Empower Field at Mile High

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Empower Field at Mile High sits exactly where its name promises: one mile, 5,280 feet, above sea level in Denver, Colorado. That altitude is not a trivia footnote. Visiting football teams struggle to breathe in the thin air, and the stadium's notoriously loud crowd only makes conditions worse for opponents. The Denver Broncos have played here since 2001, when the venue replaced their previous home, the original Mile High Stadium, and inherited its nickname.

  In the years since, this building has gone by several different names. It has weathered a fire that gutted sections of seating, and it once hosted a sitting presidential nominee's acceptance speech.

  How did a football stadium become one of the loudest home-field advantages in the NFL? Why have Denver residents fought so hard over what to call it? And what happens when the team eventually leaves for a new stadium down the road?

• 2. Paying for a Stadium

  ›

  Thirteen lawyers and tens of thousands of dollars went into convincing Colorado lawmakers to back a new Broncos stadium. That lobbying campaign pushed through Senate Bill 171, sponsored by Representative Doug Dean of Colorado Springs, which put Referendum 4A before voters. State legislators later called it one of the largest lobbying pushes they had witnessed.

  In November 1998, voters across six counties in the Denver Metropolitan area approved the referendum. It extended a tenth of a percent sales tax first created in 1990 to help build Coors Field for the Colorado Rockies. That extension took effect on the 1st of January 2001. It funneled money through a new agency, the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, created to plan, acquire land, and build the stadium.

  Under the resulting deal, the Broncos covered 25 percent of an estimated $400 million cost while the state paid the remaining 75 percent. That funding was financed in part through a $224.9 million bond.

  Years later, a 2016 Brookings Institution study examined 36 professional football stadiums nationwide. It found the financing arrangement had cost the federal government $49 million in lost tax revenue. An additional $5 million vanished through an income tax break claimed by bondholders.

  That same funding deal also gave the Metropolitan Football Stadium District a stake in whatever naming rights deal came next. It set up a fight over what to actually call the new stadium.

• 3. The Name Wars

  ›

  Invesco Funds Group paid $120 million for the original naming rights in 2001. That deal put Invesco's name on the stadium's title for a decade. On the 16th of August 2011, the Metropolitan Stadium District transferred those rights to Englewood-based Sports Authority. The new agreement ran 25 years and was worth $6 million a year.

  Sports Authority's parent company collapsed into liquidation in 2016. That same August, the Broncos paid the Metropolitan Football Stadium District $3,601,890 to take ownership of the naming rights themselves. Even after that purchase, regulatory hurdles kept the Sports Authority name on the building for two more years. The Broncos announced on the 2nd of January 2018 that the exterior signage would finally come down. For the rest of the 2018 season and part of 2019, the stadium carried a placeholder title, Broncos Stadium at Mile High, until a new agreement with Colorado-based Empower was announced on the 4th of September 2019.

  Denver's mayor at the time, Wellington Webb, opposed selling the naming rights at all while the new stadium was still under construction. Potential sponsors on the table included AT&T, Janus Capital, and Invesco Funds Group. A group calling itself Friends of Mile High polled fans on the question. Seventy percent preferred to keep the traditional name, even knowing it could cost the state up to $89 million in revenue. The Denver Post agreed, at least in print, refusing for several years to use the Invesco name and calling the building Mile High Stadium instead.

  Fan sentiment resurfaced in 2016, when Colorado legislators tried to pass a bill. It would have forced any future sponsor to keep the Mile High name, citing how much public money had built the place. The bill died in a Senate committee in May 2016. Neighbors of the stadium raised complaints of their own. They pointed to heavy game-day traffic and intoxicated fans urinating in public. When the district wanted to install a larger Sports Authority sign, residents also objected over light pollution and the sign's appearance.

  Aramark Corporation took over the concessions operation at the start of the 2019 season, right as Empower Retirement's name went up. The company partnered with several Denver restaurants to broaden the food options, including venues from restaurateur Frank Bonanno, known for his many popular restaurants around downtown Denver. Those new food deals were a small preview of much bigger spending still to come at the stadium.

• 4. Built and Rebuilt

  ›

  A $30 million renovation project, announced by the Broncos on the 21st of December 2012, arrived just in time for the 2013 season. It included a new HD LED video board on the stadium's south end zone, three times the size of the board used in the early 2000s.

  During that same renovation, a couple of out-of-state contractors secretly buried a Neil Smith Kansas City Chiefs jersey near the 50-yard line, a discovery revealed in 2013. Smith had actually helped the Broncos win Super Bowl XXXII and XXXIII, so the curse the contractors hoped to create never took hold. Two years later, Denver won Super Bowl 50.

  Ahead of a bid to host matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Metropolitan Football Stadium District spent $8.3 million meeting FIFA's requirements. The money went toward LED lighting, locker room upgrades, and improved seating. Despite the investment, FIFA did not choose the stadium as one of its 16 host venues.

  On the 14th of December 2022, the Broncos announced more than $100 million in additional upgrades, to be finished in time for the 2023 season. The plans expanded the video board and added an all-inclusive hospitality club at field level. The team debuted the improvements in August 2023, unveiling a new scoreboard measuring 225 feet wide by 72 feet tall, the fifth-largest screen in any NFL stadium.

  On the 24th of March 2022, a fire tore through sections of the stadium during construction work, destroying third-row seats and fourth-level suites. No injuries were reported, though the blaze damaged roughly 1,000 feet of seating. Investigators traced the cause to a welding torch being used on an expansion joint. Repairing the damaged steel risers and sourcing replacement materials in time for the next Broncos season was called a real challenge, and the fire forced stadium staff to reorganize other scheduled events.

  A different kind of institution had already taken root at the stadium's Gate 1. The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Museum opened there in August 2001, on the stadium's west side.

• 5. Traditions at Altitude

  ›

  At Broncos home games, whenever the opposing team throws an incomplete pass, the stadium announcer sets up the crowd: "Pass thrown by the quarterback intended for the receiver is..." and tens of thousands of fans finish the sentence by shouting, "IN-COM-PLETE!!" The Broncos filed to trademark this call-and-response chant in 2020.

  Public-address announcers close every game by reading the final attendance, including how many purchased tickets went unused. Broncos fans mark the number by booing the no-shows, a ritual carried over from the original Mile High Stadium.

  In the stadium's early years, fans on one side would shout "Go" while the other side answered "Broncos," trading the call for several minutes at a stretch. That particular tradition has since died out, along with much of the once-famous rowdiness of fans seated in the South Stands.

  Higher up, in the upper two decks, fans still stamp their feet on the floor to create what's known as "Mile High Thunder," partly to keep warm. The original Mile High Stadium was built with bare metal that let the stomping reverberate loudly, and the new stadium's steel floors were designed specifically to preserve that same acoustic effect.

  Above the main scoreboard sits Bucky the Bronco, a 30-foot replica of Trigger, the horse belonging to cowboy actor Roy Rogers. The display carried over from the original stadium as well.

  Every Broncos home game at the stadium has sold out since it opened, continuing a streak that began during the team's years at the original Mile High Stadium. That unbroken streak was still standing on the day the Broncos hosted their very first regular-season game in the new building. That game would open a long run of NFL history at the stadium.

• 6. Great Games and Historic Runs

  ›

  On the 10th of September 2001, the stadium hosted its first regular-season NFL game, and the Broncos beat the New York Giants 31-20. Before kickoff, franchise legends John Elway, Steve Atwater, Randy Gradishar, Haven Moses, Billy Thompson, Floyd Little, Dennis Smith, and Karl Mecklenburg took part in a pregame ceremony. It was called "Move the Thunder," meant to carry the old stadium's spirit into the new one. That opening game fell one day before the 11th of September 2001, a coincidence survivor Pasquale Buzzelli later referenced in an interview with Joe Budden.

  The stadium has hosted four NFL playoff games. In its first, the 2005 AFC Divisional round, Denver defeated the New England Patriots 27-13. The following week, the Broncos lost the AFC Championship Game to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34-17. On the 8th of January 2012, an AFC Wild Card game against the Steelers went to overtime, and Denver won 29-23. On the 12th of January 2013, the Broncos lost an AFC Divisional game to the Baltimore Ravens in double overtime, 38-35.

  On the 29th of October 2007, a record crowd of 77,160 watched the Broncos lose to the Green Bay Packers 19-13, decided on the first play of overtime, during Monday Night Football. The stadium hosted its first Thanksgiving game on the 26th of November 2009, when the Broncos beat the Giants 26-6 in a game broadcast on NFL Network.

  On the 19th of January 2014, the Broncos beat the Patriots 26-16 in the AFC Championship Game before 77,110 fans, reaching their first Super Bowl since moving into the new stadium. On the 17th of January 2016, Denver beat the Steelers 23-16 in an AFC Divisional game in front of 77,100 fans, reaching the AFC Championship for the tenth time in franchise history. A week later, on the 24th of January 2016, the Broncos beat the Patriots 20-18 before another crowd of 77,100, advancing to Super Bowl 50, which they won two weeks later.

  On the 19th of October 2025, the Broncos completed a historic comeback against the Giants, scoring 33 points in the fourth quarter to win 33-32, a game now remembered as the Mile High Meltdown.

  That same turf has hosted more than football triumphs and collapses. It has also carried a presidential nomination and international soccer finals, a different side of the stadium's story entirely.

• 7. More Than Football

  ›

  On the 1st of September 2001, the University of Colorado Buffaloes beat the Colorado State Rams 41-14 in the Rocky Mountain Showdown. It was the first football game ever played in the building, days before the Broncos' own regular-season opener, and drew 75,022 fans. The rivalry has continued periodically at the stadium ever since, alongside CHSAA's Class 4A and 5A Colorado high school football state championship games and the CBA Marching Band Finals.

  The stadium's Drum Corps International World Championship appearances came in August 1977, 1978, and 2004. Every July, it also hosts Drums Along the Rockies, a Drum Corps International competition held annually since 1963. That makes it the longest-running event held at any Mile High-named stadium. It paused in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic and returned in 2021.

  The stadium hosted the Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game on the 2nd of July 2005. A year later, in 2006, the league placed its expansion team, the Denver Outlaws, in Denver, and the team played home games at the stadium.

  The Colorado Rapids called the stadium home in Major League Soccer before moving to Dick's Sporting Goods Park in suburban Commerce City. The biggest soccer draw came on the 26th of July 2014, when Manchester United beat A.S. Roma 3-2 in the International Champions Cup. The match drew 54,116 fans. On the 23rd of June 2018, England beat New Zealand 36-18 in an international rugby league match. It remains the stadium's only rugby league game on record, drawing 19,320 fans.

  The Eagles played the stadium's first concert on the 11th of August 2001, drawing 54,217 fans and grossing $4,837,465. U2's 2011 show had originally been scheduled for June 2010, but was postponed after Bono needed emergency back surgery. Taylor Swift became the first female artist to headline a concert there on the 25th of May 2018, pulling in $7,926,366 from 57,140 fans. The Rolling Stones' 2019 stop on their No Filter Tour had been moved from a May date after Mick Jagger's heart procedure. The rescheduled show, on the 10th of August, grossed $13,494,183. Their 2024 Hackney Diamonds Tour stop, on the 20th of June, became the band's highest-grossing concert on record. Ed Sheeran's show on the 19th of August 2023 still holds the record for the stadium's largest crowd, 85,233 fans. The concert ran past midnight because of a weather delay. Zach Bryan's two-night stand on the 14th and the 15th of June 2024 drew a combined 110,321 fans and grossed $20,540,397. George Strait's show on the 24th of June 2023 ranked as the venue's second-highest-grossing concert as of August 2023, earning $16,652,960.

  On the 28th of August 2008, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on the stadium's field. Organizers had moved the 2008 Democratic National Convention there from Ball Arena. Roughly 84,000 people attended his speech, exceeding the stadium's normal capacity because the crowd extended onto the field itself.

  One more fixture of the stadium remains unexplained: a permanent honor roll displayed on its own facade.

• 8. Legacy and What's Next

  ›

  Broncos owner Pat Bowlen created the Ring of Fame in 1984 to honor former players and administrators who shaped the franchise. Their names, years of service, and often their jersey numbers appear on the stadium's Level 5 facade. New members are inducted in some years, and none at all in others.

  The very first class, inducted that year, included safety Goose Gonsoulin, defensive end Rich Jackson, running back Floyd Little, and receiver Lionel Taylor. Quarterback John Elway, who also served as the team's general manager from 2011 to 2020, joined the ring in 1999. Running back Terrell Davis followed in 2007, cornerback Champ Bailey in 2019, and quarterback Peyton Manning in 2021. Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas became the most recent addition in 2025.

  When the ring moved from the old stadium to the new one, its names were reorganized. The change separated players from the era before Pat Bowlen's ownership from those who played during it. Elway's name was moved to the ring's most prominent spot, directly between the goalposts of the north end zone.

  In September 2025, the Broncos announced a preferred site for their next stadium: a 150-acre parcel at Burnham Yard. The Walton-Penner Family Ownership group plans to fund the project privately, alongside a broader overhaul of the surrounding infrastructure. The team is targeting an opening date for the 2031 NFL season, which would put the current stadium's football life at just three decades.

  The stadium's 2001 debut had completed a six-year run of stadium construction in Denver that also produced Coors Field and Ball Arena. With Burnham Yard now on the table, the city may be starting that cycle all over again.