The Colorado Rockies crumbled while Dick and Charlie Monfort wrestled over the future of the franchise.

A dysfunctional baseball team that made losing 100 games a bad habit was a reflection of a long-hidden but unresolved family dispute between the two brothers who owned the Rockies.

For the past two years, Charlie Monfort has persistently explored selling his shares in a downtrodden Rockies ballclub he had helped bring to Colorado in the early 1990s.

But Dick Monfort, his elder brother, stubbornly refused to let go of a team he loved and wanted to pass down to his sons.

What happened Friday, when the Monforts announced they were selling a 40% stake in a major league franchise valued at $1.68 billion to the Penner Sports Group, was a level-headed compromise that not only kept the Rockies in the family but gave the team something that felt like a tangible reason for genuine hope for a brighter future.

While long-suffering Colorado baseball fans stood up and cheered the addition of the vast Walmart fortune and business savvy of Broncos co-owners Carrie Walton Penner and her husband, Greg, to the Rockies, the untold story was the long, winding and sometimes contentious road that Dick and Charlie Monfort traveled to get here.

The Penners hit a home run with the Monforts, but not until after other prospective buyers struck out trying to engage the brothers in selling a significant financial stake in the Rockies.

During the previous two calendar years, at least two well-heeled suitors had explored the possibility of acquiring shares from either Charlie or Dick Monfort. For example, Representatives from Crown International Holdings walked away after talking with both brothers in the latter half of 2024, frustrated with the slow progress in negotiations.

The brothers seemed frequently at odds about what they wanted next from the team.

Dick Monfort steadfastly regarded the Rockies as a prized family heirloom, rebuffing inquiries from potential buyers as he worked to integrate sons Walker and Sterling into roles with the team’s front office.

Meanwhile, Charlie Monfort consistently had given signals since 2024 that he was ready to cash out of his investment and leave the baseball business.

Their vastly different visions of the future were the source of strife between two brothers who grew up in Greeley as the sons of a successful cattle magnate. At times, it looked uncertain if their decades-long business relationship in the Rockies would continue.

As far back as March 2025, Dick Monfort acknowledged to me that if his younger brother wanted to divest his shares of the team, “I have right of first refusal, so I could purchase his stock. Or I would just welcome in a new partner.” And in the next breath, he added: “If I said, ‘Let’s sell,’ I think (Charlie) would be all in.”

While Dick Monfort has run the day-to-day operations of the Rockies for over a decade, his younger brother began to take a more active role during the past 12 months and was an unseen hand nudging the team in the direction of bringing in new investors.

When the Rockies introduced new president of operations Paul DePodesta late last year, Charlie Monfort was a very interested spectator at the press conference at Coors Field.

“I didn’t get into this game to be an owner of a team for 33 years. I got into it to bring baseball to Denver and move on, go back to being a beef guy,” Charlie Monfort told me that November day.

So why didn’t he unload his share of the Rockies and leave his elder brother to deal with the headache of competing against the immense financial wherewithal of the Los Angeles Dodgers in a sport without the cost certainty of a salary cap?

“Why didn’t I sell my share of the team?” Charlie Monfort said. “I didn’t want to sell a team that’s at the bottom. I want to see a team that’s at the top.”

While they have certainly had their disagreements, the ties that bind the Monfort brothers were tough to break.

Representatives of Stan Kroenke, who earned his own fortune after marrying into the Walmart family, then parlayed his riches into ownership of the NBA, NHL and MLS franchises in Denver, have expressed interest in acquiring a stake in the Rockies more than once during the past three decades.

But a year ago, it was the measured and understated approach of another segment of the Walmart empire that resonated with the two brothers in charge of a beleaguered baseball team.

Pledging to leave Dick Monfort in charge and promising to take a hands-off approach in the day-to-day operations of the Rockies, Greg and Carrie Penner convinced the Monforts to close a deal that gives the Broncos co-owners a minority stake worth more than half a billion dollars.

“Greg and Carrie have proven that they share the same passion for our region and a strong commitment to compete at the highest level,” Dick Monfort said in a statement welcoming his new partners. “We are thrilled to add them to the Colorado Rockies ownership group as we best position this franchise for long-term sustained success.”

With the immense resources and business acumen of the Penner Sports Group, the Rockies now have a chance to write a new chapter in their franchise history. This story, however, would not look nearly so promising if Dick and Charlie Monfort hadn’t found a way to get on the same page.