The Denver Broncos officially broke ground on Thursday morning on the start of construction for a new-look team facility at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit. Team President Damani Leech and CEO Greg Penner discussed why the project is taking place, what factored into the decision to build what will be a state of the art facility, and their excitement for this upcoming season.
Denver Broncos, ownership break ground on new-look Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit
The Broncos announced in November of 2023 plans to build the new state-of-the-art training facility and team headquarters on the existing campus in Englewood, Colo. The project will be entirely privately funded and is set to be completed in advance of the 2026 NFL season.
Designed in a contemporary style reflective of Colorado with a focus on enhancing player health and performance, the Broncos’ facility will bring together football and business operations in an inspirational, collaborative and modern environment.
A Mock Up of the new projected Denver Broncos Centura Training Center in Dove Valley. COURTESY: HOK
Upgrades and additions to the new training facility will increase the overall size and capacity by nearly 30%. It’s expected to be three stories and 205,000 square feet. Overall, the entirety of the Broncos team headquarters is expected to span more than 320,000 square feet on a 26-acre campus.
“One of the things we talk about is being the best team to play for, work for and cheer for—a phrase coined by [Owner] Carrie [Walton Penner] when we purchased the team, and it’s reflected in the vision we have for this new facility,” Broncos CEO/Owner Greg Penner said. “As a football-first organization, the facility will be designed with the players in mind. We’ll reduce the player path of travel. We’re going to enhance the sports performance areas. Really the football spaces are just going to be terrific.”
Broncos President Damani Leech addressed the player path of travel and why that was an important element in the upcoming renovations.
#Broncos broke ground today for the start of state of the art renovations to Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit | @MileHighSports pic.twitter.com/muDKELQkFq
— Cody Roark (@CodyRoarkNFL) August 29, 2024
“The biggest thing for us was the player path of travel,” Leech said. “Right now currently, our facility has treated us well since 1990, but you all see it here on a daily basis—players are walking across the parking lot to get to the weight room. Late in the season, that’s a cold and icy walk. They’re walking across the field to get to the indoor practice facility. Just managing the number of steps per day. We actually track that. How many steps from the locker room is the center point? [How many steps] does it take you to get to key spaces in the building? How does that compare to how we have the facility designed? How does that compare to other facilities around the NFL? HOK has been great in giving us a lot of diagrams to help us understand that.”
This is the spark of a big change that’s overtaking the organization as they build with a young roster, and all of the talk surrounding renovations to the new team headquarters has certainly presented questions about the idea of a new stadium down the road.
“I’ve been getting the stadium questions since Day 1 about two years ago,” Leech said. “We’ll continue to get that. I think the answer is the same one. It’s a pretty long process. We’re still evaluating everything. Everything’s on the table. We’ll continue to explore it and make a decision at a time that makes sense for us.”
There was some early ideas and speculation created outside of the organization about a potential entertainment district, but Broncos ownership didn’t feel that was in the best interest of their staff or team.
“I think for us, probably the bigger concern or consideration was do we want to stay here with this facility,” Leech said. “As we mentioned, Arapahoe County has been a great partner for us. A lot of players and staff live around here. It’s convenient for us to get on the highway and get to the airport and get to the stadium, so we felt comfortable about that. We wanted it to be football focused. So this is not going to be a big entertainment district. We didn’t feel like that was right for us or important for us. We wanted this to be about football and our staff. We think this makes sense for us.”
The expectation is that the construction on the new-look team facility will be fully completed by the start of the 2026 NFL season.