Former Kroenke Sports employees expected to join ex-Nuggets mascot in class action lawsuit

It’s getting a little rocky for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.

On July 8, Denver District Judge Chris Baumann ruled to certify part of former Denver Nuggets mascot Drake Solomon’s lawsuit as a class action, allowing other KSE employees to join the claim that the employer violated the Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (POWR) Act in its severance agreements.

There are expected to be 24 employees overall, including Solomon, listed in the lawsuit.

“We know Kroenke is a big employer here and they use a template severance agreement, so all of the violations that were in Drake’s severance agreement, we have a pretty strong basis to believe would be in additional ones,” Virginia Hill Butler, attorney at Rathod Mohamedbhai, tells Westword.

After Rocky’s 1990 introduction, the high-flying yellow mountain lion quickly became the most popular mascot in Colorado sports. Solomon’s father, Kenn, was employed by the Nuggets as Rocky for over 30 years and was responsible for many of the antics and acrobatics that made the mascot so beloved.

That legacy was passed on when Drake Solomon took up the Rocky suit after his father retired in 2021.

But the younger Solomon began experiencing hip pain after a bout of COVID during the Nuggets’ 2022-2023 championship run. According to his lawsuit, Solomon’s hip pain eventually led to a diagnosis of avascular necrosis, a condition in which bones aren’t getting enough blood flow, causing bone tissue to die. In 2024, Solomon was forced to undergo a double hip replacement, he says.

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