Can a new building push the Broncos over the top?

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On one level, the Broncos’ new headquarters building at Broncos Park Powered By CommonSpirit is just that: a building. It’s concrete and drywall, native stone and an HVAC system — all the things that go into a new construction like the one that is still receiving some finishing, cosmetic touches as Broncos veterans reported for training camp Tuesday.
But it was designed with player comfort and efficiency in mind.

Comfort: as in a locker room that should no longer be rated among the league’s worst in the annual NFLPA survey. Last year, the Broncos got a “D.” And efficiency, shown by the fact that players no longer need to go outside and cross a parking lot in order to traverse from the locker room to the weight room.

“Yeah, I’ve already noticed how much closer everything is,” right guard Quinn Meinerz said.

“In the previous building, weight room, you have to walk. I mean, it sounds so spoiled, but, you know, you have to walk a little bit to go to the weight room. And right now the weight room is connected to the locker room pretty much. So, everything is so close.”

It’s not a matter of laziness. It’s just efficiency. Replacing a two-minute walk with one that is over in a 15-second commercial.

“Those little minutes of time do add up throughout the day,” Meinerz said. “So it’ll be nice to just have a really good flow of traffic and everything.

BRONCOS LOCKER ROOM IS A GAME-CHANGER

The locker room is unlike anything seen by the Broncos before. At the old building, the team had the smallest everyday-use locker room in the NFL. Based on pictures shared by the Broncos, this one comes complete with seating and social areas, while each stall itself is massive and features a far more comfortable spot to sit down.

“The locker room is crazy,” cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “It’s quite unique, too. It just gives a different feel, a different vibe. It’s like we’re leaving that in the past and we’re entering a new state, a new year. I think it’s well deserved for us as players with the amount of work we put in, too. Everything’s starting to come together with the facility, and I’m looking forward to building with the guys and being able to be in this building. It’s quite special.”

And somehow, it was better than players thought it could be.

“My expectations were high, and it definitely exceeded my expectations,” Surtain added. “I don’t think there’s anything like this in the league. I mean, it’s state of the art. Very nice facilities, everything. It seems like when you look at it, obviously you look at the locker rooms, the facilities, it just seemed like it was meant to be. They put it in the right spot, in the right position with this team. So it’s great that we have this at our disposal.”

Whether it translates to more success is debatable — at least for this year. But in future years, it could be a tiebreaking factor if a player is considering the Broncos or another team with a day-to-day home that doesn’t quite meet the standard of one with necessary facilities in the most convenient spot and underground parking.

“When I get done with practice, my truck’s not going to be 150 degrees,” Meinerz said. “That’s a nice little thing.”

And in the NFL, it’s often the accumulation of little things that add up to massive success.

Teams have a limit on how much they can spend on the roster, thanks to the salary cap — although there are ways to manipulate it, eventually the cap comes for every team. But there’s no ceiling on what the Walton-Penner Group can invest in things to help the roster.

And now, the Broncos have a world-class facility.

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