College football games planned for eventual return at Mile High
The Rocky Mountain Showdown is considered dead at Mile High. But it appears college football will live on at the newly minted Empower Field.
The Metropolitan Football Stadium District convened Wednesday for its quarterly meeting, and among the more illuminating discussions included upcoming non-Broncos events at Mile High. Jay Roberts, general manager of the Stadium Management Company, confirmed that AMA Supercross racing and the Monster Jam truck series will return in 2020.
Colorado State and Colorado won’t play their annual college football game in Denver, though, with it shifting to Fort Collins next season before a break until planned home-and-home series in 2029-30 and 2033-34. However, there’s still an array of college football possibilities at Mile High moving forward.
“We’re bummed (the Rocky Mountain Showdown) is going away, but we’re going to be working in the future on trying to figure out what we could replace that with — a different type of college football game,” Roberts said. “We’d like to continue to have college football here, but we don’t have anything yet on that. Hopefully, in the near future, we will be able to announce something coming up at the stadium.”
College football scheduling, especially at neutral sites, is typically planned out at least two years in advance, making 2022 and 2023 the earliest feasible dates (but probably further in the future). The Buffs and Rams each have significant incentives to play their home games on campus, as evidenced by the end of their Denver matchups.
The most logical team to fill the Mile High void appears to be Air Force. The Falcons’ nonconference schedule over the past decade has included national brands such as Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and BYU; teams with traveling fan bases large enough to help fill a neutral-site venue with a capacity nearly 30,000 seats larger than Falcons Stadium. Hosting a rivalry game against Navy or Army might also draw enough interest to warrant a special setting.
Air Force has never played a football game at Mile High, per Troy Garnhart, the academy’s associate athletic director for strategic communications. However, Garnhart told The Denver Post: “As far as considering future games, I think that if we feel there was an opportunity to provide a great experience for our cadets and fans, we’d be open to any discussions.”
A college football bowl game is possible, but unlikely, considering most are played in warmweather states in December. Denver is also relatively close to Nebraska and Big 12/Pac 12 schools that might see benefits in playing an early season nonconference game at Mile High.