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Report: Another Native Arkansas Connection to Third NFL Team

Forbes reporting Rob Walton's bid to purchase Denver Broncos will be the winner for NFL franchise

Andy Hodges

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There soon may be native Arkansans owning nearly 3% of the NFL teams.

A report by Forbes on Monday said former Walmart chairman Rob Walton is nearing a deal to buy the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos, looking to keep things open as the second round of bids was scheduled to be delivered today, are saying they are keeping all their options open through the process.

That could be a public relations move to maintain the integrity of the bidding process, but sports bankers are telling financial publications something different.

If Walton's bid does turn out to be the accepted big it would make three native Arkansans having a major ownership interest in one of the 32 teams.

Jerry Jones is the owner of the Dallas Cowboys and Ann Walton (first cousin to Rob Walton) is married to Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams. His real estate empire reportedly was started with Walton seed money after the couple married in 1974.

It would also put the Walton family interests owning nearly everything in the Denver area sports market (the baseball Rockies being the exception).

Rob Walton was an attorney before returning to the family business in 1978 and taking over the chairman role a couple of days after Walmart founder and his father, Sam Walton, passed away in 1992.

Walton is also a big-time auto collector with a stable of rare Ferrari's and even a McLaren Formula 1 car along with a Ford GT350. His collection is estimated at over $300 million.

Rob Walton-Broncos

The purchase of the Broncos for $4.5 billion would become the largest sports franchise transaction in USA history, blowing past the "paltry" $2.35 billion for the Brooklyn Nets in 2017.

The world record for a sports franchise was set earlier this month when a Todd Boehly-led consortium purchased London-based Chelsea Football Club for roughly $5.3 billion.

Once that deal was done he wasn't considered one of the favorites to buy the Broncos.

But now it appears that a bunch of people from a state with no professional sports franchises will be owning nearly 10% of the NFL teams.

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Andy Hodges
ANDY HODGES

Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.