Atlas
04-15-2007, 09:38 PM
Found this old article.
New stadium won't replace roar of Mile High crowd
By Brian Murphy
The Sporting News
DENVER - Billy Thompson remembers when Mile High Stadium was louder.
Louder?
Louder than a place that routinely ranks among the toughest places to play in the NFL?
Louder than a sold-out crowd screaming at the top of its lungs?
"You've got to remember that Mile High wasn't always 76,000 [capacity]," said Thompson, a defensive back who played for the Broncos for 13 years. "In my rookie year (1969), the place held like 55,000. It seems like the fans were louder then."
Maybe the place was louder then. Or maybe Thompson just remembers the roar of the crowd during one of his punt returns or after an interception.
Or maybe the good old days were just too good to forget for Thompson, who broke in at nearly the same time as the name Mile High Stadium.
Prior to December 1968, the place where the Broncos played was called Bears Stadium, originally built in 1948 to house the baseball Denver Bears of the Western League.
If the Western League and Bears Stadium seem like relics of another time, it's because they are. And Mile High is just weeks away from joining them as products of a by-gone era.
The Broncos' home since the team began playing in the American Football League in 1960, Mile High is on its last legs.
Construction on Denver's new stadium -- still unnamed, though many would like to see Mile High incorporated in some manner -- is nearing completion; the facility will be ready for use next season.
Even old-timers like Thompson, who as a rookie became the only player to lead the NFL in both kickoff and punt returns in the same season, concede that the time has come to close down the old stadium.
"A lot of my fondest memories come from there. I remember running back my first punt there," said Thompson, now the Broncos' Director of Player Relations and Alumni Coordinator. "But it's time to move on."
That time could have come in 1967, before the Broncos had enjoyed a winning season.
Before Mile High would host five AFC Championship games, all Denver victories.
Before Thompson, the Orange Crush defenses, Beer Barrel Man, and a guy named John Elway.
Voters that year turned down a bond issue to build an all-purpose metropolitan stadium, which just reeks of artificial turf and a lack of character. Little did those voters know that the place they were keeping would become one of the NFL's great temples.
With capacity of just under 35,000 for football, a nonprofit group bought Bears Stadium for $1.8 million, presented a plan to the city of Denver, and a 16,000-seat upper deck was added in time for the 1968 season. Later that year, the place was officially renamed Mile High.
Renovations continued to push the capacity higher. Seventy-five thousand by 1978. And in 1986, the addition of the Penthouse Suites put Mile High at its current 76,098 - or 67 seats less than the new stadium will have.
But renovations can only stave off time and weather and the need for new luxury suites for so long. Even the players, the ones for whom Mile High holds the most memories, realize the need for an upgraded facility.
"I think it's about time," said former Broncos linebacker Karl Mecklenburg. "As a player . . . it was fine, but since I've retired and started going as a fan, you realize that it's run down.
"You go to Coors Field (home of baseball's Rockies) or the Pepsi Center (home of hockey's Avalanche and basketball's Nuggets) or one of the nice venues and you see what's missing."
Said Thompson, "Our fans really deserve it. They are, without a doubt, the one constant thing about this franchise. The fans have always been there for the Broncos."
Attendance has topped the half-million mark in every non-strike season since 1977.
The Broncos have sold out the place for 249 consecutive games, including the playoffs. That's every game since 1970. And a far cry from the first home game in franchise history, when Denver topped the Oakland Raiders 31-14 in front of just 18,372 on Oct. 2, 1960.
The game marked not only the start of football in Denver, but also the beginning of the Raiders-Broncos rivalry. The teams -- bitter rivals from their AFL days through the current Mike Shanahan-Al Davis war -- have, appropriately, played some of the most important and memorable games in Mile High history.
The Broncos played 22 Monday night games in Denver, but it's the ones against the Raiders that stand out.
There was the first Monday night game in Denver on Oct. 22, 1973, when the Broncos tied the Raiders 23-23 on a last-second field goal by Jim Turner, and then the last Monday nighter in November when Denver completed a sweep of the Raiders, 27-24, on a gutsy performance by an injured Brian Griese.
And so many memorable Monday nighters in between. In 1999, Denver beat Oakland 27-21 in overtime in a game that will forever be remembered for a snowball fight at the end of the game when Raiders tackle Lincoln Kennedy went into the stands.
Or when Shanahan's Raiders in 1988 -- his first season -- fell behind 24-0 in the first half before rallying for a 30-27 overtime win.
Or how about when in Shanahan's first game with the Broncos against the Raiders, Denver crushed Oakland 27-0 and Elway passed Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas to become the fourth-most prolific passer in NFL history.
But the game that stands out for Thompson came way before Shanahan and Elway.
On Jan. 1, 1978 -- in the AFC Championship Game -- the Broncos edged the then-defending champion Raiders, 20-17, to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl. That game, Thompson says, changed the Broncos' fortunes.
"Until that time I thought the only two teams in the AFC West were Kansas City and the Raiders,' said Thompson. "That game proved to the league and to those two teams especially that they had to respect the Broncos."
Denver would reach five more Super Bowls in the 22 years that followed -- winning two.
Four of those five trips would march through Mile High. The most memorable was "The Fumble" game in 1987, when Cleveland's Earnest Byner's late fourth-quarter fumble gave the Broncos a second-straight AFC title.
Throw in a 1989 pasting of Cleveland, a 1997 beating of Pittsburgh and a 1998 waxing of the Jets and that makes Denver a perfect 5-0 in the most important games ever played at Mile High.
Yes, it's safe to say that Mile High has given the Broncos some home-field advantage over the years (200-112-7 since 1960 and 180-71-5 after the renaming in 1969 going into Saturday's final regular season game vs. San Francisco).
But don't try selling the Mile High mystique -- at least not to Mecklenburg, who ranks second in Broncos annals with 79 career sacks.
"The fans, the team, the weather, the altitude gave us a home-field advantage; not the field," he said.
And none of that should change. The new stadium -- whatever they decide to call it -- is right next door.
New stadium won't replace roar of Mile High crowd
By Brian Murphy
The Sporting News
DENVER - Billy Thompson remembers when Mile High Stadium was louder.
Louder?
Louder than a place that routinely ranks among the toughest places to play in the NFL?
Louder than a sold-out crowd screaming at the top of its lungs?
"You've got to remember that Mile High wasn't always 76,000 [capacity]," said Thompson, a defensive back who played for the Broncos for 13 years. "In my rookie year (1969), the place held like 55,000. It seems like the fans were louder then."
Maybe the place was louder then. Or maybe Thompson just remembers the roar of the crowd during one of his punt returns or after an interception.
Or maybe the good old days were just too good to forget for Thompson, who broke in at nearly the same time as the name Mile High Stadium.
Prior to December 1968, the place where the Broncos played was called Bears Stadium, originally built in 1948 to house the baseball Denver Bears of the Western League.
If the Western League and Bears Stadium seem like relics of another time, it's because they are. And Mile High is just weeks away from joining them as products of a by-gone era.
The Broncos' home since the team began playing in the American Football League in 1960, Mile High is on its last legs.
Construction on Denver's new stadium -- still unnamed, though many would like to see Mile High incorporated in some manner -- is nearing completion; the facility will be ready for use next season.
Even old-timers like Thompson, who as a rookie became the only player to lead the NFL in both kickoff and punt returns in the same season, concede that the time has come to close down the old stadium.
"A lot of my fondest memories come from there. I remember running back my first punt there," said Thompson, now the Broncos' Director of Player Relations and Alumni Coordinator. "But it's time to move on."
That time could have come in 1967, before the Broncos had enjoyed a winning season.
Before Mile High would host five AFC Championship games, all Denver victories.
Before Thompson, the Orange Crush defenses, Beer Barrel Man, and a guy named John Elway.
Voters that year turned down a bond issue to build an all-purpose metropolitan stadium, which just reeks of artificial turf and a lack of character. Little did those voters know that the place they were keeping would become one of the NFL's great temples.
With capacity of just under 35,000 for football, a nonprofit group bought Bears Stadium for $1.8 million, presented a plan to the city of Denver, and a 16,000-seat upper deck was added in time for the 1968 season. Later that year, the place was officially renamed Mile High.
Renovations continued to push the capacity higher. Seventy-five thousand by 1978. And in 1986, the addition of the Penthouse Suites put Mile High at its current 76,098 - or 67 seats less than the new stadium will have.
But renovations can only stave off time and weather and the need for new luxury suites for so long. Even the players, the ones for whom Mile High holds the most memories, realize the need for an upgraded facility.
"I think it's about time," said former Broncos linebacker Karl Mecklenburg. "As a player . . . it was fine, but since I've retired and started going as a fan, you realize that it's run down.
"You go to Coors Field (home of baseball's Rockies) or the Pepsi Center (home of hockey's Avalanche and basketball's Nuggets) or one of the nice venues and you see what's missing."
Said Thompson, "Our fans really deserve it. They are, without a doubt, the one constant thing about this franchise. The fans have always been there for the Broncos."
Attendance has topped the half-million mark in every non-strike season since 1977.
The Broncos have sold out the place for 249 consecutive games, including the playoffs. That's every game since 1970. And a far cry from the first home game in franchise history, when Denver topped the Oakland Raiders 31-14 in front of just 18,372 on Oct. 2, 1960.
The game marked not only the start of football in Denver, but also the beginning of the Raiders-Broncos rivalry. The teams -- bitter rivals from their AFL days through the current Mike Shanahan-Al Davis war -- have, appropriately, played some of the most important and memorable games in Mile High history.
The Broncos played 22 Monday night games in Denver, but it's the ones against the Raiders that stand out.
There was the first Monday night game in Denver on Oct. 22, 1973, when the Broncos tied the Raiders 23-23 on a last-second field goal by Jim Turner, and then the last Monday nighter in November when Denver completed a sweep of the Raiders, 27-24, on a gutsy performance by an injured Brian Griese.
And so many memorable Monday nighters in between. In 1999, Denver beat Oakland 27-21 in overtime in a game that will forever be remembered for a snowball fight at the end of the game when Raiders tackle Lincoln Kennedy went into the stands.
Or when Shanahan's Raiders in 1988 -- his first season -- fell behind 24-0 in the first half before rallying for a 30-27 overtime win.
Or how about when in Shanahan's first game with the Broncos against the Raiders, Denver crushed Oakland 27-0 and Elway passed Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas to become the fourth-most prolific passer in NFL history.
But the game that stands out for Thompson came way before Shanahan and Elway.
On Jan. 1, 1978 -- in the AFC Championship Game -- the Broncos edged the then-defending champion Raiders, 20-17, to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl. That game, Thompson says, changed the Broncos' fortunes.
"Until that time I thought the only two teams in the AFC West were Kansas City and the Raiders,' said Thompson. "That game proved to the league and to those two teams especially that they had to respect the Broncos."
Denver would reach five more Super Bowls in the 22 years that followed -- winning two.
Four of those five trips would march through Mile High. The most memorable was "The Fumble" game in 1987, when Cleveland's Earnest Byner's late fourth-quarter fumble gave the Broncos a second-straight AFC title.
Throw in a 1989 pasting of Cleveland, a 1997 beating of Pittsburgh and a 1998 waxing of the Jets and that makes Denver a perfect 5-0 in the most important games ever played at Mile High.
Yes, it's safe to say that Mile High has given the Broncos some home-field advantage over the years (200-112-7 since 1960 and 180-71-5 after the renaming in 1969 going into Saturday's final regular season game vs. San Francisco).
But don't try selling the Mile High mystique -- at least not to Mecklenburg, who ranks second in Broncos annals with 79 career sacks.
"The fans, the team, the weather, the altitude gave us a home-field advantage; not the field," he said.
And none of that should change. The new stadium -- whatever they decide to call it -- is right next door.