Mile High go the extra (mile) for fans

Article posted by Coliseum, July 2^nd, 2020

Image: Musco Lighting

Augmented safety measures are being implemented at Empower Field at Mile High at Colorado in US for forthcoming events at the venue. Details of the measures taken were given by National Football League (NFL) American football franchise the Denver Broncos and the Stadium Management Company (SMC) for Empower Field at Mile High recently.

Empower Field at Mile High is an American football stadium at Denver, Colorado in US. The primary tenant is the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. The facility opened in 2001 to replace the Broncos original home, the old Mile High Stadium.

The Denver Broncos compete in the NFL as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) West division.

Stadium Management Company, LLC (SMC) is responsible for the overall management of Empower Field at Mile High including booking and operations, facility maintenance and event planning and coordination.

At a virtual meeting for the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, SMC General Manager Jay Roberts outlined a series of steps the Broncos and stadium will take to ensure safe return of fans once the venue reopens. The measures will be initiated taking into cognizance the grim COVID-19 situation in US.

The slew of measures include setting up 500 hand sanitizer stations — both stand-alone and wall-mounted units — for fans to use across the venue. Bipolar ionization has been added in the stadium’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, which is expected to both lower the risk of spreading disease and eliminate allergens.

UV-C lights have been installed under escalators in order to reduce or eliminate bacteria on handrails which are highly used. Roberts informed that before the start of the 2020 NFL season, all the bathrooms, including toilets, sinks and paper towel dispensers, is expected to be made totally touchless.

He added, “Our goal is to do everything we can to invite as many people as possible back to the stadium in as safe a manner as possible, and that (includes) working with local, State, NFL and other local and national experts on how we can do this in a really good way.”

SMC is also in touch with environmental engineering and infectious disease experts at the local and national levels to plan a foolproof strategy.

SMC has been granted more funds to enable them to complete these projects and gear up the arena for an expected increase in events in 2021. Media reports stated that the meeting did not cover how many fans will be allowed in the stadium for the Broncos’ home opener against NFL team Tennessee Titans on September 14.

The meeting also did not make it clear how many fans (if any) they expect to welcome to the stadium for the Broncos’ September 14 home opener against the Tennessee Titans or what measures will be taken to get fans through the gates while also adhering to social distancing suggestions/guidelines.

“By and large, the focus of our time the past several months has been working on preparing the stadium for a return-to-work and then a return-to-events,” Roberts. We want to make sure we’re in the best possible position to invite as many fans as possible back to the stadium when the time is right and in a safe manner,” Roberts informed.

“We’re not going to throw a whole bunch of money at things that don’t make sense and are temporary or part-time fixes,” Roberts made it clear.

Also during the meeting, Roberts said the Broncos’ team store at Mile High has reopened.

Zach Myhra, Director of Facilities, SMC, informed that inside and around the stadium vicinity, four of the nine main signs have been installed and the project will be completed soon.

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