Brief by Allen Best
Colorado politics – April 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
Minturn offers solution to Broncos’ search for a new stadium
Pat Bowlen’s got a problem, although admittedly a problem lots of people would love to have.
He has a football team, the Denver Broncos, and he says that to make ends meet he needs a new stadium, one with more luxury boxes and other revenue enhancers. He’s been dickering with the City of Denver and other governments around Denver, and so far no solutions are evident.
So the Minturn Town Council ordered a letter be dispatched to Bowlen and the Denver Broncos. Within Minturn, the council noted, the soon-to-be-abandoned railroad yards contain 80 acres, plenty of room for a football stadium. That’s not really enough room for parking, but then who wants to be deviled by details at this point?
The Minturn council even pledged that it wouldn’t quibble about revenues from the games; all the town would want is the taxes. Since the town really has no tax base to speak of, any addition will be huge.
And finally, as for the name. The current home to the Broncos is called Mile High Stadium. On the edge of Minturn, out around the Steammaster Building, the elevation runs 7,920. So how about Mile and a Half High Stadium?
Generous to a fault, the Minturn council even said the Broncos could retain the name Denver.
–Allen Best in the Vail Valley Times
