Second stadium down, one Yard to go.<\/p>\n
Before you blow your top over the lid at Burnham Yard, the prospective home of the Denver Broncos starting in 2031<\/a>, did you know that, since 1990, the average temperature of a playoff home game in the Mile High City was 40 degrees?<\/p>\n And that of the Broncos\u2019 last 15 postseason games in Denver, eight of them \u2014 per Pro-Football-Reference.com<\/a> \u2014 were played in temperatures 37 degrees or warmer? The last five Empower Field playoff temps: 43, 46, 40, 41, 63.<\/p>\n Snow down, Broncomaniacs.<\/p>\n Denver won\u2019t just be playing in Super Bowls over the next decade.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll be hosting them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Broncos have been, since Day 1 of the franchise, an important fabric and part of the community in Denver,\u201d Broncos CEO Greg Penner told The Denver Post\u2019s Parker Gabriel in an exclusive interview. \u201cFinding a site of that size that we could weave into the downtown area and all that just was incredibly unique, combined with the historic nature of the site. \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the bones of the old railyard and a couple of buildings and a unique site that we think enables us to create something unique and special, both with the stadium and the mixed-use development around it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Walton-Penner Group just raised the roof without raising taxes. Despite overtures from Lone Tree and Aurora, they\u2019re keeping the Broncos in Denver. Where they belong.<\/p>\n In other words, Penner and co-owner\/wife Carrie Walton-Penner read the room the way Peyton Manning read defenses at the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really thrilled that they came with that partnership mentality and not, like we\u2019ve seen in other cities, \u2018You give us a bunch of money or we\u2019ll leave,’\u201d Colorado Gov. Jared Polis told The Post. \u201cI think the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group is deeply committed to Denver and deeply committed to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n No overt public money.<\/p>\n No political campaign.<\/p>\n No drama.<\/p>\n No games.<\/p>\n Well, except the big stuff. The biggest. For decades, the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the College Football Playoff, the World Cup or WrestleMania had a reason to fly over the Front Range and wave to us while they were taking their respective parties elsewhere.<\/a><\/p>\n Not anymore. You want a venue with 60,000-plus seats that can host Taylor Swift in March or April? Check. You want a venue where football fans can still feel the elements on an autumn gameday? Got that, too. Open that bad boy up and let the Colorado sunshine in.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t need the cool kids on the coasts to tell us Denver is the best darn sports city in America. But building a multi-purpose stadium at Burnham Yard gives the Front Range many more chances to prove it \u2014 and on the largest stages imaginable.<\/p>\n New Orleans officials recently estimated that Super Bowl LIX was worth more than $1.25 billion in economic impact to the Crescent City. San Antonio boasted an economic bump of $440 million from hosting the Men\u2019s Basketball Final Four this past April.<\/p>\n You wouldn\u2019t want a piece of that?<\/p>\n The Penners do. And thank goodness.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to create something that is active on gameday,\u201d Penner stressed to The Post, \u201cbut also (for) the rest of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with Empower Field, which opened in 2001. There\u2019s nothing all that right about it, either, at least from a real estate purview. Even the best ideas, like the best concrete, get weathered by time.<\/p>\n Pro sports owners are playing a different level of Monopoly than they were three decades ago<\/a>. It\u2019s not just about owning Tennessee Avenue anymore. It\u2019s about gobbling up St. James Place and New York Avenue next door, then making sure a row of strip malls, restaurants and hotels get built on top of them. Collect the rent, funnel some of that money to Bo Nix and Nik Bonitto<\/a>, pass GO, collect $200. Rinse. Repeat.<\/p>\n Stadiums are so expensive to build that a single-use facility, especially one available for 12-20 dates a year instead of 50-60, isn\u2019t cost-effective. The land around Empower Field is owned by the Metropolitan Football Stadium District. Whatever\u2019s built at Burnham Yard will be owned by the Walton-Penner Group and designed with a neighborhood in mind, not just the stadium itself.<\/p>\n Oh, there will be bumps. That\u2019s inevitable. The city\u2019s slated to foot the bill for public improvements related to connectivity to the stadium \u2014 exit ramps, roads, RTD, etc. And Tuesday\u2019s announcements didn\u2019t mention Personal Seat Licenses (PSLs) \u2014 a one-time fee paid by fans for the \u201cright\u201d to buy a seat.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a cloud rolling in behind all those rainbows, it\u2019s that. PSLs seem inevitable here, too \u2014 a survey the Broncos sent to fans in 2023 included that very subject.<\/p>\n Before you\u2019re shocked, check out the latest stickers. The Raiders offer a link to purchase PSLs via the team website, with $7,500 being the cheapest single license available as of Tuesday morning. <\/a>The Titans have offered PSLs for Terrace Level seats at their new Nissan Stadium at a cost of roughly $750-$4,500 per pop<\/a>. The Buffalo News reported \u201clower-level\u201d general admission PSL prices for the Bills\u2019 new Highmark Stadium earlier this year were within the $2,500-$8,000 range.<\/p>\n Would a Super Bowl be worth that? Everyone who let hosting a World Cup slip away from soccer-mad Denver in 2026 should land a red card for life. With this new district, hopefully, it won\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n Five years down the line, who knows? In 2020, as a franchise, the Broncos looked listless and lost \u2014 a sleeping giant resting on the laurels of orange-and-blue bloods everywhere.<\/p>\n The Walton-Penner ownership group woke everybody up. The beast is taking names now. It\u2019s buying up land. It\u2019s drawing castles in the sky.<\/p>\n And we hear you. So do they. A Denver playoff game played under a roof? The late, great super fan Tim McKernan must be rolling over in his barrel.<\/a><\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, Penner sounds as if he wants to keep the lid off as much as possible. And for as many Broncos games as feasible. He gets it. All of it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted something that is true to our roots here and looked at domed stadiums,\u201d Penner told The Post. \u201cBut (we) just thought that wouldn\u2019t enable us to take advantage of Colorado sunsets and Mile High views and playing in the elements if we choose to.\u201d<\/p>\n Give the Penners an inch, they\u2019ll take a Yard. All the way to the bank.<\/p>\n