Bucky Bronco
In 1975, Roy Rogers granted permission for Bucky Bronco to be cast from the same
model used to make a statue of his own horse, Trigger, so long as the
new statue was not also named Trigger. The naming of the horse was then
put out to the fans and "Bucky Bronco" was chosen. Made of fiberglass
and steel, Bucky stands 27 feet tall and weighs in at 1,600 pounds. On
May 15, 2001, Bucky was removed from his 25-year home atop the
scoreboard of Mile High Stadium to begin his journey to INVESCO Field at
Mile High. During the Eagles concert on August 11, 2001, Bucky was
unveiled, reclaiming his position as a Denver icon on the South
scoreboard at INVESCO Field at Mile High.
Counties Gateway Plaza
The Counties
Gateway Plaza is located on the West side of INVESCO Field at Mile High.
In celebration of the six counties who made INVESCO Field at Mile High
a reality, six large monuments have been placed on either side of the
plaza, which serves as a large pedestrian walkway and gateway to the
stadium site. The monuments on the plaza measure 40 feet tall and
provide statistical information about the counties they represent.
You will also find bricks from the Brick Paver Campaign on the Counties
Gateway Plaza. These 4"x8" or 8"x8" bricks were personalized by Broncos
fans and then permanently installed into the plaza area.
Historical Design & Development
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998, voters in the six-county area that comprises
Metro Denver approved a plan to construct a new football stadium in
Denver. Construction began on the 76,125-seat stadium in mid-1999 and
official groundbreaking was held on August 17, 1999.
The Broncos' new home is located in the vicinity of Mile High Stadium, just west of Interstate-25. The cost of the new stadium will be incurred by Broncos Owner and Chief Executive Officer Pat Bowlen and the taxpayers of the six-county area through a penny-per-$10 sales tax on retail goods.
The site upon which Mile High Stadium currently stands will feature
grass, trees and landscaped parking lots. The new facility will be
highlighted by an emphasis on state-of-the-art technology, while
maintaining the traditional aspects of Mile High Stadium that have given
the Broncos a decided home field advantage over the years. Those
features include the close proximity of the seats to the field, as well
as steel treads and risers that can be used to create the same deafening
roar that helped define Mile High Stadium.
At the official groundbreaking, Mr. Bowlen spoke of the bright future for the Broncos, the city of Denver and the state of Colorado.
"As we face a new millennium, we are moving forward together in building a world class stadium for our city and our state," Bowlen said. "My pledge is that we
will continue to do everything possible to put championship teams on the field year in and year out."
Colorado Governor Bill Owens described the historic relevance of the day's event, saying, "The Broncos represent a proud Colorado tradition. Today marks the beginning of a new era for the Broncos and for Colorado."
The stadium was designed
and built by Turner/Empire/Alvarado Construction and HNTB Architects, in
association with Fentress Bradburn Architects and Bertram A. Bruton
Architects. Numerous Colorado companies and hundreds of professional
designers, engineers and construction tradesmen were involved in the
construction of the new state-of-the-art facility.
The stadium includes 1.7 million square feet of space (approximately twice that of Mile High) with amenities such as wider concourses, wider seats, more
restrooms, elevators, escalators and full-service accommodations for
people with disabilities.
Facts & Figures
- $364,200,000.00 Stadium
- 76,125 Seat
Stadium
- 1.7 million square feet of space
- 530 TV
monitors displayed throughout the stadium
- 85,000 Cubic Yards of
Concrete
- 256 Miles of Post Tensioning Cable
- 2,100,000
Square Feet of Asphalt Paving
- 200,000 Pounds of aluminum
- 12,000 tons of structural steel
- 3,861,000 field work
hours
- 12,000,000 pounds of reinforcing steel
- 130,000
bricks
- 1.6 million masonry blocks
- 1,500 plumbing
fixtures
- 25,000 light fixtures
INVESCO Funds
Established in Denver in 1932, INVESCO Funds Group has built a global reputation on a core mission: to become the most valued investment management partner to
their clients. The heart of INVESCO's business is to provide strong
core mutual fund portfolios designed as a solid foundation for their
clients' investments. They draw on the resources of affiliates
worldwide, so they have seasoned experts in the investment strategies
clients want to pursue – both for their core investments and to meet
special needs. And, from large institutions and financial advisors to
individual investors, INVESCO offers specialized service to help clients
take best advantage of their investment expertise. They have earned the
respect of their clients and the financial community by building on four
cornerstones: knowledge, discipline, service and choice.
Metropolitan
Football Stadium District
INVESCO Field at Mile High is owned by
the Metropolitan Football Stadium District (MFSD). The MFSD is a
corporate body and political subdivision of the State of Colorado
established pursuant to the Metropolitan Football Stadium District Act,
Article 15, Title 32 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, ("Act"). The
District includes all or part of six counties in the Denver Metropolitan
area. The District was created for the purpose of planning, acquiring
land and construction of a professional football stadium. Operations of
the MFSD commenced in August 1996.
The MFSD owns INVESCO Field at
Mile High on behalf of the six metropolitan county taxpayers and serves
as the building's landlord. Stadium Management Company, LLC, an
affiliate of the Denver Broncos, will perform the operations and
management of the stadium upon it's completion.
Video Boards
There are a total of three
Mitsubishi video displays located inside the seating area at INVESCO
Field at Mile High. There are two boards on the North end of the
stadium with a viewing size of 48' x 27'. The large board on the South
end has a viewing size of 96' x 27'.
Playing Surface
The playing surface at INVESCO Field at Mile High is a 100% natural grass playing field made up of four different Kentucky Bluegrasses. The grass surface is stabilized by a network of polypropylene fibers that were sewn vertically into the sod every 3/4". This process took three weeks, with crews working 24
hours a day. This technology was developed by DD GrassMaster out of
Holland, and has been used at over 100 stadiums worldwide.
Underneath the sod is a sand-root zone laid above an extensive drainage
and soil heating system. After heavy rain, in a matter of minutes,
surface water can be drained with a strong suction system called
Sub-Air. The field will be heated during the winter months by a network
of 21 miles of underground hot water tubing.
DENVER
(AP) - The Denver Broncos will have one of the most technologically
advanced natural-grass playing fields in the NFL.
The field of
five-blend Kentucky Bluegrass is ready for use. It has four computerized
moisture sensors and 10 temperature sensors, as well as a
computerized drainage system that sucks away excess water, even during
heavy rains. And it conceals 20 miles of water pipes that will keep it
at a pleasant 60 degrees year-round.
The most high-tech part
about the field is the grass-colored polypropylene fibers injected into
about 17 million holes across it. The process is designed to unite the
sod with the ground underneath.
That means three of every 100
strands of grass on the field are fake, said Ross Kurcab, the Broncos'
turf manager.
The exposed fibers look like grass and are hard
to detect from even a few inches away.
Invesco Field will cost
about $400 million when complete. It is the first major league facility
in the nation to have the fibers installed, though the technology has
been used in dozens of fields abroad.
Kurcab said it's all
about player safety. "This grass will provide good, solid footing
underneath them," he said.
Public Art Projects
The Metropolitan Football
Stadium District (MFSD) commissioned two public art works on the
exterior of the stadium, one on the east side of INVESCO Field at Mile
High and one on the west. Money was raised to commission these projects
by the sale of seats from old Mile High stadium as well as the Brick
Paver Program located on the Counties Gateway Plaza.
"Mountainscape"
On the East, pedestrians approaching the
stadium will walk along paths from Bryant Street, through an artistic
impression entitled "Mountainscape." "Mountainscape," by Catherine
Widgery of Truro, Massachusetts, is comprised of three concentric rings
of natural Colorado boulders and rock inlays which compliment the
pedestrian park on the East side Of INVESCO Field at Mile High.
"Mountainscape" is open year-round and serves as a natural meeting place
and bench area among boulders that measure between 18" and 36" tall.
"Equipment Field"
On the Counties Gateway Plaza to the West
of the stadium, visitors will find the artistic remnants of the
"Equipment Field" by artists Melissa Smedley, Mathieu Gregoire, and Ante
Marinovic of San Diego, California. "Equipment Field" is formed by
seven marble and aluminum sculptures, which are placed strategically
along the Counties Gateway Plaza, as if giant players discarded their
equipment many years ago after a rousing game. They appear partially
unearthed as if left from centuries prior, and will be 'discovered' by
fans as they approach the stadium from the west. The sculptures range
from a few inches to over 14 feet tall, and are positioned so that fans
may interact with them.
Ring of Fame
The Denver Broncos Ring of Fame was created in 1984 by team owner
Pat Bowlen to honor former players and administrators who played
significant roles in the franchise's history. The Ring of Fame is
displayed on the Level 5 facade at INVESCO Field at Mile High.
Sculpture
"The Broncos," a gift to
the people of Colorado from Mr. Pat Bowlen and the Bowlen family, is
located on the South side of INVESCO Field at Mile High. Created in
Florence, Italy, by world-renowned sculptor Sergio Benvenuti, this
sculpture consists of five broncos, one mare and one colt. The horses
are 1 1/2 times life-size and depict horses running uphill in an alpine
mountain setting so that the sculpture looks like a snapshot in time.
The water feature, which resembles a raging stream, pumps 850 gallons
per minute and is slightly heated so that in the winter, steam will rise
from the stream as it does in nature. Special lighting will highlight
and illuminate the sculpture at night.
This magnificent sculpture
was dedicated and unveiled on August 8, 2001.
Sports Legends Mall
The Sports Legends Mall
located on the South end of INVESCO Field at Mile High, is a walkway
leading from old Colfax to INVESCO Field at Mile High. This walkway is
approximately 800 feet long and will play host to many events including
corporate pre-game parties, festivals and other live entertainment.
The Sports Legends Mall is open to the public year-round.
Stadium Management Company, LLC. (SMC)
Stadium
Management Company or SMC is the management company responsible for
overseeing all operations at INVESCO Field at Mile High. For questions
or information, please call 720-258-3000.
THE ULTIMATE SPORTS ROAD TRIP
By: Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell
| Invesco Field at Mile High Ranking by USRT |
| Architecture |  | 7 |
| Concessions | | 7 |
| Scoreboard | | 8 |
| Ushers | | 4 |
| Fan Support | | 8 |
| Location | | 6 |
| Banners/History | | 7 |
| Entertainment | | 8 |
| Concourses/Fan Comfort | | 7 |
| Bonus: Tailgate Scene | | 2 |
| Bonus: PA Guy/Fan Chants | | 2 |
| Bonus: 1/2 Price Tickets | | 1 |
| Total Score |  | 67 |
November 11, 2001 - One of the original AFL teams, the Denver Broncos have a long and storied history here in Denver, and for the first 40 years of their existence they played at Mile High Stadium, a converted and expanded baseball facility which had well outlived its usefulness. So six counties in the greater Denver area formed a separate public agency - the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, and charged this body with the task of building a new venue for the Denver Broncos. And build it they did! Invesco Field at Mile High opened its doors for business in late summer, and has received rave reviews so far.
Getting to the Stadium
Invesco Field is located just west of downtown, and is separated from the downtown core by the Platte River, Interstate 25, and a railroad line, but with all the open space between the venue and the skyline, this stadium adds to an imposing cityscape which also includes Denver's other sports venues - the Pepsi Center and Coors Field. If you arrive from the south, you can actually see all three of these magnificent facilities standing in a row right in your line of sight. Access to the stadium is fairly easy, with plenty of roads off the interstate and downtown arterials. General parking is available on the other side of the interstate, at the Pepsi Center, Six Flags and the Auraria Campus for $10. While a bit of a walk, there is a well marked pedestrian trail and a bridge over the river to get you to the stadium. More spaces will become available once the old Mile High, located next door to the north, is demolished. North and west of Invesco Field is a residential neighborhood, so maybe snag a spot on the street or park on a lawn as several entrepreneurial neighbors sell parking spots as well.
Outside the Venue
With massive parking lots, tailgating is in abundance and we got to see a lot of it - yes footballs a tossin', burgers a grillin', vehicles decorated in their Broncos blue and orange colors. As you make your way to the stadium, you will find the impressively designed and landscaped grounds - rock gardens and sculptures, mosaic colored walkways, and pillars recognizing the 38 classes of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. On the south side is a beautiful sculpture of several horses charging up the slope in an alpine mountain setting, nestled in a cascading waterfall type fountain. At the main entrance on the west side is "Counties Gateway Plaza", a large public space with six monuments honoring the counties who raised the funds for all of this, as well as several large sculptures of pieces of various football equipment. From this vantage point you can look north and get a great view of the Old Mile High Stadium, now mothballed and awaiting demolition, and being dismantled seemingly one brick at a time. The stadium itself is an imposing structure, modern and futuristic in design and feel, colored bright silver and a roof line that mimics something out of the set of that old cartoon "The Jetsons".
The Concourses
Walking through the turnstiles you are greeted by the Broncos championship banners, also heralding their two recent Super Bowl titles. The 100 level concourse is wide, easy to navigate, and decorated with nice banners and well designed concessions. On one sideline is an ESPN fantasy broadcast booth, where fans can sit at the anchor desk and do their own Sportscenter telecast. Steps from the main entrance is the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, a museum saluting the state's sports icons (Why are these places always shuttered on game day? We love this kind of stuff!). Getting to the upper deck is easy with escalator towers on each sideline, making a stop at the club level and then right on up to the upper deck. The upper deck concourses are open air, a bit congested and narrow, but no matter which side you stand on, there is a great view, the best one being on the east side facing downtown.
Premium Seating
As with other new NFL venues, Invesco Field has a club level called the "United Club", which has about 8500 seats and surrounds about 75% of the seating bowl. There are also approximately 100 suites above the club level. These areas are served by their own exclusive climate controlled concourse, offering upscale concessions and a pregame buffet.
The Seating Bowl
One of the nicest features of this venue has to be the seating bowl. At just over 75,000 seats, the stadium has exactly one more seat than the old Mile High did. The seats are almost all colored blue, save for the first few rows closest to the playing field, which are colored orange. Another great feature here is that the end zone seats are built on metal risers rather than concrete, and are also placed very close to the borders of the playing field. All this to create the foot stomping thunder sound of the home crowd and disrupt the visiting team. The signature of this building, however, has to be the Broncos logo interwined into the seating color matrix in the upper deck seating of the north end zone. Oh, did we mention scoreboards? Not one, not two, but THREE Mitsubishi video boards are displayed here, the largest one being in the south endzone and the other two in the north corners. In each of the four corners of the club level balcony are digital LED effects boards, framed on the sidelines by backlit corporate logos of the stadiums major sponsors.
Banners/Retired Numbers
Seems like the trend of displaying division/league titles is being relegated to the corridors of these new venues. But the Broncos do maintain a heralded "Ring of Fame" along the upper level balcony. Most recent inductees were Karl Mecklenburg and Dennis Smith, and they join such prestigious company as Elway, Wright, Jackson, Gradishar, Morton, Moses, Turner among other inductees.
Concessions
Just as at Coors Field and the Pepsi Center, Invesco Field rolls out the finest in food choices, grouping them along various themes and displaying concession stands with nicely designed canopies and fascias. All have a Rocky Mountain theme, such as "Rivers Edge", featuring beers from Colorado, "Colorado Fare", barbecue and Buffalo meat products (yes there is even an item called "Polish Buffalo Sausage", a would be top seller in Andrew's home town of Cheektowaga!). Add a mexican stand called the "Red Zone", and a "Blitzburger Grill" featuring green chile fries and Bronco Brats. You get the picture. Come here hungry... you won't be disappointed!
The main team store is on the south side of the stadium, and adjacent to the store is the adminstrative lobby, with some great memorabilia, old pictures of Mile High, even one pre-expansion shot when the minor league baseball Denver Bears were the toast of the town!
Event Presentation
We have to tip our hat here to the public address announcer, because he is the cog that gets the folks into the game in a couple of unique ways.
Each time the visiting quarterback incompletes a pass, the fans finish off the sentence. For example, the announcer will say "Flutie's pass to Tomlinson is.....". The fans respond "IN -- COM -- PLETE!". How good is that?!
Broncos games are consistently sold out, and there is a waiting list for season tickets, so a regular rite here is the announcement of the attendance tally. Keep in mind there are 75,000+ seats here, so when the announcer says, "today's attendance is 73, 620," there is a big cheer. Then the announcer adds "that means that 1585 ticket holders did NOT show for todays game!" The fans reply with a chorus of boos. Message to fans everywhere --- NFL tickets are valuable commodities: if you can't go to the game get them in to someone's hands who CAN go. Well said Denver fans, we like your style!
Touchdowns, Extra Points, Fumbles
Touchdown to the Denver Broncos for transporting the great statue of the standing Bronco from the old stadium scoreboard and displaying it high atop the Invesco scoreboard. A great signature piece and a link to their great tradition!
Touchdown to the Broncos for stomping on those visiting San Diego Chargers. We are Bills fans and fed up with our so called fellow Bills fans who have abandoned our team because they now decided they are Flutie fans first and Buffalo fans second. We enjoyed Doug Flutie's stay in Buffalo, but that was then and this is now, and it brought joy to our hearts to see Flutie get intercepted 4 times and lead his team to defeat. That should shut up those Flutie flakes around Buffalo who inundate sports talk radio in Buffalo with their drivel. One more chant from the road trippers for good measure --- "Flutie's pass is..."..."IN-COM-PLETE"!
Extra Point As an agreement between the Broncos and the Stadium District, the team must make 2500 seats for each game available at 1/2 price for single ticket buyers. To avoid getting into the hands of scalpers, these seats are held at will call, and the ticket buyer and his party must present themselves at will call and then walk directly into the stadium. We were lucky to snag a couple of these tickets, and sat in the 200 level in the corner. What a bargain!
Special Acknowledgements
A tip of the hat to our good friend Frank Klawitter of Philadelphia, who flew in specially to join us for this game. Along with his girlfriend Debbie Stickle of Colorado Springs they met up with us in LODO for dinner the night before, and it was great hanging out with them.
And again thanks to Matt Sugar of the Metropolitan Football Stadium District for that great VIP tour back in June. Hey Matt -- your building is a real gem!
Summary
Denver, you did things right again! Your stadium is beautiful, and already is a great showcase for your community. We appreciated the extra touches that added to the look and feel of the venue, the attention to small details, the sculptures and decorations, and the modern 21st century feel of the seating bowl. Perhaps the outside of the stadium looks a bit too trendy and futuristic, and time will dictate whether this venue holds up as an architectural marvel or an experimental design relic. But for now we would gladly beat a path to your door again and again.
