect Ms Bowlen Wallace needs more influential friends...
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This situation is complicated by heirs from multiple marriages. I'm certain that it's a hard yet personally fulfilling job, but does she really want to be the one who continues the legacy of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the NFL?
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“There doesn’t have to be the ‘Hunger Games’” between the siblings, she said.
That may be true but with the Denver franchise being valued at $2.6 BILLION, I think it’s safe to assume all bets are off. This is the second story I’ve read in the NYT this week in which trustees of an estate are or have abused their authority and are thinking and positioning themselves in areas which would only benefit themselves rather than the estate owner and his/her wishes.
I think it’s pretty rich and pathetic for these trustees to run to the NFL for help and/or cover, knowing all too well that this ordeal is between them and Pat Bowlen’s siblings. The NFL has nothing to say about it.
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In 20 years professional football will be a thing of the past. Like the coal burning steam engine. But the illnesses amongst players will continue to manifest. The risk of long term disability resulting from repeated traumatic brain injury is all too apparent. The kids should sell the team, take the money , divide it up and get into something more respectable. Like philanthropy for medical research on CTE.
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I'm not sure you appreciate how popular and lucrative professional football is
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@Harley Leiber
I’ll take any NFL franchise if any owner thinks it will be worthless in 20 years. I can remember when people laughed at MMA. There not laughing now.
The trustees have declared Ms. Bowlen Wallace "is not capable or qualified" to run an NFL franchise. Maybe you should investigate why they held so? I would assume that they had reason to find a suitable heir unqualified to run the team. Maybe her father also thought so, which is why he did not deem Ms. Bowlen Wallace his successor.
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@Jake Let's be real. This is just another case of baby boomers deeming anyone, that's also not a baby boomer, to be unqualified.
Yes, let the NFL manage the arbitration. They are so good at making decisions. The trustees only have their own interests in mind. They could care less about the family or the Broncos for that matter.
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@MKR
Yes, the NFL owners are fools. They will never make any money. The purchase of an NFL franchise in 1980 would have been the best possible investment.
Isn't this already an HBO series called "Succession"? Of course, in Succession, the family patriarch, once thought close to death after a stroke, survives and a battle ensues with his eldest son for control of the family's sprawling (ala the Murdochs) media empire. But the Denver Broncos' succession story can certainly fit the bill for a new HBO series in a similar vein.
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@marty Great show by the way.
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@marty
@Ed
You both read my mind and beat me to the punch. I guess the Denver Bronco scenario is football's version of "Succession".
Fantastic show, fantastic cast, fantastic writing.
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Estate planning lesson no. 1. Never leave your vacation home to your children. Estate planning lesson no. 2. Never leave your NFL franchise to your children, especially when them come from more than one marriage.
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@James Harrison Estate planning lesson #3: Never appoint trustees who will have a profitable and vested interest in never ceding control of the trust.
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Maybe the father never intended the trustees to leave as long as he lived. He may not have trusted any of his wives or children. He could have thought no one could replace him. NFL owners are an egotistical group. His long term plan may have been sell the team on death, the estate pays the taxes and his heirs ride off into the sunset very rich and free.
If he was that interested in keeping the asset in the family, he would have done something earlier.
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@James Harrison
The children aren't fighting between themselves. In fact the family seems to be all on the same page. Its the trustees who don't want to give up their thrones
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Sounds like Trustees don't want to lose their cushy jobs....
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Greed + Power + Misogyny = Perfectly encapsulation of NFL World.
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@Jason Shapiro Ah, misogyny. That favorite attack word for all we disagree about where a woman is involved. I think your comment is more sexist than this team/family dispute. Clearly, you are easily influenced by raging voices on social media.
They should've set a deadline and if none of the kids qualified then they sell the team.
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The common theme is that owners are quite incapable of succession planning. The owners hold on and refuse to groom an heir apparent, only to have the team poached by an outsider when the infighting is not resolved.
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Her biggest disadvantage -- she's female, facing the NFL, which is as non-female friendly as a corporation can get. Her second biggest disadvantage is the trustees, who are human and therefore subject to self-interests and greed.
Personally, I wish her well in her quest.
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@Andy, I disagree. There have been a lot of female owners in the NFL. In fact, there are now 8 women holding a primary ownership stake in an NFL team. There are additional women who are part of a ownership family and heavily involved in the day to day affairs of the teams.
I think the cause of the battle is simply money. Greed. You have people battling over money and power.
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@Andy Her SISTER is the other potential owner.
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@Andy
Obviously you have never heard of George Halas’ daughter, Virginia McCaskey.
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Well, this is the NFL so I would expect the league to find the fastest way to make this situation worse. And then give Goodell a raise.
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