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DEN ownership succession battle looming


Broncofan

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Background - DEN Bowlen family established a trust when Pat Bowlen's health started failing (Alzheimer's among other problems).   7 kids, trust set up to designate 1 of them to become the  owner from them when the time was right.   This year, the trust designated Brittany Bowlen as its target, and specifically noted one of the other daughters, Beth, who had expressed interest, "was unfit".   

Well, that didn't sit too well, so Pat's brother Bill filed a motion to have the trustees removed, saying they've failed to act in accordance with Pat Bowlen's expressed wishes.

Honestly, it sounds mostly like a family squabble gone public..and ugly.

But the implication for football fans - if the injunction wins out, the CEO Joe Ellis & other trustees would be removed from their positions.  And that void would quickly put GM / VP John Elway's position in much greater jeopardy, as Ellis is a staunch supporter of Elway, so to remove him would clearly weaken Elway's status as untouchable (which already is under fire, given their inability to find a long-term QB).  

So, more interesting to follow than the usual family ownership squabbles.   The probability that Ellis gets canned is low, but the timing coming off Chad Kelly's arrest and release, and the upcoming @KC game where we're likely to get schooled at Arrowhead (which is a huge diff than being at home, and unlikely to surprise Reid, Mahomes & co. like we did week 4).    Seems like it's about to get really ugly there.

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47 minutes ago, RaidersAreOne said:

We'll trade you Gruden for them.

Lol. Let them keep the horse elway. But yes we have the worst owner in sports. I like Elway as a player but he is a terrible human. I’ll take the junk ownership over our special care bowl cut.

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From what I understand out of this....

All 7 children will get an equal piece of the team. Only one will be given full control of the operations. Only two of the seven have made real plays to take control. Beth and Brittany. The trustees prefer Brittany but Brittany is only 28 and lacks experience. Beth has more experience but for some reasons the trustees don't like her. Essentially they laid out a list of criteria to be the controlling owner and Beth was pretty much taking all the steps to fulfill it and then the trustees are still denying her for some subjective reasons that aren't stipulated and was potentially fired as a result of making the claim for ownership.

Meanwhile the NFL approved this trustee set up until about 22. So the common belief is that they were going to keep Beth at bay and give Brittany about 4 more years to get some experience and be around 32 so they can justify giving her controlling interest now. Also this benefits of the trustees because it maximizes how long they remain in control (they basically get it as long as the NFL will allow it) and the person they prefer will be in power when it's done. 

The brother supported Beth and is essentially arguing that the trustees are undercutting Beth for no reason and delaying the process against what the intentions of Pat were so they could prop up their handpicked choice. 

TLDR: Trustee was set up to choose which of his kids gets controlling interest. There is a set criteria. One of the older kids who the trustees don't like already fulfilled the criteria and has the business experience but they are pushing her off to but time for their preferred choice who is too young/inexperienced and didn't meet the criteria yet at this point in time. 

It's basically a GOT style mess. 

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8 hours ago, Broncofan said:

Background - DEN Bowlen family established a trust when Pat Bowlen's health started failing (Alzheimer's among other problems).   7 kids, trust set up to designate 1 of them to become the  owner from them when the time was right.   This year, the trust designated Brittany Bowlen as its target, and specifically noted one of the other daughters, Beth, who had expressed interest, "was unfit".   

Well, that didn't sit too well, so Pat's brother Bill filed a motion to have the trustees removed, saying they've failed to act in accordance with Pat Bowlen's expressed wishes.

Honestly, it sounds mostly like a family squabble gone public..and ugly.

But the implication for football fans - if the injunction wins out, the CEO Joe Ellis & other trustees would be removed from their positions.  And that void would quickly put GM / VP John Elway's position in much greater jeopardy, as Ellis is a staunch supporter of Elway, so to remove him would clearly weaken Elway's status as untouchable (which already is under fire, given their inability to find a long-term QB).  

So, more interesting to follow than the usual family ownership squabbles.   The probability that Ellis gets canned is low, but the timing coming off Chad Kelly's arrest and release, and the upcoming @KC game where we're likely to get schooled at Arrowhead (which is a huge diff than being at home, and unlikely to surprise Reid, Mahomes & co. like we did week 4).    Seems like it's about to get really ugly there.

Are any of the "kids" currently involved in the football operations or shown some abilities along those lines?

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5 minutes ago, Leader said:

Are any of the "kids" currently involved in the football operations or shown some abilities along those lines?

It really comes down to Beth and Brittany.   The issue as @lancerman points out is Brittany doesn’t have quite the CV / experience.   On the other hand Beth got fired in 2015 (that’s of course where the stories differ - unfit vs.  wrongful termination).   It’s a little suspicious that this only came out 3 years later.   But still let’s face it in the end this is really a family squabble over who takes over.  It just happens to affect who is making the final decisions in DEN - Ellis / Elway vs. new regime who may or may not keep Elway.  

The odds are long that the current CEO Ellis would be removed.  But it’s worth tracking in case this happens.   

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What are the odds this lawsuit actually removes the trust? From what I've read, Brittany sounds more qualified, but much younger, than Beth but Beth has the support of her uncle. Real question is, legally speaking, how much merit does this suit have? I'm guessing Joe Ellis particularly has a conflict of issue since he probably gets canned by Beth and retained by Brittany.

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5 minutes ago, TheKillerNacho said:

What are the odds this lawsuit actually removes the trust? From what I've read, Brittany sounds more qualified, but much younger, than Beth but Beth has the support of her uncle. Real question is, legally speaking, how much merit does this suit have? I'm guessing Joe Ellis particularly has a conflict of issue since he probably gets canned by Beth and retained by Brittany.

We're hoping a law-based poster can chime in, our Forum has no idea.  Generally, the burden to remove trustees is very high, so you'd think this is a longshot.   But obviously, we're just all laymen, so would be nice to get more insight from those with more expertise.

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1 hour ago, Broncofan said:

We're hoping a law-based poster can chime in, our Forum has no idea.  Generally, the burden to remove trustees is very high, so you'd think this is a longshot.   But obviously, we're just all laymen, so would be nice to get more insight from those with more expertise.

@fretgod99! It's your time to shine!

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1 hour ago, TheKillerNacho said:

What are the odds this lawsuit actually removes the trust? From what I've read, Brittany sounds more qualified, but much younger, than Beth but Beth has the support of her uncle. Real question is, legally speaking, how much merit does this suit have? I'm guessing Joe Ellis particularly has a conflict of issue since he probably gets canned by Beth and retained by Brittany.

It’s kind of the opposite. Beth already fills all the preestablished criteria. Brittany doesn’t. She’s younger and hasn’t fulfilled the criteria. The argument against Beth is more along a subjective line of they don’t really think she should get it. 

Beth and the uncle’s argument is essentially that they they already have an heir who declared an intention to run the team who hits all their check boxes and they are holding on to power to both buy time for Brittany and keep themselves in control. And yes at this point if Beth gets the position she’s likely ousting Ellis. 

Now that’s the situation. I don’t know the merits of either argument from a legal perspective. I’d imagine it would come down to how ironclad the criteria is in whatever was drafted up. If it’s pretty explicit that whoever fills this gets the role the uncle/Beth may have a case. 

Also it would be nice to hear from more Broncos fans could say what the common perception of Beth and Brittany is. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, lancerman said:

It’s kind of the opposite. Beth already fills all the preestablished criteria. Brittany doesn’t. She’s younger and hasn’t fulfilled the criteria. The argument against Beth is more along a subjective line of they don’t really think she should get it. 

Beth and the uncle’s argument is essentially that they they already have an heir who declared an intention to run the team who hits all their check boxes and they are holding on to power to both buy time for Brittany and keep themselves in control. And yes at this point if Beth gets the position she’s likely ousting Ellis. 

Now that’s the situation. I don’t know the merits of either argument from a legal perspective. I’d imagine it would come down to how ironclad the criteria is in whatever was drafted up. If it’s pretty explicit that whoever fills this gets the role the uncle/Beth may have a case. 

Also it would be nice to hear from more Broncos fans could say what the common perception of Beth and Brittany is. 

 

 

I hope Beth ousts Ellis. He is the moron who hired McDaniels.

And, I think that Ellis and Elway support Brittany because she isn't ready yet, not because Beth can't do it. They want to hang on to their power as long as they can.

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