Would They Ever Move the Broncos Out of Denver?
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With Samuel Robson “Rob” Walton purchasing the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion dollars, one of the scariest questions about the future of the franchise is if they will continue to be the Denver Broncos or if a relocation is on the mind of the new owners. The Walton family started and made their fortune running the Walmart company with headquarters in Arkansas. Rob Walton’s acquisition of the Denver Broncos makes him the single wealthiest owner in the NFL, and it isn’t even close, introducing the concept of “new money” into franchise ownership.
Rob Walton’s net worth of $58.0 Billion (17th wealthiest person in the world) is nearly three times as much money as David Tepper, the now second wealthiest NFL owner at $16.7 Billion dollars. Many have speculated that the team and new ownership group could position the franchise to move to Arkansas to co-locate their business dealings and franchise ownership.
I don’t think this is a speculation done in good faith and is closer to fear mongering and hypothetical than it is a legitimate scenario. I think that moving the Broncos outside of Denver would be an absolute death sentence for the franchise that has won three Super Bowls, has benefited from the Mile High Atmosphere for more than half a century, and has been a Colorado Mainstay since 1960. The financials would not make sense at all, I’d be willing to bet, and based solely on the population, Colorado has almost double people to the state of Arkansas. The Walton family is anything but dumb, and they value business success over base of operations being in one spot.
The Broncos are synonymous with Colorado and the City of Denver, the sports scene in Colorado is amazing and the State’s professional sports excellence is likely hitting an all-time peak in the next two to three years. The Avalanche are in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Nuggets have built a contender likely for the next 2-5 years, the Broncos bring in Russell Wilson to get them back to the playoffs and the Rockies are trying to build back something special! This only covers the four main sports not counting the fact that the Denver Pioneers won a national championship, the Colorado Mammoth are playing in the NLL finals, and the Colorado Rapids were the best regular season team in the MLB Western Conference this past season.
Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE) is the owner of the Nuggets, Avalanche, Rapids, and Mammoth and just so happens that Stan Kroenke is married to Rob Walton’s cousin, Ann Walton Kroenke and together own all major North American Denver based teams, except the Colorado Rockies. I think half the reason this relocation rumor started is because the Kroenke family also owns the Los Angeles Rams and they relocated the Los Angeles Rams to the city of St. Louis in 1995, then 20 years later moved the St. Louis Rams back to the Los Angeles where they have spent the last seven season.
This concept of moving franchises is incredibly bad for the brand, and there is a reason that most teams are relatively stable outside of the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angles Chargers who both moved most recently. The Rams, Raiders and Chargers mark the only franchises to move since 1999 when the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee to eventually be the Tennessee Titans. Brand recognition, longevity, franchise successes are the most important franchise characteristics, and the Broncos are one of the most successful franchises in the NFL. To relocate would not make sense from a fandom, financial, brand or longevity point of view which is why I call this rumor a complete farce.
The Broncos will stay in Denver, and they will continue to be one of the best sports teams in the state with some of the best fans in all professional sports. The new owners just have one decision to make, when are they going to build a dome for the next iteration of Mile High Field. That rumor is 100% true. The Broncos current stadium was built in 2001 and has 21 years of history, the current Empower Field at Mile High is due for renovations or a new location all together. The Broncos, if I was a betting man, are going to build their new stadium out closer to Denver International Airport and that new location is going to be constructed as a Dome so that the City of Denver is eligible to house a Super Bowl in the next 5 years.
One of the biggest complaints in the professional sports world, when traveling to play in the Denver sports market, is that the stadium is 30-45 minutes from the airport. Road teams often fly in late, get to their hotels even later, and that issue could be remedied by moving the stadiums into all that real estate close to the airport, where the Gaylord Rocky Mountain Village was recently constructed. A 5-Star hotel, out in the middle of nowhere is prime location for a new stadium and quite possibly the construction of a Denver Broncos village with stores, museums, hotels, and pre-game festivities all a massive shrine to the franchise to collect maximum revenue.
I wouldn’t be shocked if that move is announced in the next 1-2 years and the area around the airport becomes some of the most lucrative real estate in the greater Denver area! Welcome to Denver Rob Walton, and if you move our team out of this state there will be hell to pay. But, if you’re a new owner with the intent to keep the team where it is currently located, give us multiple decades of dominance, and multiple Super Bowl victories, you have the best fan base in the country at your disposal!
#DB4L #BroncosCountry #LetsRide
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