DENVER IS ONE OF ONLY A DOZEN U.S. cities that host all four of the big professional sports teams. This translates into a great core of prime venues: the Denver Broncos (football) play at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Colorado Avalanche (hockey) and Denver Nuggets (basketball) at Pepsi Center, and Colorado Rockies (baseball) at Coors Field.
There are other professional teams such as soccer, lacrosse, arena football and more. Since these teams don’t play in their home facilities year-round, groups can rent out a portion of a ballpark or football field for incredible meetings and events. Also consider the options in Colorado Springs, home to the U.S. Olympic Training Center. For groups of 10 to 100,000, check out the range of options in these cities and beyond.
DENVER METRO
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Sports Authority Field at Mile High
Is there anything more memorable than a quarterback throwing the football in a blizzard of white powder on Monday Night Football in Denver? Your employees and guests can experience the same spot that also hosted the 2008 Democratic National Convention’s closing ceremonies. The 1.8- million-square-foot stadium has more than 200,000 square feet of interior event space, including oodles of club-level spaces, suites, conference rooms, boardrooms, etc. to choose from.
“We really enjoy hosting our events here, which have included everything from our Hall of Fame Dinner for 550 people in March to numerous events for meeting planners throughout the year,” notes Rich Grant, director of communications, VISIT DENVER. “We’ve done everything from locker room tours to elegant events in the club lounges overlooking the city lights to fun events putting people on the playing field and on the scoreboard.”
The spacious Pepsi Center is the site of professional basketball, hockey and lacrosse, and also hosted the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The state-of-the art facility offers a 24,000-square-foot arena floor with additional spaces for meetings, banquets, trade shows, receptions, holiday parties, galas and more for groups of up to 18,000. The Pepsi Center can host events on the NBA court and NHL ice, and its newly installed center-hung video board is the largest in any U.S. indoor arena.
“We have done numerous events at the Pepsi Center for our Key Bank branch manager meetings and sales rallies,” explains Kathi Cacy, administrative assistant for Key Bank. “We’ve done Avalanche Tours and even had the Pepsi Center make a video for us. Our employees just keep wanting to come back.”
The 18,000-seat soccer-built stadium in Commerce City hosts it all: motorcycle training, dog shows and even the World Lacrosse Championships. The 66-acre park can hold 100,000 people when combining the arena, parking areas and all other possible configurations. The stadium, Western and Eastern Concourses, Eighteen76 restaurant, standard suites and soccer fields pair into endless breakout scenarios, meeting rooms and more.
Coors Field receives some creative requests for its 100,000 square feet of party space at the ballpark, from cocktail parties at the Warning Track and visiting the Coors Clubhouse to large corporate meetings, trade shows and receptions at the Super Suite Conference Center and luncheons and dinners on the main concourse. One group even rented out the space for their 8,000-person association event. They had everyone come down onto the field and pose in photography scenes that were set up such as rafting down a river, rock climbing a canyon wall, fly-fishing and more. It was hugely successful and the photos on the field were a great takeaway for guests.
COLORADO SPRINGS
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Fresh after the 2014 Winter Olympics, what better venue to host an inspiring event than the training facility for U.S. Olympians? From corporate dinners with Olympic demonstrations and a black tie gala to actual team-building competitions and obstacle courses, the 18,000 square feet of flexible space provide multiple options.
With more than 180,000 square feet, the arena is the city’s largest function space in a nonlodging facility and hosts anything from basketball to hockey. Opened in 1998, there is an Ice Hall with an Olympic and NHL-size ice rink. As graceful as this venue can be, it’s also rustic when hosting rodeos. With on-site catering, breakout rooms, stages and sound, this facility can handle anything from raging bulls to crowds of 10,000.
Home to motocross and BMX races and rodeos, this space is versatile. The outdoor stadium was originally constructed in 1938, and the property stretches to more than 72 acres. The indoor arena is 50,000 square feet and can be set up with bleachers to accommodate 500, and the 6,000-square-foot banquet room can host up to 400. The outdoor Penrose Stadium holds 6,000.
“One particular construction company continually books the space and conducts a Skype conference for their international affiliates since we are able to accommodate all of their employees. It’s pretty cool,” explains General Manager Johnny Walker. “Right after we tear down a monster truck event, we might be setting up for a private rodeo. We can get a group of 500 to 6,000 guests and provide the real deal-professional barrel men, clowns, bull riders, bareback riders, even the announcer.”
Pikes Peak International Raceway
Speedway experiences coupled with 15,140 square feet of meeting space provide a surreal setting for up to 40,000 guests. “Our day with Bob Bondurant Performance Driving at Pikes Peak International Raceway presented a fresh approach to team-building, and the acceleration factor was a perfect match to our corporate focus of accelerating revenue and growth,” notes Linda Brock, director of strategic development, national accounts for Philips, a health care provider based in Texas. “My team mem-bers learned what it was like being the leader and having to follow the leader.”
Hosting in excess of 500 hospitality events and 1,000 group events a year, the stadium has capacity for 8,500 with luxury suites, a 500-person picnic terrace and 200-person banquet hall and standing room for about 1,000. Security Service Field is home to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the AAA top affiliate of  the Colorado Rockies, and has on-site catering, A/V, VIP space and more.
“We just hosted our 1,000-person company picnic at the stadium,” explains Jessica Isensee, administrative assistant for T. Rowe Price. “We picked a nongame day in September and brought in all the employees and families. We had food, bounce houses, inflatable hamster balls, kickball games, etc. But, the employees’ favorite attraction was our private fireworks show that was synchronized to music (Star Wars-themed) on the stadium speakers. It’s not even three months out and people are asking when we are going back.”
With a plethora of options, Denver and Colorado Springs have a wide range of venues offering a winning formula for groups.
