After the Denver Broncos were acquired by a new ownership group led by Rob Walton, the club brought in Damani Leech to serve as the new team president.
The first order of business for the new ownership group was approving a five-year contract extension for quarterback Russell Wilson. After that, the next big items on deck for the team’s front office are the status of the stadium and Denver’s uniforms.
As team president, Leech will be heavily involved in the business and marketing side of the team, including uniform decisions. Leech was asked about the possibility of new uniforms during his introductory press conference last week.
“If there is a theme across our 32 [teams] — and you hear this across sports, not just football — is there is a tendency for clubs to do things the same way,” Leech said. “The organizations who have been really successful from a business standpoint have had a growth mindset and an innovation mindset. Have zigged when others have zagged. [It] doesn’t always work, but definitely take chances to try to connect with fans in new and unique ways and that’s always. That’s no more important now than it’s ever been with all the different opportunities that fans have for entertainment, not just sports entertainment.
“I definitely have that approach and that mindset to it. I think uniforms is a good example of that, where you have to try to balance history and tradition and three Super Bowls wearing this uniform, but also understanding that tastes evolve, your customer evolves, connecting with fans and representing your brand in the best way is important to do. Again, no proclamations on Day 1, but it is also one of those things I certainly will be looking at.”
It’s too late for the Broncos to make any big uniform changes for 2022 and it’s probably also unlikely for 2023, but a potential refresh (or maybe even a full redesign) could be in store for the 2024 season.
Leech was also asked about the team’s stadium and he echoed what the new ownership group has already said: it’s too early to talk about a new stadium.
“First of all, Empower Field at Mile High is a first-class facility,” Leech said. “It not only hosts amazing NFL games, but concerts and other events and it is a core part of this community. There are a number of things that I will be looking at as I take over in this organization, obviously the stadium is one of them. On Day 1, I don’t have any proclamations to make, but it is certainly something that I will be evaluating.”
So while fans shouldn’t necessarily expect any big announcements any time soon, it’s clear that the stadium and uniforms are topics that the new front office plans to discuss in the coming months.
There’s a lot of new for the Broncos this year — a new owner, a new head coach and a new quarterback. More notable changes could eventually be on the way, just not before the 2022 season.
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