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Ex-Broncos Owner Denied Chance To Buy Back Team

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Oct 2, 2008 5:07 pm US/Mountain

Ex-Broncos Owner Denied Chance To Buy Back Team

By P. Solomon Banda, Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) ― Former Denver Broncos owner Edgar Kaiser Jr. lost his latest bid to force current owner Pat Bowlen to sell him part of the team.

The Colorado Court of Appeals Thursday refused to revive Kaiser's state case that was tossed out last year.

Kaiser, who sold his 60.8 percent share of the team to Bowlen in 1984, lost his case in federal court in 2006. The case involved an offer to sell part of the team to Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.

Kaiser argued the 1984 contract included a "buyback" provision if Bowlen tried to sell the team or a partnership holding majority interest in the team to anybody else. The case in state court involved Bowlen's acquisition of an additional interest of the team through a stock deal involving family members.

A U.S. District Court jury in 2004 ruled in favor of Kaiser, saying Bowlen violated the contract by offering 10 percent of shares in a company that held ownership of the team to Elway for $15 million. That verdict was overturned by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2006.

The state appellate court agreed the same legal issues resolved in the federal appellate court also apply to the state case. That was that the transactions involved the parent company and not the team or the partnership holding majority interest in the team,

"This was anti-climatic," said Bowlen attorney Dan Reilly. "The heart of the case was decided in the federal case. This was an attempt to resurrect a dead case that the court of appeals rejected."

A message left for Kaiser's attorney, G. Stephen Long, was not immediately returned.

Bowlen's 1998 offer was declined by Elway, who at the time said he wanted a more active role in managing the team than what he was offered.

Elway is co-owner and CEO of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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