Bronco fan experience abbreviated, again

DENVER — Fans at major-league sporting events such as the Broncos attend often for more than the action on the field. Indeed, play action, depending on seat location in the stadium, might be better seen on a home television.

Yet attend they do — 76,000 of them per game during a regular season to experience not just the game but the adrenaline rush as fans rise in unison to scream, or boo, the action. They come to experience the food and the beer, the access to the Broncos store, the camaraderie with other season-ticket holders sitting in their home section.

But not in 2020.

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This year’s game experience was much different, and it changed again after the Nov. 22 Miami Dolphins game when fan participation in the stadium was prohibited.

The 2020 season began with a stadium empty of real fans. Cutouts of fans populated the seats, and fan noise was piped into the stadium and onto TV broadcasts as the COCID-19 pandemic took professional athletics and everything else out of normal routines.

But as the pandemic wore on, public health officials and the Broncos organization determined that they could allow limited access to games. Five thousand seven hundred fans, or about 7.5% of capacity, were to be permitted to six home games. The 5,700 would be well-spaced throughout the lower decks of the stadium but set back from the team locations on the field.

Fans with season tickets had their tickets rolled over to the 2021 season. They were given priority to buy a six-season pass or individual game tickets for 2020.

Brian Werner, former public information officer for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, was one of those fans who took advantage of the lottery to secure seats for the six games.

He won two seats and, until the change in late November, had been attending.

“I’ve been to all that I can go to,” he said. “I don’t have a great priority number, but a whole lot of people decided to punt on the season.”

His seats were similar but not the same as what he would normally have during a season.

Charlie Shoop, president of PFC USA of Greeley, experienced the same placement relative to where his family had tickets previously.

Both Shoop and Werner remarked on the same experiences this year.

“There are no lines,” Werner said. No lines to get in, no lines at concession stands, no lines at bathrooms, no lines anywhere.

“You usually have to leave three hours before a game to avoid traffic,” Shoop said. Not this year.

“It’s easy to get in and out,” Werner agreed. “You park right next to the stadium. You’re not tailgating or going to a bar ahead of time, so you go right at game time.”

“The atmosphere is not the same,” Shoop said. “We had the whole section to ourselves.” Shoop said his kids played tag on the concourses because they were largely empty.

Werner said there were 25 people in his assigned section, Section 128.

“You certainly don’t get the true fan experience,” Werner said. “We yelled. I think they heard us.”

Fans aren’t doing the wave. “I hate the wave,” Werner said.

Fans are wearing masks, both Shoop and Werner said. Stadium personnel are “bending over backward on their protocols,” Werner said. “We appreciate the ability to be here, so we’re not going to jeopardize that.”

Signs have been posted everywhere telling fans to wear masks and to maintain distances. The Broncos have worked to convert all bathrooms with touchless fixtures for additional safety.

But the precautions were not enough. Infections, if any, stemming from Bronco games were not a factor in the decision to close down games to fans again, as Denver rose to the red level on the pandemic chart.

The Nov. 22 Dolphins game became the last home game of the season for fan attendance. Home games on Nov. 29 against the New Orleans Saints, Dec. 20 against the Buffalo Bills and Jan. 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders will be played to an empty stadium with just fan cutouts and pumped-in crowd noise.

Fans who bought tickets to the abbreviated season will get credit or refunds for the final three games.