Native Roots’ made a splashy April Fools’ Day play: display and leaderboard ads plastered all over DenverPost.com, a , an interview with , a call to The Cannabist’s Ricardo Baca, and a mock-up of a huge green marijuana leaf hanging below Bucky the Bronco on the side of Mile High Stadium.
On a day when one can’t believe much of anything on the Internet, the bragged it had started the process to acquire the Mile High Stadium naming rights from current holder Sports Authority, which is wading through Chapter 11. At Native Roots at Mile High Stadium, the company would “explore the potential of offering joints and vaporizers to patrons over 21.”
A display ad on April 1 on DenverPost.com
Native Roots co-owner Rhett Jordan told Baca that his company “could definitely” that comes with the naming rights (only if Sports Authority decides to relinquish them).
“It makes for a great April Fools’ laugh, but if we could get this done, we’d do it in a heartbeat,” Jordan said in an interview with Baca.
If Native Roots’ high hopes do extend beyond April Fools’ Day, it’s probably a pipe dream.
The NFL could not be reached on Friday for comment, but the league is on marijuana, which still is illegal under federal law. Also, places limits on outdoor advertising for recreational marijuana businesses and bars the consumption of marijuana in public.
And, significantly, officials for both the Denver Broncos and Sports Authority said Friday that Native Roots’ public proclamation was the first they’d heard of the company’s stadium-naming aspirations.
Ricardo Baca contributed to this post.
