Billionaires are starting to circle the Denver Broncos.
Clearlake Capital Group co-founders Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano, and Feliciano’s wife Kwanza Jones, are weighing a bid for the NFL team, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Josh Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, is separately considering his options, one of the people said.
Representatives for Harris, who is already a minority owner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Eghbali, Feliciano and Jones group declined to comment.
The Broncos offer a rare opportunity to enter an elite club of owners. Fewer than a dozen NFL franchises have changed hands over the past two decades, with the last coming in 2018, when hedge fund manager David Tepper paid a record $2.3 billion for the Carolina Panthers.
Media mogul Byron Allen was the first person to publicly declare he’s preparing a bid for the Broncos, which went up for sale earlier this month. If successful, it would make him the first Black majority owner of an NFL team. The investor group led by Allen could pay $3 billion to $4 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.
Eghbali, Feliciano and Jones have previously pursued a team investment. They sought to acquire 40% of the franchise now known as the Washington Commanders for $900 million, a deal that was ultimately blocked by team majority owner Dan Snyder, according to the Washington Post. Eghbali was born in Iran and Feliciano in Puerto Rico. Jones is Black.
Harris, who is White, has left his day-to-day role at alternative-asset manager Apollo. He has a personal net worth of $7.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Harris would have to offload his minority ownership of the Steelers if he won the bid for the Broncos. He also has stakes in the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils and Crystal Palace FC of the English Premier League.
The Broncos began interviewing bankers in November in advance of a potential sale and the Pat Bowlen Trust, established by the late Broncos owner, announced this month it had started a sale process run by Allen & Co.
Robert Smith, who is worth $8.9 billion, had been viewed as another potential bidder. But a person with knowledge of the matter said the chief executive officer of Vista Equity Partners, who is Black, currently isn’t interested.
