Broncos fans will have more chances to see Sean Payton’s team in action when training camp opens later this summer.
Denver is set for 16 open training camp practices beginning Friday, July 26, Broncos president Damani Leech told The Post on Tuesday, a substantial increase over the 12 open dates last summer.
The full set of dates will be released Wednesday, but they include the NFL’s Back Together Weekend celebration on July 27 and a Friday, Aug. 16, joint practice with Green Bay before the teams play a preseason game Aug. 18 at Empower Field. Most or all of the open practices should fall between July 28 and Aug. 16.
Like a year ago, attendance and parking will be free but fans must claim tickets in advance.
Tickets become available to season-ticket holders at 10 a.m. Wednesday and to the general public at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Leech said the first year of mobile ticketing allowed the Broncos to learn a lot about the 25,000-plus who attended training camp practices, what they liked and didn’t like.
“Of the people who attended camp, only 15% were season-ticket members,” Leech said. “I think we already suspected that a lot of people who come to training camp are not going to games. The other thing that was interesting was that 43% of attendees, it was their first time ever coming to training camp. So it’s more people being able to experience the Broncos in a live way. … It’s providing an opportunity for fans, particularly kids, to get up close to the players.”
Like last year, each person will be able to reserve a maximum of four tickets per practice. New this summer: For the first 48 hours tickets are available, fans will be capped at reserving tickets for eight practices.
“We’re trying to strike the balance between making sure that folks who want to come to every practice can come but also people who also maybe aren’t as quick on the trigger online with tickets still have options,” said Leech, who added that 2023 attendees overall rated the mobile ticketing a 9.2 out of 10 and that 94% said they’d return in 2024.
The Broncos expect the highest demand to be for the first two weekends and the joint practice with the Packers. Throughout camp, they’ll have alumni involvement, a celebration for newly minted Hall of Famer Randy Gradishar, DJ Squizzy Taylor, face painting, free water and more.
“Those are important to making sure people have a good experience and think positively about the Broncos,” Leech said.
Broncos rookies report to camp July 17, veterans report July 23 and the club hits the ground running that Friday with its first open practice. The 16 open dates are tied for third-most among NFL teams that have announced schedules so far. Leech pointed out that last year was the first full training camp for the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group, coach Sean Payton and himself and said the decision to lean into more open dates was an easy one.
“I think you heard (Payton) after some of the practices last year talk about the energy that the fans bring,” Leech said. “Toward the end of camp there were days that we weren’t planning on having open where he was saying, ‘Hey, why don’t we get more people in here?’
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“So that experience showed that we want to get as many days with fans on the hill as we can.”
It will be a busy summer on the berm. The team delayed the start of construction on its new training facility and team headquarters until after the preseason so fans could experience training camp in a relatively normal way.
While some teams have gone toward charging to attend training camp or to park, Leech said that hasn’t been a consideration for the Broncos.
“That’s a credit to ownership, really,” he said. “Certainly it’s an opportunity to make a couple of extra nickels, but that’s really not what training camp is about. That’s one of the things that you notice when you’re there: This is really about fans, fans who don’t normally come to games. This is about kids being able to get up close to our players. That’s really what it’s about.”
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