DENVER — One problem with being a billionaire – it’s a less than .01 percent group that is usually too busy to enjoy their money.
Josh Harris is a billionaire seven or eight times over, according to business news agencies. One of five potential owners of the Denver Broncos, Harris wrapped up his jam-packed two-day visit by having dinner Thursday night with his associates and Broncos’ chief executive officer Joe Ellis at a downtown Denver restaurant, then toured Empower Field at Mile High on Friday morning, a source told 9NEWS.
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Harris then left early Friday afternoon to fly back to Philadelphia where his 76ers were to play the Miami Heat in a home playoff game Friday night. Harris’ visit started Thursday with a trip to Broncos headquarters where he and his lawyers and associates sat down with the team lawyers and executives and poured over the books of expenditures and revenues.
Harris, 57, was the first of the ownership candidates to visit the Broncos and is also the most experienced in the position of controlling owner of a sports franchise. He has been in charge of the 76ers since 2011 after he bought the team for $280 million, and he’s been the top man for the NHL New Jersey Devils since 2013 when he bought the team and its arena for $320 million.
The Broncos may cost 15 times what he paid for the Devils package but then again, Harris’ wealth has also multiplied in the past decade. The four other ownership candidates – Rob Walton and his son-in-law Greg Penner, Todd Boehly and two other unidentified groups – are also scheduled to visit team headquarters in the next week or two. Walton and Penner are former and current Walmart chairmen, respectively. Boehly is part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers, and is in the process of buying the Premier League’s Chelsea soccer team overseas.
A Broncos source familiar with the sale process told 9NEWS the Broncos received opening-round bids from 10 investment groups with five advancing to the second round. The bankers and financial advisors in charge of the sale have not yet asked for a second-round bid from the five remaining groups.
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