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Saint Louis News - "All the news that is Saint Louis"
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  Groundbreaking for $1.1 Billion Airport ExpansionWax Figure of Jazz Legend Miles Davis UnveiledGrand Entrances to Forest ParkTime to "Play ball" for No Call ListThe Future Starts Here at the McDonnell PlanetariumButterfly House Merges With Missouri Botanical GardenIt Takes a Village to Build a StadiumMissouri Steps Up to the Plate for New Cardinal Stadium'Rib America' Festival at Soldier's MemorialTourism Season Has Dramatic
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by Betty Magrath, SLFP.com photos by Bob Moore, SLFP.com © 2001 St. Louis Front Page, SLFP.com DENVER, CO, (SLFP.com), August 5, 2001 - Three years after Denver voters overwhelmingly approved the 'Stadium Bill', the $364.2 million Invesco Field at Mile High will open in September as the new home of the two-time Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos. The 1,717,000 square-foot Invesco Field at Mile High is being built on land adjacent to Mile High Stadium that was formerly occupied by McNichols Sports Arena. The new state-of-the art facility will feature 76,125 seats with 8,500 club seats and 124 suites. Football fans will enjoy larger seats, more leg room, wider concourses, 8 general escalators, 8 elevators, over 400 concession stands and a 96'x27' video board at the south end and a 48'x27' video board at the north end. The Broncos Sports Store and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame will be open year round in the stadium.
Baker stated that having an 8-0 record at the time of the election went a long way in securing a landslide vote of 58 percent. "Baseball only won by 52 percent. So to have an 8 percent override with football was unbelievable," he said. "Denver is really one gigantic sports town. I think there will be a continuation of the phenomena that we've had with the Broncos. I'm not sure we'll gain any more economic boom as much as keeping the fans happy and ensuring their enjoyment." He said that the stadium was not enclosed because Pat Bowlen, owner of the Denver Broncos was adamant that it would be an open-air facility. "You have an owner that was responsible for twenty-five percent of the cost plus any overruns," said Baker. "He believed that football should be played on natural sod and not astro turf and played in an open field with the elements." "We had two of the wide receivers come out yesterday to see the stadium," Baker continued. "They said if they couldn't win here, they deserved to be traded or cut. They believe this is the right facility for another Superbowl."
"They basically looked at all the issues and said it would cost us $275 million to refurbish Mile High and bring it up to code. In other words, to make it a worthwhile, viable operating stadium. Again, this was a sixty-year-old facility owned by the City and County of Denver," added Sugar. "The State Senate took up the issue and set the criteria for who was going to pay for the new stadium and how was it going to be financed," continued Sugar. "They came up with the price that couldn't go over a certain amount. They came up with the plan for funding, similar to that of Coors Field, which was one tenth of one percent sales tax in a six-county area which is the Denver Metropolitan." Suger explained that the games would never be blacked out even if the stadium was not full. "The legislature told the Broncos that if they couldn't fill up the stadium, they would have to purchase the tickets because there would be no blackout. It became a referred measure to the Stadium Bill," he said. "The bill didn't go for the Governor's signature but was referred by the legislature directly to the registered voters for approval." The legislation also required that the board was to minimize the taxpayers' expense, privatize to the greatest extent possible and weigh public sentiment. "So we tried to get a balance," said Sugar. "No other stadium in the country has managed to keep the old name as part of the corporate name. We're pretty proud of the fact that we were able to offset the taxpayer's dollars by $60 million. Our official name is Invesco Field at Mile High." "There were also a few things that we used to keep the tradition of Mile High alive," he added. "One of them is the field treads and risers. Mile High Stadium was the loudest stadium in the country and even broke a Guinness World Book of Records as being the loudest facility on earth. Because of our dry climate, we can build with steel." "Another thing we brought over was "Bucky" the horse. That horse, modeled after Roy Roger's Trigger, is twenty-five years old and made of fiberglass. We refurbished the horse and he now sits at the top of the south score board at the new stadium," he said "The other tradition was to keep the horseshoe shape of Mile High so that people in the north seats of the stadium can look south and still see Pike's Peak and the glorious Rocky Mountains." Sugar noted that the stadium is entirely ADA compliant. "There are some 761 ADA compliant seats with companion seats. Almost every seat has an electrical outlet so someone in a wheel chair can come up and plug in their chair. We had a whole committee called the Disabled Access Advisory Committee. Over the last couple of years, they worked with the architects and decided what kind of amenities they needed and how they should be designed. They actually came up with a new kind of seat," he said. To maintain natural turf year round required high tech installation. Sugar explained that for every 100 blades of natural grass, there are three blades of synthetic grass injected down into the turf to solidify the root system. "During inclement weather, hot water can be pumped through 3/4" plastic pipes running every 6" across the field to melt the snow. Beneath the layer of pipes, a sophisticated vacuum system can be turned on to suck the moisture out of the field," he said. Baker commented that the Bronco logo in the stands is based on a similar feature at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. "We changed the color of the field risers and seats so that when you see the stadium and 'Bucky' up top, you'll know that you're in Denver, Colorado."
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