Los Angeles billionaire Alec Gores is a candidate to buy Denver Broncos

John Elway and Peyton Manning may want to buy a piece of the Denver Broncos, but a Los Angeles billionaire could be among the competitors in what is expected to be the priciest team sale in North American sports history.

Alec Gores, 69, whose Beverly Hills-based Gores Group buys and sells companies, is part of an investment group in which the three partners have a combined net worth of $10 billion, according to Forbes.

The group also includes Dean Metropoulos, 75, a Florida investment titan with whom Gores teamed to revive the iconic Hostess Brand, and Mat Ishbia, 42, chief executive of Michigan-based lender United Wholesale Mortgage, now called UWM Holdings.

Ishbia is a onetime walk-on point guard who played under coach Tom Izzo on Michigan State’s 2000 NCAA championship basketball team. It is uncertain whether the three men would consider additional investors for their planned bid.

The Broncos were put up for sale last week. The team is valued at $3.8 billion by Sportico. However, given the Broncos’ avid following and the rarity of an NFL team available for sale, the bidding is expected to hit $4 billion.

The last NFL team to be sold, the Carolina Panthers, went for $2.3 billion in 2018. The record price for a North American team: $2.4 billion, for the New York Mets in 2020.

Elway and Manning are Hall of Fame quarterbacks with a Broncos legacy, and each has indicated he would consider joining an investment group.

A spokesman for Gores declined comment. Gores’ brother, Tom, owns the Detroit Pistons.