Who owns the Colorado Rockies? Dick Monfort, explained

Dick Monfort has been the principal owner, chairman and CEO of the Colorado Rockies since 1997, with his brother Charlie as co-owner and general partner. His son Walker serves as club president and oversees daily operations. In April 2026, the Monfort family brought in Greg and Carrie Walton Penner—owners of the Denver Broncos and Walmart heirs—as the largest minority partner, creating an unusual crosstown ownership link between Denver’s two major sports franchises.

🏟️ Ownership at a glance

Principal owner	Richard L. ‘Dick’ Monfort
Controlling group	Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Ltd
Current group since	1992
Purchase price	$95M
Latest valuation	$1.68B
Value multiple	17.7× the purchase price

Who is Dick Monfort

The money behind the Rockies traces back to cattle and beef, not finance or tech. Dick Monfort’s father, Kenneth Monfort, owned Monfort of Colorado, Inc., one of the largest meat packing and distribution companies in the country. Dick was born April 27, 1954, in Greeley, Colorado, earned a degree in business administration from the University of Northern Colorado in 1976, and joined the family company as a livestock buyer in 1974. He rose to executive vice president by 1987, the same year ConAgra Foods acquired Monfort of Colorado and he became president of ConAgra Red Meats.

Monfort joined the Rockies partnership on December 8, 1997, became principal owner with Charlie in 2005, and has served as managing general partner, chairman and CEO since 2011. He lives in Denver with his wife Karen and sits on boards including the University of Northern Colorado, University of Colorado Hospital, and the Denver Zoo.

How they bought the team

The Monfort family paid $95 million to acquire the Rockies in 1992 as part of a rescue group that included Jerry McMorris and Oren Benton. The franchise itself had been founded in 1991 by John Antonucci and Mickey Monus, also for $95 million. Dick Monfort entered the ownership structure on December 8, 1997, and he and Charlie took full control in 2005. Today, Forbes values the club at $1.68 billion as of March 2026, making it the 25th-most valuable franchise in baseball.

The team has generated $319 million in revenue and $20 million in operating income in 2025, with debt representing just 7 percent of its value—one of the healthiest balance sheets in the sport. The Monfort family has held the club for 34 years.

Year	Buyer	Amount
1991	John Antonucci and Michael ‘Mickey’ Monus (expansion franchise)	$95M
1992	Rescue group: Jerry McMorris, Oren Benton and Charlie Monfort	$15M
1997	Dick Monfort	—
2005	Dick and Charlie Monfort (total control)	—
2026	Penner Sports Group (Greg and Carrie Walton Penner)	—

What else they own

Beyond the Rockies, the Monfort family controls extensive real estate in Denver, concentrated in the LoDo district surrounding Coors Field. Their portfolio includes McGregor Square, a mixed-use development adjacent to the stadium featuring a hotel, residences, offices and plaza. The stadium itself carries the Coors name, linking the franchise to one of Colorado’s most iconic companies.

The family’s wealth remains rooted in the Monfort of Colorado legacy, sold to ConAgra in 1987. That meat-packing heritage shapes the Rockies’ identity: the team is, in many ways, Colorado’s most authentically Colorado-based franchise, built on the state’s agricultural and industrial foundation rather than finance or technology.

Where the games air

After AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain closed in 2023, the Rockies launched Rockies.TV in 2024, a blackout-free streaming service priced at $19.99 per month or $99.99 per season, distributed alongside cable partners including Comcast. In 2026, ESPN acquired local streaming rights to Rockies games and five other clubs, making games available within the ESPN app as part of standalone packages, MLB.TV, or the base MLB.TV subscription. Select games, including opening day at home, air free over the air on 9NEWS (KUSA) and KTVD in Denver.

Facts worth knowing

Dick Monfort is, by an enormous margin, the most unpopular owner in this group of six. In 2025 the Rockies finished 43-119, the worst season in their history, tying the third-worst record in the modern era with the 2003 Tigers and falling two short of matching the 2024 White Sox record.
The 2025 run differential was minus 424, the worst in modern MLB history and the worst since the Cleveland Spiders of 1899. They started 8-42, the worst 50-game start of the era, and lost 22 consecutive series, another record.
He is one of the few MLB owners who responds to emails from angry fans from his personal account, and several of those responses have gone viral, including one in which he told a fan that if he was not happy he should find another team.
In April 2026 the Monforts sold the largest minority package to Greg and Carrie Walton Penner, owners of the Broncos and Walmart heirs, in an unusual crossover: Denver’s two major teams now share shareholders.
The Rockies money smells like beef: Monfort of Colorado was one of the largest meat packers in the United States and ConAgra bought it in 1987. Coors Field is named after a brewery. It is the most ‘Colorado’ franchise of all.
Despite the sports disaster, the business is solid: Forbes calculates $20 million in operating income in 2025 and a debt-to-value ratio of just 7%, among the lowest in the league. Losing does not cost the family money.

Where they stand among the 30 owners

List	Rank
By franchise value	#25 de 30
By purchase price	#22 de 27
By years in charge	#5 de 30

Amounts are nominal and not adjusted for inflation: comparing a decades-old purchase price with today’s valuation overstates the real gain.

Dick Monfort ranks 5th among the 30 owners in tenure at the helm and 25th in franchise valuation. His $95 million purchase in 1992 has grown to $1.68 billion—a 17.7-fold return. Yet 2025 brought historic futility: the Rockies finished 43-119, the worst season in franchise history, matching the third-worst record in the modern era. The run differential of minus-424 stands as the worst in modern baseball history and the worst since 1899. Despite the sporting collapse, the business remains profitable and debt-light, a reality that underscores the gap between fan frustration and ownership stability in baseball.