Bowlen Wallace said her late father Pat Bowlen "would never have accepted the team's current state"GETTY IMAGES
Beth Bowlen Wallace, the second-oldest of late Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen's children, "called for a 'smooth and timely transition' to new ownership," according to Ryan O'Halloran of the DENVER POST. Bowlen Wallace in a statement said her father "would never have accepted the team's current state." Judging by the statement, it "appears Bowlen Wallace is not only fine with selling the team to an outside buyer, but doing it quickly even as the trial pitting her and her sister, Amie Klemmer, against the Pat Bowlen Trustees" is scheduled for July. Yesterday's comments were Bowlen Wallace's first since Pat Bowlen's posthumous induction into the Pro Football HOF in August '19. Brittany Bowlen has announced her intentions to succeed her father and last December rejoined the Broncos as VP/Strategic Initiatives. She has "long been viewed as the trustees' preferred choice to become the next controlling owner." However, Broncos President & CEO Joe Ellis, one of the trustees, said "unanimous support from Brittany’s six siblings was required for her to rise to the top of the organizational masthead or the team would ultimately be sold." The divide among the Bowlen siblings makes it a "near-certainty that Brittany would not get the needed support" (DENVER POST, 12/3).
FEELING THE VOID: In Denver, Mark Kiszla writes in the 18 months since Pat Bowlen's death, "things just keep getting dumb and dumber at Dove Valley headquarters." Kiszla: "All I want for Christmas is a new owner of this football team. ... Without Mr. B, here’s what the Broncos have become: Inept. Irrelevant. Inadequate." More Kiszla: "I would like to see Brittany Bowlen get the chance to show the sports world what a smart, young woman could do as the leader of an NFL franchise. But I don’t get a vote. And the last thing this franchise needs is to waste another year while being dragged through the mud of a lawsuit scheduled for next summer." Before the Broncos "can address their myriad issues, they must admit there’s a problem." And the problem "starts at the top, with the power vacuum left by the late, great owner’s empty chair" (DENVER POST, 12/3).
