While Empower Field at Mile High Stadium isn’t even 25 years old yet, technology changes so quickly that the beloved home of our Denver Broncos feels out of date and is in need of some massive upgrades to keep up with the league standards.
If you’ve been to other newer stadiums around the country, the technology has grown so much and continues to evolve almost daily. The last stadium I went to outside of Colorado was SoFi in LA and it is incredible! If the new Broncos brass wanted to build us a new state-of-the-art stadium like that, who are we to tell them no?
There are many complications when it comes to building a new stadium, and some of those were addressed by Broncos Owner and CEO Greg Penner at the NFL owner’s meetings down in Fliorida this week.
One of the biggest hurdles is location. The current stadium is in a perfect location, right in the heart of Denver. When they built it next to the former Mile High stadium, they had land to put it right next door without messing up the scheduled games.
Unfortunately, there isn’t that kind of space adjacent to the current stadium, so the options to keep it in Denver drastically dwindle.
Could they improve the current stadium like the Dolphins did in Miami? Sure. Could they knock down the current stadium and rebuild on the same land like Minnesota did? Sure. But Colorado doesn’t really have a home for the team for multiple seasons if they did that.
That’s where Greg Penner has to have that awkward conversation about moving it out of Denver… According to Penner, Denver is an option, but Aurora (near the airport) and Lone Tree are also options because of the room. While it would suck for most fans to see the stadium moved from it’s current location, the same area they’ve played their entire time in Denver, think of the beautiful stadium that could await us.
Along with the location change, Penner also discussed the possibility of adding a permanent dome or a retractable roof. Both would almost guarantee Denver’s ability to host huge events like the Super Bowl, Wrestlemania, NCAA Finals, and so much more.
In a perfect world, they find a way to keep it where it is, but a lot of teams had to build their dream stadiums outside of the main city, so if that’s what it takes, we’ll just have to adapt. Get more from Greg Penner about the stadium possibilities and other exciting beoncos news from the owners meetings here, and GO BRONCOS!