Empower OK if stadium stays

Unless Broncomaniacs are completely nuts, taxpayers will never again build a stadium for the benefit of some rich guy (or gal) who owns an NFL franchise. So who cares what you call the place our Broncos call home, so long as it doesn’t need to be torn down and replaced for at least another 30 years.

With the heat finally off Broncos president Joe Ellis after his three-year search to find a name of a corporate partner to slap on the stadium, he stood alongside me in front of the newly dubbed Empower Field at Mile High on Thursday morning and asked: “You mind if we step into the shade?”

Then I asked Ellis, who celebrates his 61st birthday in November, a question that risked

boiling his blood: Will the current Broncos stadium outlive him?

“I hope so,” replied Ellis, chuckling. “It should.”

Every hard-working Colorado taxpayer who helped fund the current $400 million stadium, which opened in 2001, better hold the Broncos to that vow. The emotions of the NFL’s most loyal fans should never be held hostage again by the suggestion their favorite team might leave Denver if they don’t fork over the money to make a franchise owner richer.

Any way you cut the 21-year deal that Empower Retirement, a financial services provider based in Greenwood Village, signed with the Broncos, it doesn’t mean diddly if the influx of money doesn’t ensure a long life for the stadium.

And what is a reasonable life expectancy for this version of Mile High?

“Our goal has always been to get north of 50 years,” said Ray Baker, chairman of Metropolitan Football Stadium District. “Anything between 50 and 60 years, then we’re doing well.”

So mark this down and highlight it in orange: If the Broncos seek a new stadium any time before 2050, there better be a darn good reason.