Plan To Redevelop Around Empower Field Put On Indefinite Hold

Plans to redevelop part of the neighborhood around the Denver Broncos’ home field are reportedly up in the air, with no resolution in sight.

In 2019, the city of Denver adopted its Stadium District Master Plan, a program to create an entertainment and mixed-use neighborhood destination on about 50 acres south of Empower Field at Mile High. But that plan is on hold indefinitely, according to The Denver Post.

The Post noted that the SDMP was supposed to create a steady stream of revenue to help with stadium renovations and maintenance.

Last year, the stadium received a $100M upgrade, with the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, a corporate and political subdivision made up of seven metro Denver counties, approving $12M for the project.

The Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group bought the Denver Broncos in 2022 for a then-record $4.65B.  

The Broncos’ lease on the stadium expires at the end of 2031, and there is talk about the new ownership considering the construction of a new stadium elsewhere in metro Denver.

The pandemic and the sale of the team kept redevelopment plans from taking shape, Matt Sugar, director of stadium affairs for the Stadium District, told the Post.

“The lease agreement ties us at the hip,” he told the Post. “We have to do things together with the Broncos. That put everything on hold, and it continues to be on hold.”

Sugar said the Stadium Investment Corp., a nonprofit meant to oversee the Stadium district’s development, still exists, “but it’s had no charge.”  

“The Broncos have plenty of time, and I think they continue to research and decide what they want to do,” Sugar said. “Whether [the SDMP] is all moot or not, the future will tell, but I don’t know.”