DENVER — Baseball doesn’t have a clock. But it was time. After two decades of operating the Colorado Rockies as a mom-and-pop grocery store, it was time for owner Dick Monfort to bring in Walmart as a partner. In what amounts to a home run for baseball fans in this state and region, Monfort has agreed to sell a 40 % minority stake in the Rockies to the Penner Sports Group, composed of Broncos’ ...

Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort on the field before a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on Aug. 20, 2025, in Denver.

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

DENVER — Baseball doesn’t have a clock. But it was time.

After two decades of operating the Colorado Rockies as a mom-and-pop grocery store, it was time for owner Dick Monfort to bring in Walmart as a partner.

In what amounts to a home run for baseball fans in this state and region, Monfort has agreed to sell a 40 % minority stake in the Rockies to the Penner Sports Group, composed of Broncos’ co-owners Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner.

With a roughly $672 million investment based on Forbes’ most recent $1.68 billion valuation, the Penners will provide funds to pay down debt and financial resources that give Monfort runway to determine his future vision for the franchise as a labor stoppage looms following this season.

For Monfort, it was past time in the national pastime to treat the Rockies as a civic institution. By bringing on the Penners, he shifts the conversation about his ownership from selfish to selfless. At last.

It is wise, if not belated, recognition that family-run sports teams are becoming archaic and lack the wherewithal to consistently chase championships.

Monfort has groused in recent years, including in an interview with The Denver Post before the 2024 season, about Major League Baseball’s lack of a salary cap. The concern about competing became amplified with regional sports networks dissolving, siphoning a source of revenue for a Rockies team that is already heavily dependent on attendance.

In the most recent homestand, the Rockies posted their smallest crowds in Coors Field history.

But lost in that nadir is that Monfort finally realized in October that significant changes were needed.

His decision to promote son Walker Monfort to vice president and give him freedom to hire baseball president Paul DePodesta, general manager Josh Byrnes and a battery of new business people was the clearest signal that he understood how dormant the team had become after seven consecutive losing seasons.

Until Friday.

This is a seismic event. A grand slam for Rockies fans.

By bringing the Penners on board, it creates a pathway for the Rockies to become relevant.

In 34 seasons, the Rockies have managed only five playoff berths, never won a National League West title and appeared in one World Series in 2007, swept by the Boston Red Sox in a buzzkill end to the most magical run in baseball history.

The obvious question: Why wouldn’t Dick Monfort simply sell the team?

This is something understandably frustrated fans have been chirping about for years.

It was not time for that. On multiple levels. Could that change down the road? Perhaps.

But starting with conversations a year ago, the Penners were motivated to get involved rather than take over. This is not a palace coup. It is a partnership. But it is also one (heck) of a safety net.

The new partnership continues momentum for Monfort, which has been evident on the field with the team’s 6-7 record after starting last season 7-33 en route to losing 100 games for a third consecutive season.

And it gives the Penners an opportunity to become financially tethered without dealing with the minutiae of running another team.

Can we pause for a second and acknowledge the commitment to sports and this community the Penners have shown since the summer of 2022?

As they enter their fifth year owning the Broncos, they have built a$175 million team headquarters, moved forward on a privately-financed new stadium for billions of dollars, created a $12 million initiative to donate over 15,000 helmets to high school football teams and and turned the franchise from a laughingstock to a Super Bowl contender by hiring Sean Payton and signing players to in-house contract extensions for more than $400 million over the last 18 months.

To Colorado sports fans, it’s worth even more.

The Penners have shown at every turn that they are amazing stewards, setting a standard for excellence in everything from how their players travel and eat to how they increase alumni involvement.

Before you ask, their roles with the Broncos will not change. Owning the team has exceeded their expectations in how fulfilling, challenging and rewarding it has been. They will still attend practice a few days a week and mingle at the facility.

The Rockies, make no mistake, piqued their interest as a business investment.

Like many who have lived here, they recognize that baseball is a sleeping giant, a potential No. 2 sport in Colorado if Rocktober returns semi-annually. Coors Field, despite being the third-oldest ballpark in the National League, remains a destination spot with its timeless appeal and charm.

Fans have shown they will come if the team is good. It just takes several flips back in the calendar to remember when that was.

Overall, baseball is on the right track, benefiting from the pitch clock, eliminating shifts and creating the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System.

The Penners obviously saw this.

For the Rockies, for Monfort, this move makes sense.

Just look at all the Penners have done, how deep their pockets are, and how much they commit to ventures. They are unbelievably curious people who look for answers, never satisfied with the status quo or mediocrity.

They will learn baseball just as they did the NFL. There is no reason to think they cannot help make the Rockies better.

Everyone will wonder if they will eventually buy the team. That is for a later day and could hinge on the outcome of the labor talks, in which Monfort serves as a hawk in the negotiations for commissioner Rob Manfred.

Since back-to-back playoff berths in 2017 and 2018, the Rockies have nosedived, bottoming out with 119 losses last season.

By bringing in the Penners, Monfort is letting the respected neighbors down the street spruce up the place. Their money matters. But more than that, it provides hope for the future.

And for this city, this state and the fans, that is priceless.

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