Following the liquidation of the chain in the fall of 2016, the Denver Broncos on Tuesday announced plans to remove the Sports Authority signage on the outside of the team’s stadium in coming weeks.
“All of the exterior signage will come down here starting probably in a week or 10 days, I think,” president and CEO Joe Ellis said in his season-ending press conference, according to a news story on the Denver Broncos website.
The stadium, commonly known as Mile High or Mile High Stadium, originally opened in 2001 with Invesco paying for the naming rights. Sports Authority secured the naming rights on August 2011.
In June 2016, Dick’s Sporting Goods paid $15 million for Sports Authority’s name as well as additional intellectual property, in bankruptcy proceedings. The intellectual property included customer data that was seen as more valuable.
The naming rights for the Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver were not included in the intellectual property assets acquired by Dick’s. An attempt to sell the naming rights around the same time failed to attract bidders and the Denver Broncos agreed to acquire the naming rights by early August.
According to the article on denverbroncos.com, “The Sports Authority Field at Mile High” will remain the stadium’s name “for a while” because of preexisting events that are tied to the name.
“We have some placeholder events both inside the building and then in the bowl itself, some concerts and stuff,” Ellis said. “There’s a connection to that name whether it’s through ticketing or event management. I suspect by the start of the season we will either have a placeholder name or a name on the building that involves a corporation supporting that name.”
Denver-based The Sports Authority filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2016.
Photo courtesy Denver Broncos
