Denver Broncos sale to fetch record price

The Denver Broncos are looking for a new NFL owner in what's expected to be the most expensive team sale in US sports history.

The Pat D. Bowlen Trust announced on Tuesday it's in the "beginning of a sale process" for a franchise that's valued at $4 billion ($A5.6b) and is expected to draw heavy bidding that could push the sale price well beyond that figure.

The highest price paid for a US sports franchise is the $2.35b ($A3.3b) that Alibaba Group co-founder and Canadian billionaire Joe Tsai paid for the Brooklyn Nets in 2019.

The last NFL team that went on the market was the Carolina Panthers, bought for $2.275b ($A3.2b) by David Tepper in 2018.

The trustees who run the Broncos hope to have a new owner by the start of next season, team president and CEO Joe Ellis said.

"Selling an NFL team is a complex process involving numerous parties and league approval procedures. Nonetheless, the trustees hope to have the sale completed by the start of the 2022 NFL season," Ellis said in a statement.

NFL franchise values have skyrocketed with new broadcast deals and the league's embrace of sports betting, which is now legal in many states, including Colorado.

And teams rarely go on sale.

The Broncos are a regional team with a great history including three Super Bowl titles, seven Super Bowl appearances and 21 playoff berths since Pat Bowlen purchased the team from Edgar Kaiser in 1984.

The team has an up-and-coming roster and last week hired Nathaniel Hackett as head coach, replacing Vic Fangio.

Bowlen died in 2019, a month shy of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after a long bout with Alzheimer's.

Several years earlier he had appointed a three-person trust to determine the future of the franchise.