Broncos Team President Makes Major Announcement on Future

Joe Ellis

Getty Joe Ellis talking to the media.

Tuesday wasn’t just a normal day in Broncos Country. The team held their 12th training camp practice in 95-degree weather.

As Russell Wilson was leading his offense in team drills, news broke that the NFL owners unanimously voted to agree on the sale of the Denver Broncos to the Walton-Penner group. While that news was breaking, there was more news that broke. Team President and CEO Joe Ellis announced that he is stepping down from his role with the team.

Ellis has been in full control of the team dating back to July of 2014 after the team announced  publicly that owner Pat Bowlen had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.

During his time of taking over the team, Ellis has had to deal with plenty of drama including finding a new owner of the franchise. Ellis was included in a three-person trust that Bowlen had put together before he passed away in 2019.

Bowlen’s two daughters, Brittany and Beth made it public that they both wanted to become the controlling owner of their father’s team. According to the trust the daughters had to meet certain requirements and that was going to take too long. Ellis and the trust were pressured by the NFL to sell the team sooner rather than later.

Over the past couple of years, Ellis had one main job and that was to find a person or group to sell the Broncos to.

While things are going to be new for the new ownership group, Ellis has agreed to stay on as an advisor to ownership for this season.

History of Ellis

From 1983 to 1985, Ellis was hired as the director of marketing for the Broncos before he joined the NFL as the Vice President of club administration and stadium management from 1990-1997. From there, Ellis continued to climb the ladder to become the team’s Chief Operating Officer and eventually team President.

During his time with the Broncos, Ellis was part of the two most recent Super Bowl victories. Ellis also talked with general manager John Elway about bringing in Peyton Manning back in 2012.

After three failed attempts to win a Super Bowl, there was some real discussion if the Broncos were wanting to bring Manning back for a fourth season. Ellis hopped on the team plane and flew down to Louisiana to make sure Manning was coming back for one final ride that finished with the team adding a third Lombardi Trophy to their trophy case.

Ellis was part of many coaching changes including the handling of the firing of head coach Mike Shanahan. The Broncos have gone through eight different head coaches while Ellis has been an executive with the Denver franchise.

The Broncos are on their third head coach since winning Super Bowl 50 back in February of 2016.

Over the years, Ellis has had to balance the business side of the team while working with Elway to put together a great product on the field.

In 2021 Elway stepped away from the general manager role to become the President of Football Operations. This meant Elway and Ellis had to work together to find the next general manager of the Broncos to lead the team back to the promise land.

That person became George Paton who eventually made a trade for a future hall of fame quarterback Wilson along with head coach Nathaniel Hackett.

New Era In Denver

With a unanimous vote coming from every NFL owner today, the Broncos have a new ownership group. The Walton-Penner group is led by Rob Walton as the controlling owner along with his daughter Carrie Walton-Penner and her husband Greg Penner running the day-to-day operations.

Walton also mentioned that the Broncos were the only sports franchise that he ever considered buying.

Others in the ownership group consist of Condoleezza Rice, Mellody Hobson, and Lewis Hamilton.

Back in July, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the ownership group has also talked to Manning about re-joining the team.

The newest ownership group will be in Denver on Wednesday to start their first day except for Hamilton.

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