The Colorado Rockies have had 23 losing seasons since they arrived in Denver in the summer of 1993. The Nuggets have had 12, the Broncos 11, and the Avalanche five. 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. The $tadium Game Part I: Amid another nationwide stadium boom, will Broncos build new home to land what Rockies have and what Nuggets, Avs are getting? Part II: Is Coors Field the model for publicly financed stadium success? How the Monforts struck gold in LoDo. Part III: Ball Arena was always window into downtown Denver land development for Stan Kroenke Part IV: New Broncos stadium? Inside the what, where and when for a decision. 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. Sam Suplizio, right, one of the members of the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, makes a point after the unveiling of a model for the replacement of Mile High Stadium during a news conference in this file photograph taken on Thursday, Oct. 15, 1998, in Denver. (Photo by David Zalubowski/Associated Press file) “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 Stadium District Master Plan 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.” Broncos fan Bonnie Ortivez, who has collected football pins for over 40 years, shows them off on her hat during the first half of the Broncos game at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Sept. 15. The Broncos took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in their home opener. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post) “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? RELATED: New Broncos stadium? Inside the what, where and when for a decision. 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’s an environment where the experience surpasses the game itself to create a classic experience,” Dunlavey said. “That’s a unique stadium achievement, and that’s the kind of thing that’s 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. ($2.1 billion) and Nashville, Tenn. ($2.1 billion); major renovations approved in Jacksonville, Fla. ($1.4 billion) and Charlotte, N.C. ($800 million); and owners chasing new stadiums in Cleveland ($2.4 billion) and Chicago ($4.7 billion). 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. Taylor Swift performs during the first night of The Eras Tour at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Friday, July 14, 2023. Thousands of fans crowded the stadium for the sold-out concert. (Photo by Grace Smith/The Denver Post) 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 Tom 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. But less than half of those same respondents felt sports stadiums should receive public funds from state and local governments. “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. Broncos owner Greg Penner hangs out on the sideline before the first quarter against the New Orleans Saints at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Oct. 17. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) And another surge is coming. The Bills got $850 million in public money for their new stadium set to open in 2026, and the city of Nashville approved $1.26 billion in funding for the Titans’ new stadium 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 ($775 million) and North Carolina ($650 million), 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, according to Front Office Sports. Click to enlarge “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. Burnham Yard, a 58-acre plot of land located at 800 Seminole Road in Denver, as seen on Dec. 4. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post) 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’s 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’s 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’s 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’s falling down. It’s 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 jewelry store. 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.” Patrick Walsh, general manager of McGregor Square, looks toward Coors Field from a glass-enclosed balcony on the ninth floor of the building on Feb. 16, 2021. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post) Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.