ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Russell Wilson wasn’t the only significant investment the Broncos’ new Walton-Penner ownership group made last week.
After all these years, the Broncos purchased the Dove Valley land underneath their UCHealth Training Center headquarters, local real estate records indicate and a source confirmed to 9NEWS. The land transaction was first reported by BusinessDen.com.
The team had already owned the parcel of land beneath the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse.
The team moved its headquarters from East 58th Avenue and Interstate 25 to its current location, officially listed at 13655 E. Broncos Parkway, in 1990. Broncos' training camp was moved from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley to their Dove Valley headquarters location in 2003.
The Broncos own the buildings on the property but for the past 32 years they have been leasing the land beneath those buildings from Dove Valley Business Park Associates.
What a country. The option to buy was set to expire so it was relatively no-brainer for the Walton-Penner group to make a $9 million land purchase with Dove Valley Business Park Associates. To wit: Why rent when you can buy?
Perhaps some day, decades from now the land will be considered sacred ground where Elway, Peyton, Champ, Mr. B, Von, T.D., Shannon and Wilson once stepped foot.
The lease-buy option was spelled out for all the potential ownership groups that were bidding to buy the Broncos through auction earlier this year. The Walton-Penner group were awarded the bid with a $4.65 billion sales agreement.
Since the sale was finalized by unanimous NFL ownership vote last month, the Walton-Penner group has been busy, hiring Damani Leech as new team president, signing off on a new seven-year, $296 million contract for the quarterback Wilson, shaking up the business operations leadership and now buying the land in which their team headquarters sits.
While some may speculate on what the purchase means for the facility, it appears the transaction is more procedural in nature. A source indicated the purchase is not part of any bigger plan for the long-term future of the facility, which has undergone millions of upgrades in recent years to modernize it, including the construction of an indoor fieldhouse in 2014.
The Broncos football team opens its regular season next Monday night, Sept. 12 against Wilson’s former Seahawks in Seattle.
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