ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos are looking for a new owner in what’s expected to be the most expensive team sale in U.S. sports history.

The Pat D. Bowlen Trust announced Tuesday it’s in the “beginning of a sale process” for a franchise that’s valued at $4 billion and is expected to draw heavy bidding that could push the sale price well beyond that figure.

The highest price paid for a U.S. sports franchise is the $2.35 billion that Alibaba Group cofounder 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, whom David Tepper bought for $2.275 billion.

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

Ellis, who is one of three trustees of The Pat Bowlen Trust, said Steve Greenberg of Allen & Company was retained as financial advisor and Joe Leccese of Proskauer Rose LLP as legal advisor for the ownership transition.

“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.

SUPER BOWL: The Cincinnati weather isn’t getting any friendlier, so the Super Bowl-bound Bengals plan to arrive in Los Angeles five days early to prepare for the Feb. 13 game.

The Bengals will land on Feb. 8. They’ll practice at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.

The temperature in L.A. should be in the 70s by the time the Bengals get back at it next week.

Although it was an unseasonable 60 degrees and pleasant in southern Ohio on Tuesday, nobody is fooled. A storm heading this way is expected to hit the area with freezing rain and then snow on Wednesday and Thursday.

Next week will bring highs around the freezing mark in Cincinnati, still not the best conditions in which to prepare for a game that will be played in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

49ERS: Before Jimmy Garoppolo finished his 17-minute season-ending news conference, he wanted to deliver a message to the San Francisco 49ers fans who supported him the past five seasons.

“It’s been crazy, man. Just all the comebacks at Levi’s, comebacks on the road, ups and downs. It’s been a hell of a ride guys,” he said. “I love you guys.”

While Garoppolo’s tenure as quarterback for the 49ers isn’t officially over as he has one year remaining on his contract and Coach Kyle Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch said no final decision has been made, all signs point to a trade being made in the coming months and San Francisco turning the team over to Trey Lance.

Lynch and Shanahan talked to Garoppolo on Monday after the Niners began their offseason following the 20-17 loss to the Rams in the NFC title game and promised to keep an open line of communication.

PANTHERS: Carolina named Kristi Coleman as their new team president, while Nick Kelly has been appointed chief executive officer of Tepper Sports and Entertainment as part of a leadership shakeup.

Coleman replaces Tom Glick, who the team said is stepping aside to pursue other opportunities. He joined the Panthers in 2018 in part to help with the startup process for Charlotte’s Major League Soccer expansion franchise, which begins play this year.

Coleman becomes the Panthers’ highest-ranking female executive since Tina Becker was named chief operating officer by outgoing owner Jerry Richardson’ in 2018. Becker spent less than a year in the role before resigning after David Tepper purchased the team from Richardson.

Coleman has spent the last eight years with the Panthers working as the team’s director of finance before becoming chief financial officer in 2019.

PACKERS: A person familiar with the situation says that Maurice Drayton won’t be back as the Green Bay Packers’ special teams coordinator next season.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Packers haven’t made an announcement on Drayton’s future yet.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported that Drayton was out.

This move comes after the Packers had a punt and a field-goal attempt blocked in a 13-10 NFC divisional playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

JAGUARS: Jacksonville’s meandering coaching search has a new twist.

The Jaguars interviewed former Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman for an undisclosed front-office role, according to a person familiar with the process. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team has kept details of its search private.

It’s unclear what role Spielman could take on in Jacksonville. He could become an assistant GM under Trent Baalke. The 59-year-old Spielman spent the last 16 years in Minnesota, the past decade as the team’s GM. He was fired following this season, the second straight year the Vikings missed the playoffs.

CANNABINOIDS RESEARCH: The NFL is awarding $1 million in research funding to two teams of medical researchers to study the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players.

Medical teams from the University of California San Diego and University of Regina in Canada were selected from 106 proposals initiated by the NFL and the NFL Players Association’s Joint Pain Management Committee in June 2021

VIKINGS: The Minnesota Vikings conducted their second interview with New York Giants coordinator Patrick Graham, leaving one more head coach candidate to visit with: Jim Harbaugh.

Graham spent the day at team headquarters, after an initial interview Saturday over videoconference. Harbaugh, who has coached Michigan for the last seven seasons, was scheduled to visit the Vikings on Wednesday.

Graham, who has also carried the assistant head coach title with the Giants, finished his second season with the team and his 13th year as an NFL assistant.

Vikings officials were in Southern California on Monday to interview the top two assistants for the Los Angeles Rams, offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell and defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.

Morris and O’Connell were among the eight candidates who interviewed before the Vikings hired GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Graham and Harbaugh had their first formal conversations with the team after Adofo-Mensah was hired.