The Broncos have a preferred site for their future home.
The franchise has been at its current Mile High site since its inception in 1960 and has played in two different stadiums there, including the current Empower Field.
Now, the plan is to move just south to Burnham Yard, where the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group hopes to build a state-of-the-art stadium and surrounding mixed-use entertainment district.
The latest news
The Broncos made official what’s long been expected: They intend to move forward with plans to build a new stadium at Burnham Yard, a 58-acre parcel the club is purchasing from the state. It also reached an agreement to purchase 25 acres of Denver Water’s campus to the West of the yard and has spent the past year acquiring private real estate in the area. The total footprint is more than 100 acres.
Broncos name Burnham Yard preferred site for new stadium development
Where is Burnham Yard?
Burnham Yard is situated east of I-25 and north of Highway 6, just south of downtown. The yard itself runs from 13th Avenue to the north all the way to south of the 6th Avenue bridge.
When will the new Broncos stadium open?
That is not yet clear but likely either for the 2030 or 2031 NFL season. The Broncos’ current lease at Empower Field runs through the 2030 season, so it would be ideal for a new stadium to be ready for move-in by the summer of 2031 at the latest. The franchise holds two five-year extension options on the current stadium, but with a preferred site announced, the team is not anticipating having to use them or ask for a modified, shortened lease extension.
Why do the Broncos want a new stadium?
Empower Field isn’t old, but it’s dated by modern NFL stadium standards. Renovations get expensive quickly because modern stadiums simply generate revenue in much different ways than the previous generation. A new stadium will have different flow as it pertains to premium seating and entertainment options, which aren’t typically easy to retrofit into an existing building.
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Not lost in any of this, of course: The Walton-Penner Family Ownership doesn’t own the land at Empower Field. They’ll own this land and the area on which the entertainment district is built. That is a critical differentiation in the decision-making to build new.
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Who owns the land at Burnham Yard?
The state purchased Burnham Yard in 2020 with an eye on cleaning it up and preparing it for some kind of public-private development. Once the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group purchased the Broncos in 2022, though, the state sought them out to show them the parcel as a potential stadium site. More than three years later, the Broncos have an agreement in place to purchase the yard from the state.
What challenges will the Broncos face?
There are myriad processes, studies and reports to work through from this point forward. There is excitement around the project, but also likely skepticism and worry, including from neighborhood groups like neighboring La Alma/Lincoln Park. The Broncos say they’re excited to engage with those neighborhood groups, which have been asking City Council about talking with the club for more than a year.
The state has done a deep environmental analysis of the site, too, and it’s been given the green light to build on. But there’s some question remaining about whether or to what extent the yard must be cleaned up before construction begins.
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How will this impact the neighborhood?
There will be major impact in that area — particularly La Alma/Lincoln Park and Baker — not just with the building of the stadium and mixed use entertainment district but also with the influx of 10s of thousands of people dozens of times a year for events at the stadium. Mayor Mike Johnston told The Denver Post on Tuesday that he believes the project will be a win for those neighborhoods and added he hopes the amount of affordable housing built will be “above and beyond” the required 10-12% for projects of this scope.
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Who will pay for the stadium?
The Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group is privately financing the real estate acquisition and construction costs of the stadium, a multi-billion dollar investment. They and the city say the project will include no new taxes for city and state residents. The city and state do, however, plan to make infrastructure investments in the area, likely centered on transit and accessibility. In addition, the Broncos and the city say they plan to evaluate whether Burnham Yard qualifies for urban development tax incentives.
Will there be personal seat license fees at the new stadium?
The short answer is yes. The Broncos haven’t said this officially and didn’t comment on it Tuesday, but virtually every new stadium built in recent years in North America across multiple sports — particularly privately financed ones — have included PSLs in some way, shape or form.
Will the new Broncos stadium have a dome?
Yes, the plan is to build a retractable dome at Burnham Yard. That will not only give the team an opportunity to host big events like the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four, but it will allow for other events to come to the stadium year-round.
“We really like the idea of a retractable roof that allows us to have events year round and if weather is to a degree that we want to close the roof, we can do that,” Broncos CEO Greg Penner told The Denver Post. “We wanted to find a way to play on natural grass if possible and we think that gets us in the best possible place and at the same time allows us to add all the modern amenities that fans want.”
What other locations did Burnham Yard beat out?
There were essentially three other possibilities for a new Broncos stadium: The current Mile High site, Lone Tree and Aurora. Broncos CEO and owner Greg Penner told The Post on Tuesday that the team had more extensive conversations with Lone Tree than Aurora, but that both knew through the process that the club was likely to choose Denver if it could secure the right spot.
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What happens to Empower Field at Mile High after the Broncos move out?
Mayor Mike Johnston called the ability to reimagine Mile High “a once-in-a-century” opportunity. It’s a long way down the road, but Johnston said, “When will you ever get 80 acres of central Denver back, that the city owns, to be able to completely redevelop with community voice? That is unheard of.”
Johnston said he’s excited about the potential of affordable housing in that area specifically.
“Because the city owns all the land, it allows us to totally change the algorithm and totally change the math of what we can build there,” Johnston said. “If it’s all owned by a private developer, we’re begging them to build a little bit more affordability here and a little more affordability there. We own the land, so the people get to set all the terms about what happens there.”
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