April 2, 2026, 6:01 a.m. MT
The Denver Broncos‘ new stadium process is moving along, but the team won’t be able to complete it in time for the 2031 season without help from others. Broncos majority owner/CEO Greg Penner made that clear during his media availability at the NFL’s annual league meeting in Arizona earlier this week.
“First of all, [there is] a lot of work,” Penner said on Monday. “Carrie [Walton Penner], Damani [Leech], Tim [Aragon] and a lot of folks from our team are spending a lot of time meeting with community leaders and city council members. It’s an ambitious timeline that we have, and we won’t be able to accomplish our goals in terms of timing and getting in there just by ourselves. So it’s not just something that the Broncos are driving. We have to have a lot of support from partners and others that are involved with the site.”
Penner said “there are a lot of different parties with different interests,” and they need to get on the same page. Penner noted that the team is currently on track, but Burnham Yard is still a “preferred site” to build a stadium. How long it takes to become the site remains to be seen.
“We are getting closer,” Penner said. “Some important steps have been taken, but when we change that from, ‘preferred site,’ to, ‘this is the site,’ we will have all of our ducks lined up and be prepared to say that we are formally moving forward with that site. I’m not sure exactly when that is going to be, but hopefully sometime in the coming months.”
When asked what the fallback plan would be if the stadium is not ready in time for the 2031 season, Penner said the plan would be to extend the existing lease at Empower Field at Mile High. That would seemingly be a last resort. The team is still working on buying up some properties at the site, and the team has community considerations and requirements to factor into their planning.
The stadium is “on track,” but there’s still a lot of work to be done.
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