With Joe Ellis leaving after 2021, what happens to the Denver Broncos franchise?

In a sit-down interview with 9News on Tuesday, Joe Ellis announced that he won’t be seeking any kind of extension after his contract is up. His current contract, like John Elway’s, runs through March of 2022. That means both Elway and Ellis could be done in Denver after this next season.

“I don’t envision extending it past that other than maybe just an interim period of some sort if necessary,’’ Ellis said in a sit-down interview with 9NEWS on Tuesday. “But that would be dedicated to finding a replacement as a club president or CEO, depending on what the next owner – whether that’s Brittany or somebody else — where that ends up.”

Mike Klis broke down the entire situation rather well in the post linked above and is well worth the read.

The implications of this news could be huge for the future for the franchise. With the legal battle between the Bowlen children ongoing and, as of now, unresolved, a sale is far more likely than a resolution in my opinion.

With Ellis bowing out this early, I think that could also signal he thinks a sale is almost certain. If the transfer of power was going to Brittany Bowlen, then he would likely need to stick around for a while to assist in her takeover of the day-to-day of running the franchise.

As a fan, I think this is actually a good thing. I don’t believe any of the Bowlen children have shown the passion and love of football that Pat Bowlen had and they likely wouldn’t value the winning culture and desire to compete for championships as highly as Pat did. A new owner could infuse new blood and ideas into the organization that could help it break free from this five year rut it has been in since winning Super Bowl 50.

The other caveat here is the immediate implications of the Broncos general manager search. If I came away feeling like a sale is likely, then why would any highly sought after type of general manager talent want this job knowing there could be new ownership in place as early as this year?

What do you think of this news Broncos Country?