Report: The Broncos' Ownership Situation Is Getting Messy

Control of the Broncos organization was passed to a trust in 2014, when Annabel Bowlen announced that her husband, team owner Pat Bowlen, was too diminished by Alzheimer’s disease for him to continue running the team. The Broncos won the Super Bowl the following season, but the years since have been rough, and now it appears Pat Bowlen’s brother, Bill Bowlen, is dissatisfied with the status quo and wants control of the team taken away from the trustees currently running the show:

Bill doesn’t appear to be grabbing control for himself. He has apparently formed the opinion that the three trustees are compromised by conflicts of interest, and would like control of the team to pass to Beth Bowlen, Pat’s daughter, as he made clear back in May:

The suit is reportedly asking a judge to remove trustees Rich Slivka, Mary Kelly, and Joe Ellis as agents of Pat Bowlen, and “appoint an independent party to serve as conservator” of Pat’s estate, presumably as a temporary setup until Beth can assume ownership of the team. Bill Bowlen’s statement to The Athletic specifically mentions that the operation of the franchise—which is mired in mediocrity and recently dealt with the embarrassment caused by their now former backup quarterback trespassing in a stranger’s home and getting whacked with a vacuum tube—“has deteriorated,” while the trustees operate “with little or no accountability to anybody but themselves.” The Pat Bowlen Trust issued a statement Thursday night: