Building a new stadium for the Denver Broncos instead of renovating Empower Field will give the team more flexibility to expand the price points it offers for tickets, the team’s president said.

“Right now, we have a pretty limited menu of options,” said Damani Leech, Bronco’s president in one of his first public appearances since the team announced it wants to move its stadium to Burnham Yard.

Leech, who began running the team in 2022, was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting hosted by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, giving a deeper insight into what the NFL team’s leadership have in mind for a new stadium.

“It’s GA (general assignment) tickets, it’s club seats and suites. And that’s about it,” Leech said about the options at Empower Field. “They’re kind of all pretty homogenous.”

He said Broncos tried to diversify its price points in the past few years but were limited due to the design of the stadium built in 2001.

There’s an incredibly long waitlist of more than 100,000 people for season tickets, with a 98% renewal rate, which makes some people wait 15 or 25 years to get in front of the line.

The Broncos use price adjustments based on demand and fan experience, down to each seat. Most season ticket prices went up 8% ahead of the 2025 season, said Broncos senior vice president of strategy and business intelligence Jesse Nading in February.

Last year, the team debuted the Club 1977 suite, a luxury package that includes concert access, VIP parking and all-inclusive food and beverage. And Leech said there’s been a market for this new package but they have limited seats for it.

A new stadium would be a “blank canvas,” Leech said.

“​​New stadiums allow you to build spaces that cater to that and have a much more diverse menu offering,” he explained.

After months of speculation, the Broncos announced it chose the historic Burnham Yard in Denver as its “preferred site” for a new stadium to be built by the 2031 NFL season. The rail yard located south of Colfax Avenue and east of Interstate 25 is currently owned by the state, as officials have spent the last year cleaning up the 58-acre and environmentally-contaminated site for a potential sale.

The Broncos said they plan to build “a world-class retractable roof stadium” with natural grass surrounded by a mixed-use district filled with housing, retail, restaurants and more.

It will be privately funded, without any taxes or contributions from the city’s general fund.

The new stadium could attract more superstar concerts and help the city win the most coveted football event of the year: The Super Bowl.

The Broncos have yet to decide on whether they will require personal seat licenses — which is not a ticket but a one-time fee giving the right to buy a season ticket — as a growing number of NFL teams have been doing, Leech told 9News on Tuesday.

Mayor Mike Johnston came up during Leech’s keynote to highlight how it’s becoming rarer for NFL teams to stay in the city that bears their team name as some teams have gone out to surrounding suburbs.

“​​The Dallas Cowboys are no longer in Dallas. The San Francisco 49ers are no longer in San Francisco, the Cleveland Browns will no longer be Cleveland. 
The Chicago Bears will no longer be in Chicago,” Johnston said.

Meanwhile, he stressed, the Denver Broncos are staying in Denver.

With Burnham Yard and the current Mile High land that is owned by the city, he said there is about 180 acres of real estate available for new developments and affordable housing projects.

“​​That’s why you should have faith that Denver and the Broncos will be a unified front for the next 50 years, and that’s the greatest gift you can give to a city,” Johnston said.

Leech said the team has been talking with the mayor about how to use Burnham Yard and the new stadium for uses other than Broncos games.

One idea could be a brand-new event that would be a major tourism draw to the area.

“What can we own outside the Broncos?,” Leech said “What can we create as sort of an annual event that really is unique to Denver, unique to Colorado, that people around the country think about?”

And what will that event be? Maybe a Broncos-equivalent of the National Western Stock Show or the Outside Festival?

Well, the concept is still up in the air, he said.