The smart money may be on Denver’s Burnham Yard if the Broncos build a new stadium — judging by the tens of millions spent to snap up property in its vicinity — but Lone Tree and Douglas County had a message this week: Don’t count us out.
Fresh off a recent meeting with the team, Douglas County’s three commissioners weighed in publicly for the first time to urge the NFL franchise to build a new football stadium in a place that “can deliver like no other.” They added their voices to that of Lone Tree Mayor Marissa Harmon, who is pitching the planned City Center development off Interstate 25 as a perfect site.
In a statement shared exclusively with The Denver Post this week, the Board of County Commissioners amped up local officials’ call for the Broncos to vacate the city where they’ve played for 65 years.
“Douglas County is open for business and proud of our reputation for intentional, strategic partnerships that strengthen our economy without raising taxes, whether that’s welcoming a Fortune 500 enterprise, supporting a local family-owned business or exploring the opportunity to host Colorado’s most iconic team,” the commissioners said.
Relocating to Douglas County, the commissioners wrote, would place the Broncos “just minutes from Dove Valley and Centennial Airport, with unmatched access, infrastructure, and convenience for players, fans, and executives alike.” Dove Valley is where the Broncos’ practice facility is located.
Commissioner Abe Laydon told The Post that he and his two colleagues met recently with team president Damani Leech and other Broncos executives but declined to provide details about the conversation.
Douglas County Commissioner George Teal said the meeting took place on Aug. 6 and lasted “about an hour.” It was the first meeting that all three commissioners have had with the Broncos regarding a new stadium location, he said.
But Douglas County isn’t new on the team’s radar.
For months, the Broncos have acknowledged that, in addition to Burnham Yard in west-central Denver, they are also considering Lone Tree, a suburban city of 15,000 in northern Douglas County, as a potential stadium site if they decide to leave Empower Field at Mile High. Its lease at Empower Field expires in early 2031.
The team has also said it is looking at Aurora for a new home.
The team, which formed in 1959, has played in two stadiums — each bearing the Mile High moniker — just west of downtown Denver since 1960.
Despite the entreaties from suburban locales to build a stadium outside Colorado’s capital city, most reporting this summer has pointed to evidence that the Broncos are most strongly exploring a site that would keep them in Denver. Recent media reports say the team and its owners are connected — through a series of limited liability corporations and lawyers — to more than $150 million spent over the last year to purchase more than a dozen parcels of land near Burnham Yard. The state-owned, 58-acre former railyard is in the La Alma Lincoln Park neighborhood.
But that hasn’t quelled interest from surrounding communities to be the franchise’s next home. This week, Harmon described the city’s talks with the team as “exploratory and constructive” in a statement first reported by 9News.
She highlighted Lone Tree City Center, a planned development at the southeast corner of I-25 and Lincoln Avenue, as “metro Denver’s next large-scale vibrant downtown.” The 440-acre site, the mayor said, aligns with the Broncos’ vision of “an activated, year‑round destination integrated with transit, walkable streets, and first‑class mobility.”
Lone Tree sits near the confluence of three major highways — I-25, C-470 and E-470 — and is at the terminus of the Regional Transportation District’s southeast light rail lines.
But “no formal proposals have been submitted, and no decisions or commitments have been made,” Harmon said.
Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth told The Post that the team has had “several productive conversations” with Lone Tree officials while also “engaging with” Douglas County commissioners.
A source with direct knowledge of the talks said the Broncos have been in communication with Lone Tree and Douglas County officials more recently and frequently than officials from the Aurora Economic Development Council. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman said this week there’s been “nothing new” regarding talks between the city and the team.
“We appreciate these ongoing discussions and continue to carefully evaluate all options pertaining to the future of our stadium,” Smyth said.
In Lone Tree, most of the City Center site — north of RidgeGate Parkway — is owned by the Coventry Development Corp., the city says. It’s part of the larger RidgeGate development that spans both sides of the interstate.
An email obtained by The Post through a public records request confirmed that Broncos general counsel Tim Aragon met with Lone Tree city officials as early as January 2024. In an email sent after that meeting, Aragon asked executives at Coventry about site-specific environmental reports, which they didn’t have.
Aragon also asked about Federal Aviation Administration height restrictions that might apply because of the proximity to Centennial Airport.
“We are trying to understand the soil and any issues especially in the circumstance where we might have to dig a bit to fit within height restrictions,” Aragon wrote.
More than 18 months after that outreach, Douglas County commissioners slathered some complimentary and self-congratulatory frosting on this week’s invitation to the three-time Super Bowl champions to make their next home 20 miles south of Empower Field at Mile High.
“The Broncos deserve the very best, and in Douglas County, that’s exactly what they will find,” they said.
Staff writer Parker Gabriel contributed to this story.
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