Over much of the past decade, dissatisfied followers of the Colorado Rockies have often aimed their harshest verbal and written criticisms directly at club ownership. Complaints have centered around misguided spending and a seeming inability for Colorado to be willing or able to upgrade their roster or improve their farm system due to self-imposed financial restrictions.
Many fans have called Managing General Partner/Chairman and CEO Dick Monfort “cheap.”
In reality, Monfort and this club have never been “cheap.” It’s often forgotten that Dick and his younger brother Charlie Monfort remain largely responsible for MLB being in Denver. Back in the early 1990’s when Colorado’s fledgling ownership group was crumbling, and MLB was considering changing their minds on Denver as an expansion city, it was the Monfort’s involvement that saved the day. Having started out as limited partners, Dick and Charlie had gradually taken over complete control of the franchise by the end of the 1990’s.
Rockies Have Often Spent Big…With Little Results
Over the years, while being a “mid-market” franchise, the team has typically maintained a payroll in the upper half of the MLB pack, and over the past decade they’ve signed several free agents to large contracts. Unfortunately for Monfort, the team hasn’t gotten much of a return from the likes of Ian Desmond, Daniel Murphy, Wade Davis or Kris Bryant. Money being spent there (Bryant is on the injured list with degenerative disk disease in his back that shows no signs of ever improving, and is in the fifth year of a seven-year contract that will end up paying him the tidy sum of $182 million even if he never plays another inning) is money that Colorado hasn’t been able to invest in the farm system.
After suffering through the worst season in the franchise’s three plus decade history in 2025 – when Colorado went 43-119 – Monfort turned over the day-to-day operation of the club to his oldest son Walker, who then hired veteran baseball and football executive Paul DePodesta to run the front office. Early returns have been largely positive for the revamped Rockies.
New Minority Owners Bring Cash and Goodwill
On Friday, the news broke that Monfort had agreed to sell a 40% minority share of the team to Greg and Carrie Penner, who are also part owners of the Denver Broncos. At first, the news was greeted with disbelief by Rockies fans, who have heard the cries of “Sell the Team” for years now but who never though Monfort would relinquish any sort of control of the franchise. By definition, he still hasn’t, because he remains the majority owner. But that hasn’t stopped Rockies fans from celebrating the involvement of the part owners of the beloved Broncos.
The influx of capital brought in by the Penner Sports Group has freed the Rockies of whatever debt they were still dealing with, and brings with it the possibilities of financial gains in all sort of areas. No dollar figures were announced, but Mike Klis of 9News in Denver wrote, the amount figures to be several hundred million dollars based on the club’s $1.68 billion valuation according to Forbes’ annual MLB team rankings published in March.
The Penner’s realized that while success on the field has eluded the Rockies since they last made the postseason in 2018, moderate success on the business side has been pretty much a constant. Monfort has proven to be a very good businessman over the years, and despite the team’s on-field struggles, they continue to be profitable largely due to ownership’s dedication to a great fan experience. Last season, the woeful Rockies still drew over 2.4 million fans, good for 15th overall out of 30 MLB teams.
On the down side, the Rockies local media rights revenue was all but wiped out when their regional sports network, AT & T SportsNet, when out of business after the 2024 season. They are now one of 14 clubs who’s local media rights are operated by MLB in conjunction with ESPN. By contrast, the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers bring in a reported $334 million per year in local media rights revenue.
The Penner’s involvement won’t close that gap, but they do figure to bring the Rockies some much needed operating capital along with the debt reduction.
Shocking Ownership News for the Colorado Rockies