{"id":815436,"date":"2026-08-19T04:27:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/815436\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T04:27:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:27:25","slug":"broncos-fans-raise-tailgating-concerns-over-new-stadium-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/815436\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos fans raise tailgating concerns over new stadium plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 A Denver Broncos superfan is raising concerns about tailgating and parking after renderings were released earlier this month<\/a> showing redevelopment plans for Burnham Yard, where the Broncos plan to build their new stadium.<\/p>\n

Elias Balderrama \u2014 better known in the tailgating world as “Bronco Libre” \u2014 has been a season ticket holder since 2011.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc8 WATCH: Broncos fans raise tailgating concerns over new stadium plans<\/p>\n

Denver Broncos fans raise tailgating, parking concerns over new Burnham Yard stadium renderings<\/p>\n

Lot C outside Empower Field is like a second home to him on Broncos game days.<\/p>\n

“The tailgating itself is the ambiance of being out there, being able to start the party before the team gets out there and starts cheering,” Balderrama said.<\/p>\n

Securing a spot isn’t easy.<\/p>\n

“I put in the permit to get an actual pass every year, and they’re always sold out. I have to get there super early, and they have a limited number of actual cash spots available,” Balderrama said.<\/p>\n

When the Burnham Yard renderings were released, Balderrama began scouting potential tailgating lots \u2014 and didn’t like what he saw.<\/p>\n

“The way that they show the rendering right now, and the way they have that set up, that, like, throws the vibes away,” Balderrama said.<\/p>\n

Balderrama isn’t the only one with concerns. Community members voiced similar issues during last week’s public open house, hosted by the Broncos and Denver officials.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Denver<\/p>\n

Denver neighbors voice concerns over Broncos’ Burnham Yard stadium plans<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“Some of our demands is a good parking plan, a traffic flow,” Helen Giron of the La Alma Neighborhood Association said.<\/p>\n

The renderings show<\/a> interim parking as part of Phase 1. As construction continues and buildings are added, structured parking will be integrated into those structures.<\/p>\n

Denver7 tried for a week to schedule an interview with the Broncos to learn more, but was repeatedly told they couldn’t accommodate the request.<\/p>\n

Broncos President Damani Leech has previously said<\/a> that when the final phase is complete, there will be more than 1,000 surface area parking spaces for tailgating.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

Broncos still targeting 2031 stadium opening at Burnham Yard, Penner says<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether that will be enough for fans like Bronco Libre remains to be seen \u2014 but Balderrama isn’t going anywhere.<\/p>\n

“Yes, absolutely,” Balderrama said, when asked if he’d be at the games regardless of the parking situation.<\/p>\n

“We’ll make it happen one way or another,” Balderrama said.<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Coloradans making a difference | Denver7 featured videos<\/p>\n

Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what’s right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 A Denver Broncos superfan is raising concerns about tailgating and parking after renderings were released earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,97641,45819,97642,20283,36629,6313,301,97643,97644,187,3943,89654,97645,6,302],"class_list":["post-815436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-basketball","tag-bronco-libre","tag-broncos-new-stadium","tag-broncos-parking","tag-broncos-stadium","tag-burnham-yard","tag-damani-leech","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos-stadium-plans","tag-denver-broncos-tailgating","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-empower-field","tag-la-alma-neighborhood","tag-nba","tag-nuggets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117120286369257318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}