MIAMI — Asked to weigh in on the Broncos ownership issues, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday, “I don’t think (Pat Bowlen) would be happy about the public disputes going on,” involving Bowlen’s two oldest children and the three-person trust appointed to run the team.
Goodell held his annual State of the League address in downtown Miami. He was asked by The Denver Post about Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis’ comments Dec. 30 saying Bowlen family harmony is “not required, but necessary” for Brittany Bowlen to be elevated to replace her father.
“(Pat Bowlen) wants his franchise, the Denver Broncos, to continue to have that success, and that’s why he set up the trust the way he did,” Goodell said. “For us, we want to make sure that his wishes are followed.
“I don’t think he’d be happy about the public disputes that are going on. Unity is something that I think as an organization in the NFL, you have one person who makes a decision on behalf of an ownership group. That’s a vital and principal point in our ownership policy, and that is what Pat understood, he wanted that, and we need to have that in the case of all franchises. So that, at some point in time, will have to develop in the context of the Broncos.”
That context won’t be achieved, though, until the lawsuit filed by Beth Bowlen Wallace and Amie Klemmer challenging the validity of their father’s 2009 trust is settled or ruled upon. A trial is set to begin this fall.
Goodell has usually been steadfast in his support of Bowlen’s decision to hand over power to the trustees when he stepped aside due to Alzheimer’s.
“It starts with what Pat Bowlen’s wishes were,” Goodell said. “He established the trust to make sure there was an orderly transition of the franchise if something should happen to him. Unfortunately that did, and Pat wanted to make sure the franchise was in good hands, in good management. He understood the importance of the league policies, and he supported that. He was one of the best league men I knew, and I talked to him probably every day, both as commissioner in my earlier years and also as chief operating officer.”
On Dec. 30, a day after the Broncos finished their third consecutive losing season and fourth straight year out of the playoffs, Ellis said a family consensus to make Brittany the controlling owner — and thus keeping the Broncos in the Bowlen family — was not a “requirement” by the NFL, but “it’s going to be necessary from the trustee viewpoint. That’s why a sale is a possibility given the circumstances we’re in.”
In an interview with two reporters following his news conference, Ellis added: “If they are all not going to agree to Brittany running the team, it seems to me that we’re headed for more battles and at that point, I know Pat would have preferred the team be sold.”
This story will be updated.
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Roger Goodell: Pat Bowlen wouldn’t be happy about Broncos’ “public disputes” - The Denver Post
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