patrick dennis bowlen (february 18, 1944 – june 13, 2019) was an american sports executive. he was born in prairie du chien, wisconsin. he was the majority owner of the denver broncos of the national football league (nfl). bowlen and his family, including his two brothers john bowlen and bill bowlen, and sister marybeth bowlen, bought the team from edgar kaiser in 1984. he served as the ceo of denver broncos from 1984 until july 2014, when he stepped down from the role due to alzheimer's disease. he was also principal owner of denver outlaws and colorado crush.