No-Name Field at Mile High? The solution is simple:
MILE HIGH STADIUM.
And:
Pat Bowlen Field.
To compensate for the annual $6 million (average) in lost revenues from not having a corporate sponsor, each of the 10 gates at Mile High Stadium could be sold — as the NFL does at the Super Bowl. For example: “Meet me at The Dish Network Entrance.”
Or do you actually prefer Chipotle Mexican Grill Field at Mile High, Tru Cannabis Mile High Dispensary & Marijuana Field or Mile High Drain Cleaning and Plumbing Services Stadium?
Return the revered, respected, rightful name to The House That Taxpayers Built!
Against the wishes of the majority of the people in six counties, the avaricious board of directors of the Metropolitan Football Stadium District (MFSD) sold its soul to the devil and Invesco in 2001, and the curse continues. The stadium naming rights issue won’t go away, but the corporate sponsors do.
The appalling appellation Invesco Field perished, and Sports Authority is now biting the dust. Beware, corporate serpents, of trying to force your will and name on Mile High Stadium.
The background story is that in 1998, metro-wide voters approved a temporary sales tax increase to provide $364.2 million in funding, and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen guaranteed the rest ($111 million), for construction of a new Mile High Stadium. A stadium district, with a nine-member board, was created to oversee the mammoth project and its ongoing operation.
The State Legislature mandated that the board conduct a survey to consider the wishes of the populace about the stadium name. The board decided not to spend $10,000 on a poll. However, in an independent survey, 68 percent were in favor of retaining the name “Mile High Stadium.”
LoDo brewpub proprietor John Hickenlooper and I started a grassroots fight to prevent a corporate sellout. John produced thousands of “Mile High Forever” signs, rallied the opposition and spoke out at district hearings, and I wrote dozens of columns.
At the stadium groundbreaking, Bowlen announced he was in favor of keeping the name “Mile High Stadium,” and Denver mayor Wellington Webb also was strongly supportive.
The campaign was both a success and a failure. Despite overwhelming objections throughout Colorado, the district board compromised with the company on a reduced amount (20 years, $120 million) and a ludicrous hybrid name ending in “@Mile High.” Mile High What? An e-mail address?
(I never understood why the Broncos received half of the monies when the franchise paid one quarter of the cost of the stadium. The other half went to the MFSD for maintenance, improvements and administration, not to taxpayers.)
Politicos were highly impressed by Hickenlooper’s fervent stadium name effort (even in, mostly, defeat) and persuaded him to run for mayor.
Now, the most important name on the big office door at the State Capitol is “Gov. John Hickenlooper.”
Sycophants in the local and national media uttered only the first half of the new stadium name, as the corporation hoped. But this hard-headed insurgent rebelled, and Dean Singleton, The Denver Post’s owner, ordered “Mile High Stadium” to be used in every stadium reference.
Invesco threatened in private and a news release to sue The Denver Post and me when I wrote a column quoting a company executive vice president, who declared employees called the stadium “The Diaphragm.” When an Invesco internal investigation proved inappropriate jokes about the stadium’s name were common in the company, the potential lawsuit was dropped.
In another matter, Invesco paid Colorado, New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission $450 million to settle allegations of improper trade practices. The CEO who made the stadium deal left the company, and Invesco would leave Denver.
The stadium naming rights were sold to Sports Authority, a sporting goods company with roots and headquarters in Colorado, in August 2011.
A company executive told me the name “Mile High will be displayed prominently.” Instead, “Mile High” was buried in letters approximately 10 times smaller than the corporate name when gigantic signs were erected outside the stadium.
Sports Authority, purchased by a hedge fund 10 years ago, has filed for bankruptcy, and is auctioning off assets — including the naming rights.
There is no certainty about the stadium’s name for the Broncos’ 2016 season or the future. The football district board has been fooled from the beginning.
In the Chapter 11 case Wednesday, the stadium district filed a limited objection to Sports Authority transferring the naming rights. “It is important that MFSD continues to have the ability to approve the new name for the stadium in its reasonable discretion,” the motion stated.
The new name cannot be “obscene or disparage the MFSD,” violate NFL policy, be affiliated with tobacco products or “confer the impression of an association with a foreign country.”
Republic of Macedonia Field at Mile High?
Hick, we need you again to help lead the fight.
MFSD left out the most important demand.
The stadium must have the name “Mile High Stadium.” It’s about time.
Woody Paige: woody@woodypaige.com or @woodypaige
