Blasting With Boyles
OPINION
Your Denver Broncos are owned by the Walton-Penner family ownership group. Led by Walmart heir Rob Walton, his daughter Carrie Walton Penner, and her husband Greg Penner. Rob Walton is the eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, and he is the wealthiest owner in the NFL. Their family purchased your Denver Broncos in 2022 for 4.65-billion dollars. They lease Empower Field but are moving ahead with plans to build a new stadium across I-25 and next door to Ball Arena.
Ball Arena is owned by Stan Kroenke, head of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment. He also owns the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, and Mammoth, along with the LA Rams, British soccer powerhouse Arsenal, and Altitude Sports. Kroenke is married to Rob Walton’s cousin, Ann Walton Kroenke.
A modern Hapsburg empire.
You have to have a program to understand all the connections. Your Broncos plan on moving to historic Burnham Yard, aiming for a new stadium opening date in 2031, creating a 150-acre stadium empire.
This is the Colorado version of Jerry World. That’s the AT&T Stadium in Texas for their Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones is a real modern-day operator, perhaps a monarch, and has built what some of the sports writers describe as what stadiums of the future will look like.
In 2001 you built your Broncos a new football stadium. The city doesn’t own the stadium in spite of what some people want you to believe. The Stadium District does. Remember, when the promoters realized they could not get their tax swindle passed by Denver voters alone, they expanded it into the RTD District to get the yuppies in Douglas County to put the stadium over.
The current lease is up at the end of the 2030 NFL season.
You all fondly remember Mile High Stadium; it was 54 years old when the taxpayers tore that down. This one will be barely 30 years when the new stadium is designated to open.
The cost for the new Empower Field to the taxpayers was 270-million dollars. That was 75 percent of the 400-million-dollar total price tag. I read a study from the Brookings Institute on how tax-exempt bonds play out for NFL stadiums resulting in 3.2 billion dollars across all NFL stadiums.
For me to attempt to understand leasing agreements, tax deals, and sales clauses is a very baffling endeavor, but one thing I walked away with is everybody seemed to be taken care of with the exception of the taxpayers.
The Bowlen family walked away, the new owners walked away, and, of course, now the new development flag is flown.
The entire valley will be redeveloped at a staggering amount of money. Guess whose pockets that money will go into.
Some people believe when the empire made the purchase of your Denver Broncos they had all of these plans in place and were going to recoup plus any money they initially shelled out to buy the team.
They will have a new stadium, they’ll redevelop the valley, and they’ll have a Jerry World of their own.
We have had long conversations about places like Lambeau and Soldier Field and Arrowhead, the traditional stadiums of the NFL. And now the real stinkers, these guys claim that Nissan Stadium is the worst deal the taxpayers got, Raymond James.
The question is how much do you think the taxpayers will be on the hook for the new move? The infrastructure and how the development of the valley will be priced. The NFL walks America with unbelievable power. Dare there be one elected official say no, or will the threat of we will move shut them down?
2031 really isn’t that far away. What would happen in Colorado to any office holder who would put a palm forward of the juggernaut of building new stadiums and say no, not here, not now? The foisted idea that’s supported by much of the sports media is, oh they’re going to pay for this on their own. If you read how Jerry Jones and others built empires for themselves, you’ll see the taxpayer foots a lot of the bill. I know the Broncos are winning and it makes the town happy. But how many of these have we seen before. The bond daddies cheer on, the family will have its way, and the politicians, whoever is in office at the time, will be at the ribbon-cutting, and some guy on the barstool next to you will say, “We’re going to get the Super Bowl.” At this point I always go “we?” What do you got a rat in your pocket? Because I think a lot of these people have a rat in theirs.
Maybe I’ll quit writing this column and become a Walmart greeter. Happy New Year.
— Peter Boyles
