After Spending $100M on Fan Experience, Denver Broncos Turn to Player Safety Ahead of the Falcons Game

The Walton-Penner family has left no stone unturned in trying to give a facelift to the Denver Broncos . Last year, they were hyper-focused on improving fan experience, but this year is different. It's all about the players and their safety this year. They made some major changes to the facility ahead of the home game against the Atlanta Falcons

The Broncos have decided to change the turf at the Empower Field at Mile High. And they needed a boatload of equipment to do so. Adam Schefter's report on the recent changes in the Broncos facility is eye-catching. The reports of the change first surfaced on X.

Per Schefter's social media post, "For the third consecutive year, the Broncos have proactively installed a brand-new field in-season at Empower Field at Mile High in the interest of player safety." The Broncos have lost two straight games on the road, but not anymore. They don't want to leave it to chance. And they certainly don't want the grass to be greener on the other side.

The last time they replaced the turf in the middle of the season, it cost them around $250,000. This was just as surprising to Sean Payton as to the people who are reading this . Per the Broncos head coach, the field had been in a "good shape." But he did acknowledge that Greg Penner, the CEO of the Broncos, will have no problem switching things around if he wants to make changes.

Schefter further reported that "The team brought in 14 truckloads of Kentucky Bluegrass from a turf farm in Platteville, Colo., and completed the field replacement in just 36 hours ahead of Sunday's game against the Falcons,"—that's reportedly 285 rolls of grass. So, how does this correlate to a player's safety?

Apparently, grass is safer than artificial turf. Aaron Rodgers getting injured and tearing his Achilles in the MetLife Stadium (which has an artificial turf) last year is perhaps the best example of this. Though there haven't been many cases of Broncos players complaining about problems with the field, taking early precautions doesn't hurt.

While we're on the topic of change, let's talk about some other cosmetic changes that the Broncos facility went through last year.

The Denver Broncos want their fans to have the best time The Denver franchise spent around $100 million on a facelift last year. Last year, the franchise's President, Damani Leech, said the team is heavily investing in improving the "fan experience." So they started by paying tribute to the 1977 Broncos and the "Orange Crush" era. While it's a glorious trip down memory lane, the changes go way beyond reminiscing about the old Broncos.

A brand-new scoreboard (fifth largest in the NFL), new food and beverage vendors, a major facelift of 130 suites in the Empower Field facility was all a part of that plan. That's not all! The team also hired many local artists to create murals of Broncos legends. The list includes John Elway, Steve Atwater, former owner Pat Bowlen, and many others.

Another major problem in a huge facility like the Empower Field is the lack of self-check-out counters. To counter that, the ownership decided to expand the team store by 3,000 sqft. Now, the fans can self-check out and return to their sets without delay. Not only that, but the suite holders can enjoy using the suites during summer concerts without a hassle.

"We noticed as some of the suite holders (were) using the suites during the summer concert series, we got a lot of positive feedback," Leech said.

Perhaps on the of the most important upgrade to the team is the freedom that the HC Sean Payton has. Payton's autonomy in drafting new players like Bo Nix is just a start of it. All this just makes us think that the Denver Broncos are in good hands. And the owners don't cut any corners when it comes to improving the fan experience, the quality of the roster and most importantly, the condition of the facility.