INVESCO: Mile High taken one step better
08/04/2008 2:34 PM -
Give the folks in Denver some credit: they thought ahead of time the best way to get a new football stadium … and then they went out and got it. In 1996, with Mile High Stadium starting to wear out, a corporation with the fancy name of the Metropolitan Football Stadium District was formed. The District was created for the purpose of planning, acquiring land and construction of a professional football stadium. Two years later, voters in a six-county area approved a penny per $10 sales tax on retail goods. Broncos owner Pat Bowlen kicked in whatever money was needed to seal the deal (roughly $ 90 million) and – presto! – ground was broken in August 1999 on a new playpen. By 2001, the place was ready to go. INVESCO Field at Mike High Stadium is like something out of a playbook: it matched the needs of the Denver area perfectly. They kept just enough of the aura surrounding the old Mile High Stadium (including building it in the shadow of the old place) and added plenty of new bells and whistles. The first thing you notice is how easy it is to get there. It is located just west of downtown off Highway 25. With 10,000 on site parking spots and another 10,000 within short walking range of the place, INVESCO fares better than many stadiums in that regard. Whereas Mile High was famous for its tight surroundings, INVESCO is much more spread out. (Indeed, it is located on a piece that is nearly double the size of Mile High.) Although INVESCO can stand well on its own feet, there are links to the team’s past. Bucky Bronco, which stood on the Mike High scoreboard since 1975, moved to the new place and has a place of honor on the south scoreboard. It is a 27-foot, 1,600 pound fiberglass-steel statue that was cast from the same model used for Roy Rogers’ old horse, Trigger. Denverites are apparently fond of mixing art with football. "Mountainscape”, which is comprised of three concentric rings of natural Colorado boulders and rock inlays on the East side is a popular meetings locale. On the west side, "Equipment Field" is formed by marble and aluminum sculptures, as if giant players discarded their equipment many years ago after a rousing game. The sculptures range from a few inches to over 14 feet tall, and are positioned so that fans may interact with them. Meanwhile, on the south side, Bowlen commissioned “The Broncos.” This sculpture consists of five broncos, one mare and one colt. The horses are larger than life-size and are depicted as running uphill in an alpine mountain setting. The water feature, which looks like 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. It’s all pretty nifty. Inside is nice, too. Colorado weather can be very unpredictable. It can snow six inches one day and be 60 degrees the next. Accordingly, the team opted for Kentucky bluegrass for most of the field. But, as a way to hedge their bet a bit, there are several green-colored fibers that look like grass. It is the first known case of mixing and matching grass surfaces. The advantage is it made it easier to install a drainage system that keeps the field dry in inclement weather. The seats are standard football stadium fare – with plenty of club level seats (8500 to be exact). There is an extensive lower deck that surrounds the playing field. The upper deck doesn’t entirely cover all ends – the south end is open. But they did an interesting thing here. The lower south seats are in the end zones and are made of metal instead of the concrete in the rest of the place. Also, these seats are slightly closer to the field than the rest of the first level. While it is not quite as intimidating a locale as Mile High was, the place can be still quite loud and tough on opponents. Concessions have a western theme to them – starting with beers from the wellknown state breweries right to such as a Mexican food stand called “The Red Zone”, green chihi fries and Bronco Brats. The Broncos draw very well and could probably sell out the stadium for the season in advance if they really wanted to. But they made a deal with the Stadium District to make 2,500 tickets per game available at half price. To avoid scalpers having a field day, they tossed in this codicil: you can only pick up the tickets at Will Call and you must enter the stadium promptly. It’s a nifty deal and another reason why the team – and the management – is one of the most popular in the NFL. A football stadium at heart (there have been a couple of college games played here), INVESCO has seen its share of concerts (in fact, the Eagles opened the place in 2001). It also has hosted soccer and lacrosse events. But it will join the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a special club late in August when Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, gives his acceptance speech at INVESCO. (The rest of the Dem convention is at Pepsi Arena.) The only other time this has happened was John Kennedy in 1960. INVESCO FIELD AT MILE HIGH STADIUM
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