DENVER — While many people are celebrating plans for a new Broncos stadium, others are wondering what it will mean for taxpayers. An economics expert who researches how sports facilities are financed is skeptical about some of the claims that have been made.
The Broncos team ownership group, along with Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, say the new stadium will be "privately funded" with "no new taxes."
University of Colorado professor Geoffrey Propheter is a self-identified sports fan and an expert in economics and public finance, having conducted extensive research on the financing of sports arenas and stadiums across the country.
“I collect data on things like leases and lawmaker voting and subsidies and things of that nature, and I've been doing that now for a couple of decades,” said Propheter. “I listen for very specific words when I'm hearing any lawmaker or any team owner or league official or whoever talks about new facilities.”
When it comes to the new Broncos stadium at Burnham Yards, he’d like to see more details.
“There's not a lot of details yet,” he said.
While the official announcement said the team ownership group will privately fund the purchase of the land and pay for the construction, Propheter said there's still a big unknown.
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“The press release suggests the plan is for the team to own the land, but I'm not going to believe that until I see the actual land use agreements,” said Propheter.
He says if it's like SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, in which the team owners, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, own the stadium and the land, it's good news for taxpayers.
"If it turns out to be like that, then there would still be public costs involved in that, and government involvement in that, but it would be much less, much less,” said Propheter.
He says if the team buys the land and turns it over to an exempt entity at some point in the future, taxpayers would be responsible for more of the costs.
Under that scenario, he says taxpayers could lose out on tax revenue, as the taxes paid by the team would go back to benefit the team instead of being used for other city services.
He believes that could happen with the new Broncos stadium.
"I suspect it will be similar to a Ball Arena situation where DURA, the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, will ultimately have ownership of land, and they're not going to have ownership of the stadium,” said Propheter. “I believe that the stadium will remain private, but I don't think the land will remain private. But figuring out that is going to be something I'm going to be monitoring and tracking.”
He also questions some of the language used in the official announcement, like the promise of “no new taxes.” He says that phrase can have a lot of meanings to different people.
“If you define ‘no new tax dollars’ as only cash, then you are intentionally excluding the value of tax breaks, and that would include any property tax breaks or any of these sales and use tax exemptions,” he said. “When I hear certain phrases or certain words, I know that people use those words differently than their plain language meaning. And as an academic, we dig and we dig and we dig to try to figure out where the misleading part is coming from.”
Another way taxpayers could indirectly support the new stadium is if Denver voters approve $140 million in road infrastructure improvements near Burnham Yard as part of Vibrant Denver bond project in November. The city says the road improvements are long overdue.
Propheter questions the timing.
"If it's such a need, how come someone waited for the Broncos to be the reason for that area to get infrastructure attention?" asked Propheter.
During a July city council meeting, Patrick Riley, the program manager for Vibrant Denver, spoke candidly in addressing some concerns people raised about the timing.
“It is impossible to ignore the Broncos as a thing in Denver,” Riley said. “So telling you that there’s no weight there, or that there’s no consideration there, would be insulting to everybody at this table.”
