Before Sunday’s Broncos game Robert Garner hosted his usual tailgate alongside a signature orange firetruck and fellow diehard fans in Lot C at Sports Authority Field. Sunshine, smoke from the grill and an impromptu appearance from Ring of Famer Karl Mecklenburg created feel-good vibes that contrasted with the tumult within the franchise.
Garner glad-handed and back-patted other Broncos fans who strolled by, offering them free food and drink. He did this knowing full well that inside the stadium, the atmosphere would likely be markedly different.
“This year, especially in the last few weeks, it’s become way harder to sell my extra season tickets,” Garner said. “People don’t want to buy them — I can barely give them away — and that’s really disappointing. In some cases, I just have to take a loss on them, and looking around at how the attendance and energy is down, I know I’m not the only one.”
The Broncos — who had dropped eight games in a row before Sunday — finally delivered for the home crowd in a decisive 23-0 win over the Jets.
But even a strong showing on a sun-splashed 60-degree day couldn’t erase the evidence that some in Broncos Country had long checked out. The team extended its league-best sellout streak to 394 games, but there were also 5,186 unused tickets Sunday — a mass of no-shows that superfan Ken Castaneda, a season-ticket holder since 1995, believes is directly tied to team performance.
“Inside the stadium, the fans have lost interest, and it’s been really ugly to watch even in some of the wins,” Castaneda said. “The fans aren’t getting into it because there’s not a lot to get into — there’s a whole lot of sitting, and not much standing and yelling, and then some aren’t wanting to come back.”
As late as Saturday, half-price offers for Sunday were being made on the NFL Ticket Exchange starting at about $40 — an indication of the unusual affordability of Broncos tickets on the secondhand market, which opened up the Jets game to a faction of fans who usually deem the NFL experience too expensive.
“From the start of the season to right now, the Broncos listing prices on our site are down about 40 percent,” said Jack Slingland, Director of Client Relations for the online ticket marketplace TickPick. “And if we were to look back dating to 2014, around the first week of December, the average listing price is down about 36 percent compared to that four-year average.”
The Peyton Manning era, from 2012-15, marked a high point in Broncos ticket prices, both online and on the street.
“During the Manning years, the average I’d get for a ticket was about $750,” said Ken Romero, who’s been scalping Broncos tickets for almost 40 years. “In the second half of this year, a good day for me is $300 for an average ticket. But that also means more people can take their family out to the game.”
Denver’s one remaining home game, Dec. 31 against division leader Kansas City, provides a final chance for fans to see their team for a below-market price before the return of the city’s orange-tinted fervor next fall — and the high prices that come with a new season and high expectations.
“In each professional season, and especially in the NFL, you’ll see a bit of a reset each year,” Slingland said. “Fan expectations do come into play, and if the Broncos still have a good defense and they end up bringing in a more capable QB, they’ll again be in the top five or so in the league as far as ticket prices go.”
