SportsBiz: Behold the ‘Bronckies’

This article appears in the Summer 2026 issue of ColoradoBiz titled, ‘Behold the ‘Bronckies’.

Come celebrate with me, sports fan, the enduring charm of the crowd-sourced team nickname. The Bronx Bombers (New York Yankees). The Steel Curtain (1970s Pittsburgh Steelers). Phi Slamma Jamma (University of Houston men’s basketball teams of the early 1980s).

Of course, we all love us some Orange Crush (no explanation needed). Or my personal favorite: referring to the Montreal Canadiens as “the Habs.” My brain hears “Hab” and conjures the image of a beefy saltwater fish with a very wide mouth. (In fact, it alludes to les habitants, the 17th-century settlers of what’s now Quebec.)

Right here and right now, we have ourselves a fresh opportunity to enter the nicknaming realm: What to call the budding, Brangelina-like romance between the Denver Broncos and our Colorado Rockies? The “Colorado Ronckos?” The “Denverado Bronckies?”

Whatever invented appellation comes to prevail (or, charitably, doesn’t), there is much to consider about the $672 million investment in the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club by the Penner Sports Group, the sports-investment organization headed by Greg and Carrie-Walton Penner that in 2022 purchased the Broncos for a then-record $4.65 billion and has since taken the team to the edges of the NFL elite.

Major League Baseball’s website describes the transaction as creating the “largest minority owner” of the team. But if we take to heart that the deal involves, as has been widely reported, a 40% stake, it’s clear this is no hobbyist-level dipping of toes in the Colorado sports waters. We’re not talking about some fortunate son putting a few million dollars of mom’s cash into a team for a one percent slice and a sweet luxury box.

Rather, the Penner Sports Group has injected enough money into the Rockies’ bank vaults not only to reduce much or all of the team’s debt and to create some capital cushion, but to deserve a meaningful seat or three at the management table. (I assume it’s genuine leather, with one of those smooth hydraulic mechanisms to accommodate short people.)

Some quick math shows the Rockies are valued at around $1.7 billion, in line with recent estimates from MLB analysts at Forbes and CNBC. For comparison, the Yankees top the charts at $8 billion, because of course they do.

Credit here to the Monfort family, including newly installed team president Walker Monfort, the son of chairman/CEO Dick Monfort. (Wait: did I really just write that sentence? Apologies to all Rockies antagonists.) My guess is this isn’t the first whippersnapper to come a ‘calling on the Monforts with a bag full of money and a nostalgia-tinged yen to scout power-hitting minor leaguers in Albuquerque or Fresno.

What the new partner group offers transcends the checkbook: a proven record for solid decision-making, business acumen and organizational chops, an undeniable eye for management talent (Sean Payton, anyone?), a familial connection to the Walmart legacy, and, something few other suitors possess: synergistic sway over the metro-area sports scene that offers, among other things, interesting possibilities around stadium and surrounding retail/entertainment development.

It’s doubtful that negotiations with Monforts happened independently of the Broncos, as they simultaneously planned a new stadium and a real estate complex near 10^th Ave. and Osage St. in Denver, which is all of four light-rail stops from Coors Field. Let’s all imagine a Jetson-esque, AI-powered RTD bullet train that zips fans clad in dual-toned, purple-and-orange jerseys to the Monday Night Football kickoff at the new Broncos stadium shortly after a flamethrowing closer has capped a 3-0 Rockies homestand sweep by extinguishing the opponent’s last-gasp batter. Hopefully a Dodger.

Of gossipy intrigue here is that similar attributes – infrastructure, teams, ticket operations, real estate ideals etc. – are also in place within the Kroenke Sports empire (Nuggets, Avalanche, Rapids, Los Angeles Rams), which has long been rumored as a possible Rockies suitor, one difference being that Mr. Stan historically doesn’t particularly favor being anything but a controlling owner, not a minority investor.

The ability for the reconstituted Bronckies to devise scale economies and synergies around real estate development, sponsor relationships, media alliances, merchandising opportunities, back-office analytics teams, marketing people, landscapers who mow the lawns, and, who knows, possibly branded tailgating grill accessories, means a new power player is on the march in Colorado sports.

One that might even – we say this in subdued whisper, of course – bring something altogether fresh to the state’s sports scene: a competitive Major League Baseball team.