The Rockies are saved from themselves as the Broncos\u2019 Penner Family balls and bails out the Monfort Family.<\/p>\n
If only the Penner family had squeezed out another 10% from the majority owners and 1% from other minority owners, the Roxbottoms would be climbing to the mountaintop today.<\/p>\n
As it is, though, because of the incessant hue and continuous cry of millions of baseball fanatics in Colorado over the decades and, ultimately, the investment by the Broncos owners of hundreds of millions of dollars, everyone can sing \u201cTake us out to the ballgame.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
A dozen years ago the arrogant owner of the Rockies responded to an irate emailer by arguing that Denver \u201cdoesn\u2019t deserve a franchise (and) maybe time for it to find a new home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado never has deserved Dick Monfort while the Rox became the worst franchise in Major League Baseball. The team lost 119 games last season and in the past week sank to its lowest attendance ever.<\/p>\n
Monfort was forced finally to admit the franchise\u2019s incompetence and reach outside the organization to bring in new baseball leadership. Now he has been compelled to beg Greg and Carrie Penner to rescue the Rockies the same as they did the Broncos.<\/p>\n
Too bad Dick and Charlie Monfort and family didn\u2019t sell 100 percent of the franchise to the Walton Penner sports group, which the Pat Bowlen family had done in 2022.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, even with two-fifths ownership of the Rockies franchise, the highest percentage for a minority partner, and despite no actual power over the baseball operation, the Penners won\u2019t accept the Monforts remaining the worst pro sports team in Colorado history.<\/p>\n
The Monforts must up their game or get out.<\/p>\n
Extraordinarily, the five major professional sports teams in Denver are possessed by three families \u2013 the Penner\/Waltons, the Kroenkes and the Monforts. The Waltons and the Kroenkes have strong connections. Wives, sisters, daughters, husbands and sons have been involved in Walmart and the Broncos, the Nuggets, the Avalanche and the Rapids. The Penners also have bonded with the Monforts.<\/p>\n
Somewhat bizarre, the same year that Dick Monfort was quarreling with former fanatics fans like a barroom brawler, Greg Penner was quietly asking Broncos president Joe Ellis about purchasing the NFL franchise (following the devastating disease of Bowlen).<\/p>\n
During that period Stan Kroenke explored the possibility of buying the Rockies, but the Monforts dismissed his offer.<\/p>\n
The Bros. Monfort had hit the jackpot twice in Colorado.<\/p>\n
They first inherited their late father Kenneth\u2019s Monfort Meat-Packing Company in Greeley and hundreds of thousands of dollars each. While Dick was heading the family business and ventures in hotels and restaurants, younger brother Charlie invested $20 million dollars in the Rockies\u2019 ownership when the first two owners of the expansion franchise dropped out because of a business scandal in Youngstown, Ohio. The Rockies had serious financial and legal dilemmas with three more owners, and Dick joined his brother in the enterprise.<\/p>\n
Combined, they tied up $35 million in the Rockies, a number similar to their inheritance.<\/p>\n
The Rockies franchise was awarded by MLB for $95 million in 1992.<\/p>\n
Last month Forbes valued the Rockies at $168 billion despite the Monforts\u2019 wreck of a National League franchise and a party deck.<\/p>\n
Monfort and Penner met almost exactly a year ago and continued casual conversations as the Broncos became Super Bowl contenders and the Rockies were baseball\u2019s worst pretenders. Two inside sources made me aware as the discussions and negotiations between the owners of the Broncos and the Rockies became serious several months ago. The Monforts wanted to retain majority ownership while the Penners sought a serious percentage of the minority ownership.<\/p>\n
Coors sold 14.5 percent in 2013 to Jay Stein and associates in Indianapolis and Scottsdale. One percent investments were exchanged over the past three decades, and low percenter partners held six percent. New York hedge fund owners of The Denver Post had been stuck with 7.5 percent, yet would sell the entire percentage to the Penners for $122 million. The Penner Sports Group also purchased 10 percent from the Stein group, three smaller investors\u2019 percents and about 15 percent from the Monfort brothers.<\/p>\n
In return, the Penners agreed to pay all the Rockies\u2019 massive outstanding debts (including, as Gazette baseball writer Kevin Henry first wrote, the settlement with Kris Bryant of $81 million) and provide financial, leadership and business expertise to produce a quality baseball franchise like the others in Our Dusty Old Sports Town.<\/p>\n
The onus is on ownership of the Roxbottoms.<\/p>\n
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