Crews start to remove signs from Sports Authority at Mile High exterior

Crews began dismantling the signage on the exterior of Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Monday, following up Denver Broncos president and CEO Joe Ellis’ remarks the deconstruction would happen within the first days of the new year.

During the club’s end-of-season press conference on Jan. 2, Ellis said the exterior signage would start to be removed within 10 days, though the name would have to stay in place for the moment due to upcoming events at the stadium, including concerts and other functions.

“There is just some connection to that name whether it’s through ticketing, event management or things like that,” Ellis said.

Ellis said, however, that he hopes a naming-rights deal will be in place by the start of the season, or at the very least a placeholder name will be utilized.

“I suspect by the start of the season we’ll either have a placeholder name or a name on the building that involves a corporation supporting that name. That is an important part to our capital funding moving forward,” Ellis said. “I’ve talked to (the media) at length about some of the needs there, and they are extensive.

“We have, I think, 13 seasons left on our lease, and I’d like to wrap up the naming rights deal and then extend that because the Broncos aren’t going anywhere.”

The Englewood-based retailer filed for bankruptcy in May of 2016, with most or all of its stores shuttering by the end of that summer.

The Broncos, however, played the 2016 and 2017 seasons under the signage of the now-defunct company with Ellis saying the official name would remain “Sports Authority Field at Mile High.”

During the club’s preseason press conference ahead of training camp this season, Ellis said the prediction that a naming-rights deal would have been in place by that point was incorrect and “a little disappointed.”

“Some are quicker than the timetable we’ve been on. I’m looking forward to getting a deal done, but it has to be the right deal and we’ve had discussions and we have a few more coming up — I’m not going to reveal who they’re with. It has to be the right partner, and there’s a lot of different components to it,” Ellis said in July. “There’s not only what happens around the stadium and in the stadium but possible development issues around there that we’ve talked about doing some stuff around the stadium that the city is interested in doing.

“We’re taking our time, I know that’s frustrating to some of you and some of the fans because the name on the building is not well accepted perhaps. I’m not just going to re-brand it one time and then brand it back, we’re not going to do that. If we’re going to spend money to do those kinds of things, or take the time, we’re going to do it to make the game day experience better for the fans.”