John Elway Missed Out on $900 Million From the Broncos Sale

The Denver Broncos are being sold for a record $4.65 billion by the estate of the late owner Pat Bowlen.  The group buying the team is led by Walmart heir Rob Walton, one of the richest people in the world.

The sale is going to put a lot of money in people's pockets.  One of them who missed out on a huge payday from the sale of the team is president of football operations John Elway.  The former quarterback was offered a 10 percent piece of the team by Bowlen while he was still playing instead of the $21 million they still owed him.

Bowlen then offered Elway an additional 10 percent for $15 million.  He was given an entire season to think it over and then in 1999 after leading the Broncos to their second straight Super Bowl win he retired and passed on the offer.  Passing on the offer cost him $900 million, minus the $36 he would have had to put up to purchase the 20% of the team.

In 1998, John Elway had a chance to buy 20% of the Broncos for $36M.

He passed.

The reported price for the Broncos will be around $4.5B.

That 20% would be worth $900 million, which is 14 times what Elway would have paid, factoring for inflation.https://t.co/bt5Kyr333o

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 7, 2022

That has to hurt a little.  But don't feel too bad for Elway, he's still worth a reported $145 million.  It's no $900 million, but my guess is he'll sleep pretty good at night either way.