Sports in Denver

The city of Denver and the wider Denver metropolitan area is home to many sports teams.

Denver's pro sports teams are illustrated in this building mural in 1995, just before the Avalanche of the NHL began play.

Table

The following table shows sports teams in the Denver metropolitan area that average more than 12,000 fans per game:

Club Sport League Venue Capacity Attendance Titles Since
Denver Broncos Football NFL Mile High 76,125 76,939 3 (1998, 1999, 2016) 1960
Colorado Buffaloes Football NCAA D1 Folsom Field (Boulder) 53,600 37,778 1 (1990) 1890
Colorado Rockies Baseball MLB Coors Field 50,398 31,334 0 1993
Colorado Avalanche Ice hockey NHL Pepsi Center 18,007 16,176 2 (1996, 2001) 1995
Colorado Rapids Soccer MLS Dick's Sporting Goods Park 18,061 15,657 1 (2010) 1996
Denver Nuggets Basketball NBA Pepsi Center 19,115 14,700 0 1967

Major league professional teams

Denver is one of 12 U.S. cities with teams from four major sports.

The Denver Broncos of the National Football League have drawn crowds of over 70,000 since their AFL origins in the early 1960s at Mile High Stadium, and continue to draw fans today to their current home Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Broncos have sold out every home game (except for strike-replacement games) since 1970. The Broncos are the current Super Bowl champions, winning Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers. In total, the Broncos have advanced to the Super Bowl eight times and won back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999, and again in 2015.

In the 1980s and 90s, one of the top priorities of former Mayor Federico Peña was bringing Major League Baseball to the city. In 1993, the MLB awarded an expansion team to Denver and they were named the Colorado Rockies. Mile High Stadium was home to the Rockies from 1993 to 1995 while Coors Field was under construction. They appeared in their first World Series in 2007 after winning the championship of the National League, where they were swept by the Boston Red Sox of the American League in four games.

The Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) play at the Pepsi Center. The team was founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA) but changed its name to the Denver Rockets before the first season. They changed its name to the Denver Nuggets in 1974. The team joined the NBA in 1976 after the ABA-NBA merger. It has not made an appearance in an NBA Finals since joining the NBA.

Denver is home to the Colorado Avalanche, a National Hockey League (NHL) team that relocated from Quebec City in 1995. They have won two Stanley Cups in 1996 and in 2001 while playing in Denver, and they also play at Pepsi Center. The Avalanche are scheduled to play the Detroit Red Wings in the first ever outdoor professional hockey game in Denver on Saturday, February 27 at Coors Field.[1]

The Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer play at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, a soccer-specific stadium in the Denver suburb of Commerce City. The Rapids were one of the ten founding teams of Major League Soccer that began play in 1996, and initially played at what was then known as Invesco Field at Mile High before moving into their current home in 2007. The Rapids won the MLS Cup in 2010. The Rapids' main rival is the Real Salt Lake, and the two teams play every year for the Rocky Mountain Cup. Dick's Sporting Goods Park has also hosted several international soccer matches, including U.S. national team qualifying matches for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

Other professional teams

Team League Venue
Colorado Mammoth National Lacrosse League Pepsi Center
Denver Outlaws Major League Lacrosse Mile High
Denver Stampede PRO Rugby CIBER Field

Notes:

Furniture Row Racing is a NASCAR team and fields the #78 Chevrolet SS for Martin Truex, Jr. The team is owned and sponsored by the U.S. furniture store chain Furniture Row, and is the only NASCAR team headquartered in Colorado.

College sports teams

Amateur club teams

Team League Venue
Denver Barbarians Pacific Rugby Premiership Infinity Park
Glendale Raptors Pacific Rugby Premiership Infinity Park
Denver Dynamite Premier Arena Soccer League Miller Activities Center
Denver Bulldogs U.S. Australian Football League Veterans Park

Notes:

Event hosting

Detailed information by team

Club League Venue Championship Since
Division Conference League
Denver Broncos AFL (1960–1969)

NFL(1970–present)

Mile High Stadium 1960-2000

Sports Authority Field at Mile High (2001–present)

AFL 0

NFL 15

AFL 0

NFL 8

AFL 0

NFL 3

1960
Denver Nuggets ABA (1967–1976)

NBA (1976–present)

Denver Coliseum (1967–1975)

McNichols Sports Arena (1975–1999)

Pepsi Center (1999–present)

ABA 3

NBA 7

ABA 1

NBA 0

ABA 0

NBA 0

1967
Colorado Rockies MLB (NL) Mile High Stadium (1993–1994)

Coors Field (1995–present)

0 N/A 0 1993
Colorado Avalanche NHL McNichols Sports Arena (1995–1999)

Pepsi Center (1999–present)

8 2 2 1995
Colorado Rapids MLS Mile High Stadium (1996–2001)

INVESCO Field at Mile High (2002–2006)

Dick's Sporting Goods Park (2007–present)

0 2 1 1996
Denver Dynamite PASL-Pro (2008-2010)

PASL-Premier

Denver Sports Center (2008–2010)

Westridge Recreation Center (2010-2011)

Apex Field House (2012–present)

0 0 0 2008
Colorado Mammoth NLL Pepsi Center(2003–present) 3 1 1 2003
Denver Outlaws MLL Sports Authority Field at Mile High (2006–present) 3 3 1 2006
Denver Pioneers NCAADivision I University of Denver Arena (1948–1998)

Magness Arena (1999–present)

Hockey 9 Hockey
Tournament
Championship 13

Final Frozen Four 14

29 NCAA
Championships
total

Hockey 7
Men's lacrosse 1
Skiing 21

Glendale Raptors Pacific Rugby Permiership Infinity Park (2007–present) Men's Team 1

Women's Team 2

2007
Denver Bulldogs USAFL Veterans Park (1999–present) Men's Team 7

Women's Team 4

1999
Denver Wolverines USARL 0 0 0 2010

Past teams

Mile High Stadium was Invesco Field's predecessor.

References

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