If the sale goes through, the Broncos would join the Green Bay Packers as the only teams in the 32-team U.S. National Football League owned by cooperatives.
The U.S. National Football League’s Denver Broncos team is up for sale, and a DAO might be the next owner.
ESPN estimates that the team would sell for $4 billion, which is what the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is aiming to raise.
The effort is being led by Sean O’Brien, a 10-year veteran of Cisco Systems’ legal department. O’Brien said the DAO will go live this week.
According to O’Brien, the DAO would also incorporate as a cooperative, and participants in the DAO would have a parallel ownership share of the cooperative.
The team has been run by a trust since its owner, Pat Bowlen, died in 2017.
The NFL has signaled that it would like a deal closed by the start of the 2022 season.
Wisconsin’s Green Bay Packers team is owned by a community cooperative, first incorporated in 1923 in a structure similar to what the DAO would use to purchase the Denver Broncos.
In 1980, the NFL put in new rules that banned a “decentralized,” community-driven ownership that the Green Bay Packers use (though the team has an exception via a grandfathering clause).
Rules state that ownership must be led by a single person that has at least 30% equity in the team, with minor exceptions for a family ownership structure.
There is also a limit of 32 owners for one team, and sales need to be approved by the NFL.
In Canada, the Canadian Football League has two teams with a community ownership structure: the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.