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The Denver Broncos‘ current stadium lease at Empower Field at Mile High expires after the 2030 season, making it seem that the team’s front office still has plenty of time to make a decision on the club’s stadium future.
Not so, says Broncos president Damani Leech.
“We don’t [have a lot of time], actually,” Leech said during an interview with Front Office Sports at the Super Bowl. “It takes four years to build. You start to back that up, and we feel like, pretty soon, we need to figure out what we’re doing.”
If the team plans to build a new stadium in time for the 2031 season, a four-year construction timeline would necessitate beginning within the next two years. Denver does have some flexibility because the team has options to add on a pair of five-year extensions to the current lease.
If the team wants to have a new stadium ready by 2031, though, a decision might not be far away.
“We can extend the lease if we need to, but we really are very laser-focused on this, and trying to do what’s best, not just for the Broncos now, but for the next 30 years,” Leech told FOS.
Denver’s front office has insisted that all options are on the table, including staying at the current site, rebuilding on the current site, building a new stadium downtown, or building a new stadium outside of downtown (Lone Tree is one possible location).
Judging from Leech’s four-year comment, fans should probably expect an announcement from the team by 2027, giving the club enough time to complete a project by 2031. Officially, the team says all options are being considered, but fans and pundits alike expect a new stadium to be built.