But when legalized sports betting debuted in Colorado in 2020, another tradition took hold at those Lot W tailgates: sports gambling. Now, when the family assembles before the home games, they discuss parlays and point spreads almost as much as they talk about Bo Nix and Sean Payton.

On a warm January day, while partying outside their late-model Winnebago painted with blue-and-orange stripes, they figured out the wagers they planned to put on the Broncos’ final regular-season game, against the , and other NFL matchups.

They weren’t alone. Sports betting and fantasy football dominated conversations throughout the parking lots as tailgaters speculated how much they might win.

The gameday bets — putting a little money on the line — are all part of the fun of football Sundays, said Joe Canales, a family friend who joined the tailgate.

“We all get excited when somebody wins,” he said.

Legalized sports betting is changing the face of sports and fandom in Colorado as people wager billions annually on games and on the athletes who play them. In the six years since voters approved Proposition DD, the state’s gamblers have wagered more than $30.6 billion on sports, averaging $425 million a month.

For years, sports betting was taboo within the professional leagues as commissioners and team owners kept gambling at arm’s length for fear of scandal. Now, leagues and teams promote their partnerships with gambling companies. Fans watching games on TV are inundated with sports-betting ads, and those in the stands can see gambling companies’ names painted on courts and fields.

Bettors often care more about individual athletes’ performances than about their hometown teams as they wager on how many three-point shots a basketball player will make or how many touchdowns a quarterback might throw, multiple people told The Denver Post. Athletes feel the pressure, whether it’s because they receive angry messages on social media from people who lose money or from gamblers seeking an edge from inside information.

Legalized gambling is also threatening the integrity of sports, with fans fearing athletes, coaches and referees may alter calls or plays to influence the outcomes of bets. Just before the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament kicked off, Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, that found a majority of Americans — almost 60% — believe sports betting affects the integrity of college basketball.

“It����ap ruining the relationship between a player and their sport, and it����ap ruining the relationship between fandom and the athletes,” said Montee Ball, a former Broncos running back who leads the , which focuses on athletes’ mental health.

All of that is forcing coaches and administrators to incorporate gambling and mental health awareness into athletes’ training, with education now starting as early as high school for athletes in Colorado.

In the past six years, sports betting scandals have rocked professional and college leagues, ensnaring Colorado athletes such as hometown basketball legend Chauncey Billups, who was implicated last fall as an unnamed co-conspirator in a rigged NBA betting scheme.

This story, which examines how gambling is changing sports, is the third in The Post’s series about legalized sports betting’s impact on Colorado. The first story looked at an alarming rise in gambling addiction, while the second installment covered how sports wagering’s tax revenue benefits water projects in Colorado.

Sports betting has existed in America as long as athletes have laced up their high-top sneakers. In the past, gamblers sought bookies in secret to place bets, collect winnings and pay debts. Gamblers turned to offshore sportsbooks once the internet became accessible.

Now, sports fans place bets from their phones, often in the middle of games, thanks to a that overturned the , allowing states to set their own laws regulating sports betting. Colorado acted quickly, putting the question to a ballot referendum in November 2019; voters allowed sportsbooks to open for business in May 2020.

And, almost as quickly, Denver’s professional sports teams announced business deals with gambling companies.

An evolving relationship

Just a little more than a decade ago, the was so antagonistic toward sports gambling that the league’s commissioner threatened to suspend Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo over his plans to attend that was being organized by a company he owned.

The NFL prohibited players from participating in any event sponsored by a gambling-related company, and the league so narrowly defined gambling that fantasy football was included, even though those games pit people against each other rather than the house, which keeps the profits.

Players are still not allowed to bet on the NFL, play daily fantasy games or visit sportsbooks during football season. But the league and team owners have embraced sports betting.

Denver’s major sports teams are reluctant to talk about those new business relationships, with every professional team as well as the University of Colorado Boulder and its football coach Deion Sanders declining The Post’s interview requests.

The Broncos and the Colorado Rockies sent prepared statements via email, declaring that they follow the rules while protecting their players and the games’ integrity.

“In compliance with the NFL’s gambling policy, all members of our organization undergo comprehensive training on the subject,” the statement from Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth said. “For players, this includes mandatory in-person education as well as in-season communication and other resources from the team and league.”

The Broncos inked their first business deal with sports-betting app in June 2020 — one month after Colorado’s sportsbooks opened for business.  The team also partnered that summer with , which opened a now-shuttered luxury lounge inside the stadium, and . Today, BetMGM is the team’s lone sports-betting partner.

The Colorado Rockies partner with Denver-based , allowing the company to have a sign on the outfield wall.

also partners with bet365 as a sponsor for the and . That , which allows bet365’s logo to be placed under the Avalanche’s ice and on the Nuggets’ baseline, is in place through the 2028-2029 season.

Courtney Brunious, an assistant professor at the , said he was not surprised Denver’s teams did not want to talk about their business relationships with gambling companies.

“There’s still a certain stigma attached to it,” said Brunious, who teaches sports business. “It’s still — I don’t want to say an uneasy relationship — but it’s an ongoing and evolving partnership. It’s not necessarily something they want to put a spotlight on.”

The gambling companies are eager to associate with professional sports because it puts their names in front of enthusiastic fans, Brunious said. The teams benefit from sports gambling because people who bet money on games are more likely to watch them on television, boosting coveted audience numbers.

The sure thing, Brunious said, is that those relationships will not dissolve. There’s too much money at stake.

“It’s not going away,” he said. “It����ap going to require adjustments to make sure all parties are protected as much as possible.”

The sports teams and betting companies are entwined with each other’s success.

Every decision a team makes is analyzed by gamblers and can move a betting line up or down, changing the fortunes of those who wager and those who make money off of it.

When the Los Angeles Rams on June 1 traded for reigning defensive player of the year Myles Garrett, that team became Las Vegas oddsmakers’ favorite to win the next Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the odds for Garrett’s former team, the Cleveland Browns, dropped to 200-to-1 from 115-to-1, according to a news release from Circa Sports.

Peter Jackson, the chief executive officer of , FanDuel’s parent company, explained in a February how “player narratives” impact his company’s revenue. When the NFL’s most popular players are not in the playoffs, the fans bet less money, he said.

“There was one player we had on our books over the course of the year that had more money bet on him in the course of the season than the Pats did,” Jackson said, without naming the player. “This player stuff is super important, and when we don’t have those key players making the playoffs or the Super Bowl, it really does impact player engagement and betting volumes.”

Pressure and harassment

Players are well aware that fans’ interest in their performance is more intense when money is on the line.

They already face performance anxiety because players are super competitive and want to win, said Ball, who played for the Broncos during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Professional athletes also know that an injury or a bad game can cost them playing time and shorten their careers. Now, they also have pressure from fans who want to win money by betting on whether they throw a touchdown pass or catch an interception.

“The athletes can’t escape it,” Ball said. “They shouldn’t have to turn everything off because John is screaming on Twitter, ‘I hope you tear your ACL.’ ”

Athletes in all sports are reporting an increase in harassment since sports betting became legal.

Nuggets guard Bruce Brown brought it up on Oct. 23 in the wake of an NBA sports-betting scandal, telling reporters, “Obviously, after every game, we get DMs about not hitting people’s parlays. There’s been games where I’ve been called every name in the book, just because I didn’t hit a three or two. I mean, that����ap just the state of the game we’re in, since sports betting got legal. So I mean, just kind of deal with it. Not think about it. Don’t check your DMs after games.”

Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability at FanDuel, said the company banishes gamblers from its app if they are caught harassing athletes. The other legalized sports books have similar policies.

“First and foremost, we find the harassment of athletes abhorrent,” Fox said.

In June 2025, FanDuel who heckled Gabby Thomas, an Olympic gold medalist in track. The fan, who goes by “Mr100kaday” and describes himself as “The Track and Field Bully,” posted a video of himself hurling insults as Thomas signed autographs and claimed that his heckling caused Thomas to lose the race and allowed him to win a $1,000 parlay bet.

FanDuel is working with sports leagues to develop a process to identify and investigate harassers so they can be banned from the app, Fox said.

“It’s also true there has been an increase in bad behavior,” he said. “This is something we’ve seen globally and it has a lot of factors involved.”

Temptation lurks

There is another dark side to sports gambling — rigged performances.

A major betting scandal rocked the NBA in October when the Terry Rozier, a former Charlotte Hornets point guard, who stands accused of participating in an illegal sports-betting scheme using inside NBA knowledge to defraud sportsbooks and for checking out of a game early to benefit bettors. He has .

And the city of Denver was shocked when Billups, who was then the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was linked to the Rozier scandal as an apparent unindicted co-conspirator. Billups was also for allegedly participating in a Mafia-backed illegal poker scheme to defraud unwitting players during card games. He has also pleaded not guilty.

Other sports-betting scandals involving athletes with Colorado ties:

• Denver Broncos defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike was suspended for the 2023 season for gambling on NFL games, including five involving the Broncos
• Colorado Rapids midfielder Max Alves was removed from the team in 2023 in the wake of a match-fixing investigation in his home country of Brazil
• Jontay Porter, the brother of former Nuggets starter Michael Porter Jr., was banned from the NBA in 2024 after he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors about his health and limited his participation in one or more games for betting purposes while playing for the Toronto Raptors

Sports betting scandals are almost as old as sports themselves. Think of the Black Sox scandal during the 1919 World Series, when multiple team members conspired with professional gamblers to throw games.

, who played in the NBA for eight years and overseas for three, said gambling is part of the culture for professional athletes.

During his 11 years of pro ball, teammates would bet on anything — trick shots during practice, card games on the road, even which referees would call a playoff game, Funderburke said. It’s the nature of being competitive and confident.

“You’re taught at an early age to bet on yourself,” he said. “You’ve overcome the odds, right? Little League, high school, college, now in the NBA, you’re playing against the best in the world. You always feel like you can overcome the odds. And with athletes, they feel like they can win at just about anything.”

Funderburke, who now works as a financial adviser, speaks out against gambling and tells his clients there are better things to do with their money. He traveled to Colorado in May to encourage lawmakers to pass a bill that would establish guardrails on sports betting in an attempt to curb addiction rates.

“Here’s the problem with the culture,” he said. “Most of the guys that I know — and I won’t say names — who had issues with gambling, not only end up having financial constraints and issues, but their marriages and their families deteriorate at the same time, which I think is much worse than any type of financial problems.”

The professional leagues and universities know the temptation is there and they are working to combat it.

But they are not always successful.

The controversy surrounding Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby serves as the latest example.

‘A source of heartburn’

Days before the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, sent a warning to all of its athletes: Sports betting is against the rules.

“It is still to a large degree one of the worst violations you can have,” said , CSU’s associate athletic director for compliance. “With sports wagering, the door pretty much gets shut down. Like a positive drug test too many times, your eligibility is just shot.”

However, the Sorsby case upended that policy for college football.

Sorsby made thousands of impermissible bets worth at least $90,000 on college and pro sports, including some on his team when he was a freshman at the University of Indiana. The NCAA suspended Sorsby after he was caught and admitted to gambling, but he sued in an attempt to play his senior season.

A Texas judge ruled June 8 through a temporary injunction that Sorsby should be allowed to play during the upcoming season after serving a two-game suspension. The ruling could overturn NCAA rules, and it propelled college football into uncertainty as to what happens if other student-athletes bet on their own games.

The decision undermined a longstanding NCAA policy that forbids college athletes from gambling on sports and bans them if they’re caught betting on their own teams.

College sports are rapidly changing, with athletes able to earn money from their schools, booster clubs, television commercials and social media feeds. They have more money in their pockets now — in some cases, millions of dollars, Siemer said. The temptation to bet on sports lurks, he said, especially for high-level athletes who believe they know more about their sport than anyone else and can predict wins and losses on sports-betting apps.

“That’s a source of heartburn for us,” he said. “We don’t want to legislate morality, but they have more money now than when they just had a scholarship, and we want them to be smart with it.”

Every student-athlete signs a gambling agreement, acknowledging that they cannot place bets and cannot provide insider information to others, Siemer said.

Each year, CSU brings in experts to talk to students about the risks of gambling and to educate them on the NCAA’s rules that prohibit gambling. The athletics department wants them to understand how important it is that they do not leak tips about injuries or game strategies to others, who might benefit from the inside knowledge, Siemer said.

Last year, a presentation to students revealed just how much money was bet on each sport during a single season, and while Siemer said he could not remember the specifics, he recalled that it was “jaw-dropping.”

While football is the most popular sport for gamblers who bet on CSU sports, other teams also see healthy amounts of wagers, he said.

“I think the presumption is everyone is betting on football,” Siemer said. “Well, it’s not just football. It’s all of the sports. These sports-betting companies will put a line on anything. It doesn’t matter. Women’s tennis. Women’s soccer. The presumption that it’s all on football and basketball should be put to bed.”

Nip it in the bud

Aside from talking to athletes about the pitfalls of gambling, the leagues and teams are turning to professional monitors for help. The NCAA’s major conferences contract with , a company that specializes in sports compliance and integrity.

Matt Heap, a former deputy director, manages IC360’s , a program that monitors betting among athletes at more than 150 universities and more than 25 professional sports leagues.

“That monitors every game, every goal, every pitch,” he said.

Prohibet coordinates with sportsbooks to detect irregular gambling patterns, Heap said. The colleges also provide identifying information — dates of birth, driver’s licenses, phone numbers — on every student-athlete, making it easier to detect prohibited bets. Prohibet also monitors coaches, trainers, administrators and referees to identify irregular betting patterns.

The program can even find crossover bets from different internet addresses that can connect student-athletes to accounts owned by friends and family, he said. Word is spreading among college athletes that they can get caught, he said.

“It nips it in the bud,” Heap said. “The ones that continue to do it and push it are the ones they need to keep an eye on.”

IC360 also works with NCAA athletic departments to educate athletes on the rules surrounding gambling and to warn them about the pitfalls surrounding them. Even telling a friend, family member or classmate about a team member’s injury can sway bets, Heap said.

“Something that seems as innocent or innocuous as that can be the first sign someone is trying to get a hook into a player,” he said. “You guys are targets because someone who wants to manipulate a game outcome has to have a player, a ref or some other game official.”

Those who work with athletes believe education about sports betting must start at a younger age.

Last year, the paired with the to start a gambling awareness program for high school athletes.

CHSAA officials wanted players, parents and coaches to understand the rules and the consequences of violating them, commissioner Mike Krueger said. It’s becoming a national issue at the high school level.

Legal sportsbooks don’t take wagers on high school sports because it is prohibited by state laws, but offshore betting sites accept those wagers, as do emerging prediction markets. People must be 21 to open a legal sports betting account in the U.S., but young people access them through family members and older friends.

“It’s recognizing the reality,” Krueger said. “That’s where we’ve got to have the awareness. While sports betting continues to expand across our society, our responsibility remains unchanged. We look at it as a student well-being issue and not just around rules enforcement.”

READ MORE FROM THIS SPECIAL REPORT: Colorado’s gamble on sports betting

But he refused to complain. Declined to whine.

Because Marlowe is known as a total professional, he expressed gratitude on social media for his 22-year run calling Nuggets games on Altitude Sports. He did not criticize his bosses for what they did on Tuesday night, texting The Post on Wednesday afternoon, “I just don’t feel it is appropriate for me to comment at this time.”

Allow me.

The decision Kroenke Sports Entertainment made — moving on from Marlowe and color commentator Scott Hastings — is disappointing, if not tone-deaf.

The Nuggets are coming off their most embarrassing playoff series in franchise history given the expectations and capitulation. It cracked open a vase of uncomfortable questions.

Trade Jamal Murray? Ship out Aaron Gordon? Deal Cam Johnson? Keep Peyton Watson?

President Josh Kroenke admitted the early exit “put everything on the table.”

Apparently, that applied to the broadcasters as well.

It remains unclear who called this shot, though if titles matter, it should fall under the purview of Kevin Demoff, the president of team and media operations for KSE.

Demoff has seemed detached from Denver since his hiring in 2024. California media members who have long earned my respect speak well of Demoff when the discussion involves the Rams.

His connection to the Nuggets and Avs has felt more transactional than personal. Never more than on Wednesday when The Post broke the news. Regardless of who made the call, KSE took a man who left so many of us happy and smiling and told him to start packing.

Remember, Marlowe was there through two 15s — Carmelo Anthony and Nikola Jokic. His joy in calling Jokic’s games was unmistakable and unrivaled.

Here was a man who answered the bell for nearly six years knowing that the audience had virtually disappeared because of a dispute with Comcast. An entire swath of Nuggets fans was lost forever. Marlowe did not let it affect his work.

But with his contract expiring, KSE let him go. Was it to change the vibe? Simply being cheap? Who knows.

Marlowe earned the right — even in an increasingly unfair business — to exit on his terms. And clearly he was not ready to leave, saying in his post, “I’m not retiring, and this is not goodbye.”

I switched carriers a year or so into the dispute to keep getting the Nuggets games.

Marlowe was an easy listen, and I enjoyed Hastings wearing out the officials. They made a good team.

And Marlowe made it fun. His “Sombor Shuffle,” “Porter Quarter,” “The Jokie Dok,” “On Fiyah!” and “bunny hop in the pea patch” were a treat. He provided sprinkles on a chocolate chip ice cream cone at a time when local broadcasts have become painfully vanilla and homogenized.

Season after season, Marlowe delivered, and now his time is up? Without eight months to let him know how much he is appreciated? Doesn’t seem right.

At least Hastings is remaining on his midday radio slot. Marlowe will no longer be around. That shouldn’t be allowed.

Basketball announcers are not Vin Scully. If baseball is a romance, football is a one-night stand. But basketball fits somewhere in between. The 82 games form a relationship between the team’s voice and the fans.

If Hastings taught us about the game, Marlowe reminded us that it was a game, his call conjuring images of his idol, the legendary former Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn.

And yes, I have a soft spot for Marlowe because he put in the work with humility and grace.

At every Nuggets pregame presser I attended over the last three seasons, he was there, taking notes and getting in a question or two. He integrated his knowledge seamlessly into the broadcasts, whether an injury update or a strategic shift.

And still, KSE put him on mute. They decided at 74, it was time for a change. And if you focus on his age, it is easy to understand why. But it was just a number, not a reflection of his energy and enthusiasm.

Seeing Hastings at games, he would provide a wisecrack, wondering if I was lost. Scott knows hoops.

And never did I listen to a Nuggets game and think Marlowe had lost his fastball.

Did he mix up some names? Sure. But it was part of the local broadcaster’s charm, part of his appeal. He worked with passion that came through the screen. And he did so without nauseating homerism. He wanted the Nuggets to win, but did not traffic in the terms of “We” and “Us.”

The plan, it appears, is to announce replacements in mid-to-late August. Katy Winge has earned a bigger role on the broadcasts. So maybe she takes over for Hastings.

Marlowe is not easily replaceable, especially if the Nuggets follow the trend of going younger and less experienced.

Just because someone has good vocal cords does not make them great in a play-by-play role. And high basketball IQ alone does not work without a soothing tone with proper inflection in big moments.

Marlowe had this. Excuse me. Has this.

His resume is more akin to that of the most interesting man in the world than to that of a broadcaster. He received a college scholarship in basketball and volleyball at San Diego State, and eventually played for Team USA’s indoor volleyball team. He acted in a soap opera and an NBC sitcom.

But he found his niche in hoops. And remarkably, he never let his past go to his head. He was always friendly and could spin a yarn, like a Bobby Knight story, like he was telling it for the first time.

Marlowe is the type of broadcaster that I believe should have kept his job until he decided to turn off the mic.

For a franchise that faces so many difficult decisions this offseason, renewing his contract should have been the easiest one.

The project, submitted by Denver-based Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, was one of in the company’s , aimed at revolutionizing transportation.

In January, the company announced on X, formerly Twitter, that it would build a tunnel, up to one mile long and 12 feet in diameter, at no cost for the selected winning entry.

Denver’s proposal called for a 330-foot pedestrian tunnel connecting Ball Arena to the Regional Transportation District light rail station and Elitch Gardens, currently accessed via a pedestrian bridge over the train tracks.

On Monday, The Boring Co. announced that three winners were in New Orleans (NOLA Loop), Baltimore (Ravens Loop) and Dallas (University Hills Loop). Those projects will move forward into a due diligence phase that includes meetings with elected officials and community leaders, site evaluations and engineering analysis. If any of the projects prove feasible, the company will then fund and build them.

The company also said it identified additional proposals it considers compelling and plans to continue working with their entrants, including the Hendersonville Utility Tunnel in Hendersonville, Tenn., and Morgan’s Wonderland Tunnel in San Antonio. A spokesperson for KSE told The Post in an email that both a pedestrian bridge and a pedestrian tunnel remain under consideration for that specific site between Ball Arena and Elitch Gardens.

KSE owns Elitch Gardens and Ball Arena, which is home to the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Mammoth. The company is also redeveloping more than 50 acres around Ball Arena.

Projects were judged on how much they could solve a real problem, the level of support and enthusiasm from relevant stakeholders, and whether they were feasible to build. Feasibility included being physically possible, staying within The Boring Co.’s typical tunneling costs, and being able to secure necessary permits in a reasonable timeframe.

The Boring Co. creates utility and freight tunnels, intending to alleviate traffic problems.

The company has multiple projects across the U.S. and abroad, including the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, the Music City Loop in Nashville and the Cybertunnel at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin.

The team announced in September that Burnham Yard is its preferred site for a new privately funded and mixed-use district.

The Wednesday meeting was hosted by the La Alma Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association, former at-large City Council member Robin Kniech and District 3 Councilwoman Jamie Torres to inform the community about what the project development process could entail and how to get involved.

“What we know is pretty limited,” said Torres in terms of what the exact footprint of the new stadium will be.

“I will say nothing’s been submitted in terms of a large development review, yet. Nothing’s been submitted in terms of rezoning. So, it’s very much the beginning of this process of understanding what’s going to be happening.”

The area will consist of “millions of square feet” of development, including restaurants, retail outlets, hotel and housing options, office spaces, entertainment venues and public spaces.

Torres said development will likely extend closer to the yard’s freight railroad consolidated main line, which is “not moving,” and that likely everything north of 6th Avenue will be at play.

The Broncos’ lease at Empower Field runs through the 2030 season, however, it would be ideal for a new stadium to be ready for move-in by the summer of 2031 at the latest.

“They have three, five-year extensions they can exercise on the current stadium if they’re not ready to move yet,” Torres said.

“If they’re trying to be out in order to be in a new stadium for the 2031 season that means they’re likely breaking ground in 2027.”

Torres, along with LALPNA representatives, said that they are still in the early stages of the process, currently focused on informing the public and building a coalition of representatives from community-based organizations to create a CBA.

A CBA is a legally binding contract primarily negotiated and signed by a coalition of community organizations/community representatives and the developer building the project.

These agreements are created with the community and typically include socio-economic benefits like affordable housing, local hiring, environmental protections, small business support and public space improvements.

All CBAs are different, but they are not new. For example, Torres said it took 18 months to complete the Ball Arena agreement.

In 2024, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment signed an extensive CBA with a committee of local leaders that provided the community with a variety of benefits such as an early learning center, funding for youth programming, enhanced pedestrian and bike connections nearby and a $16 million community investment fund.

The committee also negotiated for 18% of all connected housing units to be affordable.

CBAs give community members a voice in shaping how large projects impact their neighborhoods in exchange for the community’s support for the project.

Because CBAs are written contracts, they can be enforced to ensure promises are kept. However, CBAs also hold several community commitments, like providing letters of support and agreeing not to sue to stop the project.

The scope and quantity of benefits secured are primarily determined by community support the coalition can build, as well as what the developer is willing to commit to.

Several attendees at the meeting voiced concerns about the project, including environmental impacts, what support small businesses can get, preservation efforts and even the composition of the coalition itself.

“There’s a lot of power to sit at the table and speak for the community. So it has to be authentic. It has to be groups that have some contact with the community, and they have to be able to sign a contract,” said former at-large City Council member Robin Kniech, who is now at the University of Colorado Denver.

However, Kniech said a CBA does not replace community input to a council member, the mayor’s office, or the planning board.

As part of this process, the City and County of Denver has started a for the Burnham Yard site to review land use, including zoning, potential residential development, building heights, street grid changes and what land use will look like over the next 20 years.

The plan is estimated to be completed by the end of 2026.

In addition to the Small Area Plan, to build a new stadium and mixed-use district, the Broncos must go through a large development review process, a rezoning application and a development agreement, which has to be approved by the Denver City Council.

Kniech said the community can in the process by joining LALPNA, attending their meetings, or visiting 
to stay updated.

A covering the same content discussed on Wednesday will be held via Zoom at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 5.

“Elitch’s is an incredible business,” said Mike Neary, executive vice president of Kroenke Sports Entertainment (KSE), in an email to The Denver Post this week. “We have every incentive to not only keep Elitch’s going, but to invest in rides and attractions and overall experience.”

In fact, the park reopened two of its signature roller coasters this summer after both had been closed. Twister III: Storm Chaser is now running for the first time in 2025 after repairs, while the Sidewinder, closed for maintenance since 2023, reopened two months ago.

KSE, which owns Ball Arena, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche, Altitude Sports & Entertainment, as well as other teams, stadiums and real estate, bought out Revesco Properties’ share of a property known as the River Mile in June. River Mile is planned as a 62-acre mixed-use redevelopment that includes the land under Elitch Gardens.

Revesco and KSE first bought the property together in 2015 and announced plans to scrape and redevelop it in favor of a massive residential and retail complex that would abut Ball Arena and its parking lots. At the time, the discussions involved moving Elitch Gardens out of downtown.

The original plan — which would make room for 15,000 residents, along with offices and hotels, stores and restaurants inside several 40- to 60-story towers — was approved by the city in 2018.

Nothing has gone forward, however, and although Elitch Gardens is still on shaky grounds, Kroenke’s buyout of Revesco seemed to suggest that the theme park may remain for a while.

Cindy Hann, an Elitch Gardens spokesperson, declined to comment on a potential move, but said this season’s attendance has been an “incredible” boon for the park (though she also declined to provide those attendance numbers).

“Currently, we are focused entirely on creating thrilling experiences right here in the heart of Denver, including preparing for our signature Halloween and holiday season events,” Hann said. “We were very pleased with our 2024 season and are on track for another strong year in 2025.”

Elitch Gardens, which is 135 years old, moved from its original space in northwest Denver to its current home in 1995. There, it transformed into a contemporary, thrill-ride theme park.

The sale, which was completed on Wednesday, June 11, includes Theme and Water Park, related assets and 1338 1st St., which is home to Meow Wolf and other properties.

“Realizing sole ownership of these properties will allow us to streamline our comprehensive vision for the future development encompassing The River Mile and the adjacent Ball Arena campus,” said KSE Owner and Chairman E. Stanley Kroenke.

“We are grateful to Revesco for many years of productive collaboration.”

The two parties have been partners since their joint purchase of Elitch Gardens in 2015.

Replacing or moving the 58-acre theme and water park situated along the South Platte River has been considered. However, Elitch Gardens and Meow Wolf, the immersive art experience at the juncture of Interstate 25 and Colfax Avenue, will continue to operate at their current sites.

“A day at Elitch’s is a rite of summer for more than a million visitors annually,” said Mike Neary, KSE executive vice president.

“We intend to keep it that way and better than ever.”

The River Mile project was approved in 2018 to build roughly 8,000 residential units and some of the city’s tallest buildings along the South Platte River and by Ball Arena, also owned by KSE.

The development will feature a and recreational spaces, including office, retail, hotels and residential areas across three separate neighborhoods known as The Banks, The Bend and Headwater, according to the project����ap website.

“We are incredibly proud of our work with KSE as the stewards of Elitch Gardens over the past decade, and to have been a catalyst for a re-imagining of the site known as The River Mile,” said Rhys Duggan, president and CEO of Revesco Properties.

“We believe the blueprint has been set for the future of Central Denver and that both the Park and The River Mile vision are in good hands with Mr. Kroenke and his family.”

The price of the sale has not been disclosed at this time.

KSE owns the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and the Colorado Rapids.

Not the

Sure, right place, wrong time — but that wasn’t the part of your ESPN debut that had the Grading The Week team cracking its collective knuckles.

Those weren’t fightin’ words.

This was: The part where you went on the Worldwide Leader and referred to the denizens of Oklahoma City

Coach, what the heck did Disney put in your pipe? And why did you smoke it?

Come on.

I mean, you were there, dude.

Michael Malone’s ESPN debut — B

Now, we kid the former Nuggets coach. And the GTW crew certainly thinks he deserved a more graceful exit than to be shoved off the side of the boat by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment just before the playoffs started.

(Given the news of the week, while the timing was weird, it was obviously done to serve as a quickie in-season and postseason audition for coach David Adelman on Josh Kroenke’s part. The Nuggets got their groove back, and DA got the job.)

We’ll forgive the whole “SGA showing why he’s the MVP,” as either a) a fair assumption, even though the voting totals weren’t released yet; or b.) a slip of the tongue because Malone had already seen said voting totals and knew this was coming. Plus, Malone nailed it later when he also referred to SGA as “a foul artist,” which the Thunder star is. Like, a Monet-level foul artist.

In hindsight, Post-Nuggets Malone probably could’ve massaged that earlier sentiment as “presumed MVP,” or “likely MVP,” or even, “Disney’s MVP.”  And we were more than amused when the ex-Denver coach, a New Yorker who’s always shot straight and from the hip with reporters, offered up a little mea culpa after his comments were elevated during the previous evening’s news/social media cycle.

“I (would have voted) for (Jokic) again this year, if I had a vote,” Malone clarified before Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals between OKC and Minnesota. “I want to make sure the people in Denver know that because right now, I’m getting a lot of heat back home.”

As well he should’ve. Just not for the SGA thing.

Joker joins MVP voting elite — A

That said, the GTW hoops department would like to paraphrase a point that ESPN’s newest NBA analyst made earlier in the year. If someone took the names off and showed you that Player A averaged 32.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game while Player B put up 29.6 points, 12.7 boards and 10.2 dimes per game … you’d presume the MVP would go to the latter, right?

Only it didn’t. Which leads to a pair of funny NBA voting anomalies. One, Joker’s triple-double for the season, the first of his career, was only the sixth in league history. And of those six, only once did that kind of stat line end up getting that player an MVP award — Russell Westbrook, with OKC, in 2016-17.

The Big Honey lost the trophy but still found a way to win in the history books, though. Jokic became only the third player in NBA annals to ever finish among the top 2 in MVP voting for at least five straight years. The others? Bill Russell and Larry Bird. Jokic isn’t standing on the shoulders of giants, kids. He’s rubbing shoulders with them.

In this particular gag, our man Bugs is getting Yosemite Sam all worked up again. The long-eared galoot draws a line in the sand and dares Sam to cross it. Sam does. He does it again. Sam crosses it again. Bugs keeps drawing lines and backpedaling out of town, through the desert southwest, and eventually up a slope. Eventually, Bugs draws a line that will clearly leave Sam’s right foot dangling over a cliff and send him careening from great cartoon heights into a deep gorge below. Sam crosses the line anyway and, sure enough, falls.

Six years ago, KSE said that it was balking

Five years ago, same line. Same complaint. Four years ago, same line. Same complaint.

Then three years. Then two.

This past Tuesday, Altitude held a news conference to triumphantly announce its return to Xfinity customers — on a separate, premium, sports-related tier. Sam crossed that line after all.

KSE-Comcast dispute finally ending — A-minus

Now it’s not a letter-perfect comparison, and any deal that makes the best two teams in town — the Nuggets and Avalanche — available to a majority of Front Range television homes is better than no deal.

Although, did we mention that all sides also announced, as part of the agreement, that the said separate, premium sports-related tier, was increasing in price in April from $9.99 per month to $15.95? Just in time for the playoffs.

The RSN model is fading, yet the over-the-air ratings for the Nuggets and Avs were reportedly solid enough to keep Comcast at the bargaining table. These are good things. But to the scorekeepers in the GTW crew, there was only one winner in the Altitude-vs-Comcast standoff, ultimately — and it was the latter. By a nose.

Sadly, the victory was largely symbolic. Because there was a heck of a lot of losers. Denver fans, some of whom missed one of the greatest seasons in Nuggets history (’22-23) and the Avs’ first title-winning team (’21-22) in roughly two decades, were chief among them.

Necas vs. Mikko — B

Meanwhile, when it comes to the biggest trade of the winter,  the deal that sent Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen to Carolina, the only fair judgment will come after the Stanley Cup Playoffs for both Colorado and the Hurricanes. That said, Team GTW can’t deny that the cat-quick, 26-year-old Necas has come out of the gate faster than the Moose in his new digs. From Jan. 31-Feb. 7, the new Avs forward piled up four goals and an assist in five games — and the burgundy and blue won four of those five heading into the 4 Nations break. Rantanen, meanwhile, put up a goal and two points over his first six games since joining Carolina. And the ‘Canes, as of Saturday morning, were 2-4 since the trade. Time will tell, but maybe there’s something to this whole “Nathan MacKinnon Effect” after all.

Calvin Booth — D

The trade deadline came. The trade deadline went. Zeke Nnaji and Dario Saric are still here. The Nuggets general manager threw his bench under the bus. He threw their contracts under the bus. But how come he didn’t find room under said bus for the guy who gave out those deals to begin with? Booth caught lightning in a bottle in helping the Nuggets win their first NBA championship two years ago. Too bad he never found a cork.

But from a business perspective, Denver’s Major League Baseball franchise has something the Broncos, Nuggets and Avalanche all envy — a destination stadium with an adjoining neighborhood that acts as another money stream.

This is what success looks like for professional sports in the 21st century. Franchise ownership is less about bragging rights than it was three or four decades ago, and more a lucrative, multipronged entertainment venture, at the heart of which sits the stadium.

With this series, The Post will examine the state of professional sports stadiums in Denver and what could be coming next, from publicly funded facilities that set the trend (Coors Field) to those whose ambitions have yet to be realized (Dick’s Sporting Goods Park).

Four stadiums/arenas were built in the Denver metro in a 14-year period straddling the turn of the century — an era that saw a nationwide stadium boom funded in part by taxpayer dollars. Roughly 30 years later, after a handful of venues across the country have been deemed obsolete, the Broncos find themselves approaching an inflection point with Empower Field’s lease set to expire in 2030.

What kind of impact could the team’s decision have on the community? Is another cycle of stadium building justified? And how has the paradigm of professional sports ownership and stadium construction evolved since Empower — then Invesco Field — first opened in 2001?

The Rockies’ real-estate projects reveal much about that shifting paradigm.

In 2017, a group of investors that included franchise owners Dick and Charlie Monfort entered into a 99-year, $125 million lease agreement with the Denver Metropolitan Major League Baseball Stadium District for a block west of Coors Field. Five years later, they had transformed that lot into McGregor Square, a mixed-use development with condos, restaurants, retail and a hotel that’s produced $122.9 million in condominium sales alone since 2021, according to property records examined by The Denver Post.

In that sense, the Rockies — often criticized for their insular, and routinely unsuccessful, baseball operation — were well ahead of the curve.

In October, the Denver City Council approved a 25-year redevelopment of the land around Ball Arena, repurposing nearly 5 million square feet of parking lots into mixed-use office, retail and residential space next to the home of the Nuggets and Avs. That land, which Kroenke Sports & Entertainment acquired as part of the original sale, now offers the opportunity to turn a long-term profit even when the arena sits dormant.

“I think Denver is in a very fortunate place because it’s a city and a community and a place that people will travel to,” said Tim Leiweke, CEO and co-founder of the Oak View Group, former president of the Nuggets (1991-95) and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), and one of the key players in the negotiations that brought the NHL to Denver.

“I think now we’re seeing — and I firmly believe — with these points of destination, these entertainment facilities and entertainment districts are what drives the economy.”

Economists don’t necessarily agree, but the longevity of Coors Field is at least an example of how development can ensure the long-term viability of a professional sports venue.

Coors is now the third-oldest ballpark in the National League. Ball is the 13th-oldest arena in the NBA and 18th-oldest in the NHL. And Empower is the 16th-oldest stadium in the NFL.

“Believe it or not, it feels like this has come around really fast, but a lot of the (stadiums) that were built in that era are already getting around to the 30-year mark of their history,” said Chris Dunlavey, founding partner at Brailsford & Dunlavey, which has done development advisory and project management work for stadiums such as Nationals Park, Audi Field and T-Mobile Park. “Which is about as long as most of these buildings are planned to have a useful life for.”

Back to building

Whether that shelf life was widely understood back in November 1998 is up for debate.

That’s when voters in six Denver metro counties approved the extension of a 0.1% sales tax to fund 75% of what is now Empower Field — a decision then-Broncos owner Pat Bowlen hailed as “the best solution for the Denver region for years to come.”

A little more than 20 years later, once it became clear the stadium needed revenue for capital improvements, the city of Denver adopted the to establish an entertainment district that would provide those funds.

Without that consistent revenue stream, the fate of the stadium — and others across the country — is sealed.

“Back in the ’90s and 2000s, as that building boom was happening, there was this race to focus on cutting the deal to get the stadiums built in the first place,” Dunlavey said. “And there really was not enough attention, in my opinion, given to the long-term capital maintenance of those buildings and mechanisms inside lease agreements for funding long-term capital upgrades.”

Such foresight may have been useful 25 years ago, but it doesn’t change critics’ minds about the economic benefits of publicly financed stadiums.

In an essay published in June for the American Institute of Economic Research, Samford University economics professor Art Carden cited the “Baade Rule,” named after noted Lake Forest College professor and economist Robert Baade: Whenever an economic impact estimate is cited, move the decimal point one space to the left.

“It’s pretty much always been a boondoggle,” Carden told The Post. “There’s never really been a strong case for publicly financed stadiums.

“The political issue is not, ‘Is a stadium good or bad?’ It’s, ‘Does the government need to spend any money on this?’ And the answer, 10 times out of 10, is, no.”

Roger G. Noll, a Stanford University professor who is an expert on the economics of sports, says whether public spending on a new stadium is acceptable, and how much that stadium will add value to the community, “is going to be a different answer for every citizen in Denver.”

“If you’re a sports fan, if you’re a Broncos fan who values the team and where they play and the experience on game day … a tax or any (personal financial impact) would likely be acceptable,” Noll said.

Still, all the experts interviewed for this story agreed that a cycle of stadium-building every three or four decades is not sustainable for American cities, even those with growing markets such as Denver.

While a mini-city is set to be built around Ball Arena on 55 acres over the next couple of decades, major question marks loom over two other area stadiums.

Will the Broncos move, and to where? And what will happen at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, where the Kroenke-owned Rapids play, as hundreds of acres around the stadium once slated for development have failed to materialize?

Of the major publicly financed Denver-area stadiums, only Coors Field has stood the test of time in terms of delivering on the promise of a venue that helped transform an entire neighborhood.

“The way Coors Field relates to LoDo, and the 360-degree concourse where you can walk the entire building and stay connected with the field and the game and the rest of the crowd, the view out past the outfield to the mountains … it����ap an environment where the experience surpasses the game itself to create a classic experience,” Dunlavey said. “That’s a unique stadium achievement, and that����ap the kind of thing that����ap worthy of preservation because people appreciate it no matter how many years go by.”

Setting the standard

SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., opened in 2020 as the new home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers. As a privately funded venue by Stan Kroenke, it cost $4.963 billion — the most expensive sports stadium ever constructed.

One state over, the Raiders opened the doors on $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium near the Las Vegas Strip in the same year.

There are two more new NFL venues under construction in Orchard Park, N.Y. () and Nashville, Tenn. (); major renovations approved in Jacksonville, Fla. () and Charlotte, N.C. (); and owners chasing new stadiums in Cleveland () and Chicago ().

At least six would have a fixed roof, four would be tied to an adjoining mixed-use development, and all but SoFi would be partially financed with public dollars.

Thus, the standard for a new Broncos stadium is set.

If they follow suit, the price tag for a new stadium will start at $2 billion, it will have a roof of some kind (fixed or retractable), and it will anchor a mixed-use entertainment district.

“I think all NFL teams developing a stadium are evaluating both of those things right now,” said Dunlavey, whose firm has been involved with management or consultation on five NFL stadiums.

“In many cases, the roof or a retractable roof won’t make the cost cut for some owners. A lot of that obviously depends on your geography and climate and how much you need a roof or a retractable roof. But those are very expensive elements. And in the case of mixed-use development around the facility, I have not spoken with an owner of a professional team in the last five years that hasn’t talked about that and looked at that.”

While Empower Field has 8,200 club seats and 144 luxury suites, a new Broncos stadium would likely have more seats in both categories while keeping the capacity around the current 76,125 mark. Additional premium seating in other sections would make sense, according to Erin Talkington, the managing director at local real estate consulting firm RCLCo, which does consulting work for sports ownership groups and municipalities on major development projects.

“When you look at facilities that were built 30 years ago, the way they allocated space and even things like where they put premium seating are very different from facilities built today,” Talkington said. “Today you would optimize how you align all of your experiences within the stadium, including just general seating, relative to what people are willing to pay for.”

An increased emphasis on year-round usability led to the construction of a retractable roof at AT&T Stadium in Dallas (opened in 2009), a paneled roof at SoFi, and fixed roofs of varying transparency at Allegiant Stadium, U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis (2016) and the recently approved build in Tennessee.

That opens up the possibility of luring other major events, such as a Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four or concerts. Such events significantly increase a stadium’s earning potential and achieve the goal of creating a venue with year-round impact.

“When it comes to football, I’m a little bit of a traditionalist and I like some games in the snow,” Dunlavey said. “But if you’re going to try to book major events year-round that you can’t afford to be snowed out of, then a roof is definitely something (owners) should consider.”

Even that wouldn’t be enough to guarantee a new Broncos stadium would stand in reasonable perpetuity like Coors Field in LoDo.

That requires a sustainable revenue stream outside of ticket sales to provide a long-term fund for capital improvements — something an entertainment district could provide. Dunlavey says that sustainability also depends on site location and the stadium’s connectivity to its city, as well as the build’s eco-friendly elements.

“We used to talk about green building design with sustainable, energy efficiency, strong lifecycle cost elements — we used to treat those as like add-ons to a project cost, and instead what’s happened, it’s now become more and more synonymous with good building practices,” Dunlavey said. “Those kinds of sustainable investments are going to help sustain a building’s life. … So I think we’re getting to a new generation of (NFL stadiums) that can last longer.”

Leverage and stadium funding

Back in 1998 when the Broncos were lobbying for a publicly financed stadium, they had 13 lawyers working on the effort and paid out almost $30,000 to lobbyists in just January and February of that year, according to Denver Post reports.

Voters signed off on it that November, and that public investment ultimately helped enrich the already wealthy Bowlen family, which sold the team to the Walton-Penner ownership group for $4.65 billion in 2022 after buying it for $78 million in 1984.

“If you get the governor behind you and you get a senator behind you and you have the speaker of the state house and the speaker of the senate, yeah, you can get (a Broncos stadium bill) through,” said former Colorado state representative Ron Tupa, a critic of the Broncos’ push for the public funding that got their current home built. “There were a whole lot of different ways that you (could have) financed the thing. I was just trying to figure out the way that was least unfair to do it.”

Nearly three decades later, owners continue to wield their influence to secure public funding for their facilities — to varying results.

In April, 58% of voters in Jackson County, the Missouri side of Kansas City, rejected a sales-tax measure that would have funded a new Royals ballpark downtown and helped pay for renovations to Arrowhead Stadium. Even with the historic success of the Chiefs, who have won three of the last five Super Bowls, voters were unwilling to pony up.

“I think it’s just hard for teams, hat-in-hand, to go begging for a taxpayer subsidy,” Tupa said. “It’s not really convincing as a narrative.”

A survey for the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University in 2022 found that a majority of respondents view professional sports teams as a necessary cultural component.

“It depends,” Leiweke said of the current stadium-building climate. “I think, for the NFL, those stadiums and those teams are such economic (investments) that it’s hard to build those now if you don’t have some sort of private-public partnership.”

To Leiweke’s point, plenty of cities have shown a willingness to subsidize new stadiums or expensive renovation projects.

Since 2014, the 49ers, Vikings, Falcons and Raiders all built new stadiums with the assistance of public financing that totaled $1.854 billion. The Saints also got $380 million in public help for their renovation of the Caesars Superdome which finished this year.

And another surge is coming.

set to open in 2026, and the that’s scheduled to open in 2027. Tennessee’s current venue, Nissan Stadium, is only two years older than Empower Field. Add in public financing for renovations to stadiums in Jacksonville () and North Carolina (), and it’s clear the power of the NFL shield still carries significant weight.

The total cost to taxpayers for NFL stadiums either approved, under review or completed in the 2020s: $9.345 billion, which is roughly 72% of the $13 billion in national revenue distributed by the NFL in 2023, .

“No sane person who knows anything about the history of stadiums would ever think that a stadium could pay off a half-billion or billion-dollar debt based off the incremental revenue it generates,” Noll, the Stanford professor, said. “… Building stadiums isn’t financially viable as a business enterprise. It cannot pay for itself.

“But what NFL teams are very good at doing is recognizing they have the most popular sport, and they can push the envelope more than anybody else.”

In this case, pushing the envelope means leveraging the threat of other cities’ interest to secure public dollars for facilities.

Last year, Mayor David Holt said Oklahoma City would lose its NBA team without a new taxpayer-funded arena, and voters responded by approving a 1% sales tax to help pay for the construction of a $900 million venue. That came 15 years after Oklahoma lured the SuperSonics away from Seattle with an arena that had been financed by a one-cent sales tax approved in 2002.

The new cautionary tale is Oakland, which lost all three of its pro sports teams within five years after failing to deliver new venues. The Warriors moved across the Bay to a privately financed arena in San Francisco in 2019, the Raiders left for Las Vegas the next year, and the Athletics are headed for Sin City in 2028. All three teams got new stadiums, and the A’s relocation came despite attempts by Oakland to build a new venue.

“As long as there are Oklahoma Citys and Portlands and San Antonios of the country, or in a more unique case, Las Vegas, places that could support a big-league team and are large enough markets to be viable sites for teams in those leagues,” Noll said, “that gives leverage to teams to threaten to leave if they don’t get the kind of stadium they want.”

Impact of the Broncos’ potential move

Colorado is far from in danger of losing the NFL franchise it’s had since 1960. The Broncos are the most popular team in the Rocky Mountain region, and they just sold for $4.65 billion.

But plenty of signs point toward a new stadium in the not-too-far-off future. The Walton-Penner ownership group declined to pursue the stadium district plan put in motion back in 2019, and the team has publicly acknowledged it is evaluating options for a new stadium elsewhere in the metro area.

A team spokesman reiterated to The Post that no decisions have been made regarding the future of Empower Field.

But if the Broncos ultimately decide to build anew, they have several options.

They could buy out the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, giving the team ownership of the stadium and its surrounding lots to develop as they please. They could also target a large, undeveloped parcel in the core of the city. Burnham Yard, a state-owned railyard south of downtown that recently went up for sale, would fit the bill. The Broncos could also find a spot on the city’s outskirts, such as by the airport or in the suburbs to the south.

Wherever the Broncos end up, University of Denver professor Andrew Goetz — who specializes in studying transportation and urban and regional planning and policy — says the new stadium ideally would be centrally located within the city.

“Going out to a faraway suburban location, whether it����ap by the airport or somewhere else, carries a lot of other costs associated with it that might not be beneficial in terms of having a functional facility that ties into the existing (transportation) networks and the fabric of a community,” Goetz said. “… You don’t want to be even more reliant on having people driving there.”

In the wake of a potential move, the 95 acres on which Empower Field and its parking lots sit would offer a prime opportunity to build a mixed-use neighborhood that would help elevate Sun Valley and the surrounding neighborhoods.

“What I want is that community relationship to be stronger with that property no matter what����ap there, the connection to be stronger, and for us to really build in a responsible way (should the stadium cease to exist),” Denver councilwoman Jamie Torres said.

If the Broncos do build a new stadium in Denver, Noll says the best-case scenario for the city would be a privately financed venue that requires minimal public subsidy.

“Almost certainly what will happen if it’s privately financed is there will be some property tax forgiveness, and there will be some public financial expenditure for infrastructure for the roads, access to the facility, for the utilities,” Noll said. “But if Denver gets that deal, that����ap about the best you can hope for with the NFL.”

As with most of the stadiums at the center of this new boom across the country, the Broncos’ move would be a want — not a necessity.

“Of course, you don’t need to replace Empower Field,” Noll said. “The CU stadium, which is 101 years old, would not be replaced in the same circumstance. The reason they want to replace it is not because it����ap falling down. It����ap because they have a new way of using that space that would generate more revenue.”

“You’d regret not doing it”

The Walton-Penner ownership group spent billions to acquire the Broncos.

In doing so, the group attached itself to a brand that unites the Front Range like nothing else, inspiring passion and extreme loyalty — even at a time when the franchise has missed the playoffs eight consecutive years.

But in order to make good on that investment, revenue maximization is the goal — if not a requirement.

And a big part of that equation is the stadium and everything else around it. Which is why Walter Franco says the Broncos should be motivated to stack as many properties and revenue streams next to their long-term home as possible.

“To make the project successful, to get public buy-in and a 40-year revenue play, I think the biggest thing with any venue and district is to make it as multiple (for use) and to maximize usage year-round,” said Franco, a principal with Victus Advisors, a sports, recreation and event consulting firm based in Park City, Utah.

“So in this case, with Denver being a similar climate to Utah, from an outdoor perspective, you have a limited window in those colder (times) from November through February — what can you do within that district to have consistent capacity and usage? How are you going to get people to (visit) in colder months and to spend money on activities in the space?”

Which brings us back to Coors Field. To McGregor Square. To the hotel and condominiums. To the bars, restaurants, gym and

With KSE and the Ball Arena re-development launched, Leiweke hinted that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the Broncos pursue a massive project of their very own.

“What I’d say is,” he said, “you’d regret not doing it.”

“Ball Arena was under construction and it just seemed like a whole new world was going to unfold down there in the Platte Valley and the railyards there,” said Ringsby, who owns real estate firm Ringsby Realty.

Now that world has spilled over onto his property. Stan Kroenke — who owns Ball Arena, the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche — purchased Ringsby’s 21,500-square-foot office building for $5.6 million, or $260 a foot, last week, according to public records.

The four-story building, constructed in 1901, is 100% leased, Ringsby said. It����ap a long and narrow brick structure, only 30 feet wide.

“We’re just doing an internal restructuring and this just was an opportunity that arose out of Kroenke’s interest in owning everything down there,” Ringsby said. … “They’ve been knocking on the doors for years to buy it and we finally said yes.”

Kroenke’s real estate arm, The Kroenke Group, and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which includes his sports holdings, didn’t respond to BusinessDen requests for comment.

The 77-year-old billionaire owns the parking lots around Ball Arena, and plans to develop them into a new 64-acre neighborhood. The Denver City Council signed off on the necessary rezoning earlier this year as part of a broader deal in which Kroenke agreed his teams would play at Ball through 2050.

Kroenke already owns a handful of the buildings that line Auraria Parkway on the arena side, including the real estate for Brooklyn’s, a bar frequented by fans before and after games.

Ringsby, meanwhile, is hopping off the parkway.

“We’re gonna miss the asset, but it����ap gonna solve some problems for us internally,” he said.

Scott Patterson of Ringsby assisted his boss, Alex, in the deal, he said. Kroenke was represented by Darrin Revious of Pinnacle Real Estate.

Ringsby, a Denver native, originally purchased the building as an investment, and moved his company from Park Hill to the property a few years after he bought it. He then moved his office to 1336 Glenarm Place in 2015, and then to 1801 W. Colfax Ave. a couple years ago. He still owns the Glenarm property.

Ringsby Realty has been around since the 1950s. In 2002, Alex added a brokerage arm. The company makes investments, and does development and property management work as well. It employs a staff of eight.

“We bought it (1123 Auraria) to house our industrial real estate business and as an investment — we had exchanged out of another property — and it turned out to be a great building for us,” he said.