Denver Sporting Venues and Transit

1
Denver Sporting Venues and Transit

• A snapshot of Denvers sporting venues and their
  relationship to transit

2
Birds Eye View of Denvers Sporting Venues
INVESCO Field at Mile High
Pepsi Center
16th Street Mall
Coors Field
Colorado Convention Center Expansion
3
Denver Sports Teams History Colorado Rockies

• April 1990 - Legislature passed Denver
  Metropolitan MLB Baseball Stadium District,
  allowing residents in six-county region to vote
  on a tax increase to finance a new stadium
• August 1990 - Voters approve a 0.1 sales tax to
  finance new baseball stadium, if MLB awards a
  franchise
• March 1991 - Baseball Stadium District formally
  chooses site for new stadium at 20th and Blake
  St.
• July 1991 - MLB Approved Rockies Franchise
• April 1993 - Colorado Rockies Begin Play at Mile
  High Stadium
• April 1995 - Coors Field Opened
• Capacity 50,445 (w/Rockpile)
• Parking Spaces 4,500 surface

4
Denver Sports Teams History Denver Nuggets
Colorado Avalanche

• 1967-1974 - Denver Rockets in ABA
• 1974 - Denver Nuggets join NBA
• 1975 - Opening of McNichols Sports Arena
• 1995 - Quebec Nordiques move and become Colorado
  Avalanche
• 1997 Ascent Entertainment breaks ground on
  Pepsi Center (tax-increment financing, no voter
  approval)
• 1999 - Closing/Demolition of McNichols
• 1999 - Opening of Pepsi Center
• Capacity 19,309 (NBA)
• 18,007 (NHL)
• Parking Spaces 6,250 surface

5
Denver Sports Teams History Denver Broncos

• 1960 - 2001 Broncos at Mile High
• 1996 - Legislature passed Stadium Act, creating
  Metropolitan Football Stadium District (MFDS),
  allowing residents in six-county region to vote
  on a tax increase to finance a new stadium
• 1997 - MFSD site selection committee chooses the
  Sports Complex site where Mile High Stadium
  stands.
• 1998 - Voters approve 0.1 sales tax to finance
  new stadium (57)
• 1999 - Break Ground on INVESCO Field at Mile High
• 2001 - Opening of INVESCO Field
• Capacity 76,125
• Parking Spaces 6,800
• 2001 - Demolition of Mile High

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Traffic then Transit Public Improvements and
the Addition of Transit Service to Venues

• Coors Field (opened 1995)
• City built new off-ramps, bridges to service the
  primary source of traffic (from Southeast)
• 20th Street
• 23rd Street
• HOV lane added to I-25 northbound for exiting
  traffic
• The addition of transit
• Teams and nearby stakeholders willing to
  pay/contribute (CPV spur)
• Made the Citys investments in traffic more
  effective
• Added to the teams fan bases and popularity
  through making it easy and convenient for people
  to ride transit and get to and from sporting
  events (convenience factor)
• Increased popularity of transit service itself
  (through positive experiences)

7
Denver Metro Region RTD District

• Service Area
• 2.6 million people
• 2.331 square miles
• Cities/towns served
• 40 municipalities, 6 counties, plus 2 city/county
  jurisdictions
• Average weekday boardings 313,590 total

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Downtown Population and Transit Ridership

• Approximately 110,000 people work in the
  downtown core (Central Business District)
• An estimated 10,000 residents live downtown in
  the Central Business District, Lower Downtown and
  the Central Platte Valley
• Within a 1.5-mile radius of downtown, there are
  approx. 63,000 residents
• 40 of people commute downtown for work ride
  transit
• Average in/out of Downtown per day via transit
  (bus/rail) 45,000 approx.
• Average daily boardings
• 16th Street Mall shuttle 50,285
• Light Rail 55,717
• Access-a-Ride 2,220

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RTD Project Chronology

• Central Corridor LRT 5.3 mile LRT line through
  downtown
• Opened October 1994
• Built without tax increases or federal funds
• Southwest Corridor LRT 8.7 mile line was built
  from the terminus of the Central Corridor to the
  SW metro area (Littleton, Mineral Station)
• Opened July 2000
• Successful, popular line with five park-n-ride
  station locations
• Central Platte Valley (CPV) Corridor LRT 1.8
  mile spur with four stations
• Opened April 2002
• Access to Auraria Campus, INVESCO Field at Mile
  High, Pepsi Center, Six Flags/Elitches, Union
  Station and Coors Field
• TREX 19.1 miles and 13 stations and free
  parking
• Approved by voters in Nov. 1999
• Reconstruction/widening of I-25 between Broadway
  (Denver) and Lincoln Ave. in Lone Tree (SE)
• Reconstruction/widening of I-225 between I-25 and
  Parker Rd. in Aurora (E)
• Light Rail Lines along I-25 and I-225
• Highway project completed August 2006 LRT opened
  Nov 2006
• FasTracks underway

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Close Proximity of Sporting Venues and RTD
transit services
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Central Platte Valley (CPV) Corridor LRT
provide transit service to venues

• The Central Platte Valley spur is a great example
  of a private-public partnership (map/picture on
  Slide 10)
• Total project cost 47.80 million, with the
  following contributions
• Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG)
  19.60 million
• RTD 19.25 million
• City and County of Denver 5 million
• Private stakeholders cash
• Broncos/Football District 450,000
• Pepsi Center 450,000
• Rockies 300,000
• Six Flags/Elitch Gardens 300,000
• Lower Downtown (LDDI) 250,000 (defaulted on
  125,000)
• Auraria Higher Education Center 400,000
• Donated transit easements 1.40 million

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Transit Ridership and Denver SportsColorado
Rockies (2008, 80 games)

• Station Serving Coors Field
• Denver Union Station 4 blocks from Coors Field
  (10 min walk)
• RockiesRide RTD Bus
• (31 games 5 wk-day, 26 wknd)
• Total/yr to/from per year 35,445
• Average to/from per game 1,143
• Total/yr to games 17,342
• Average per game 559
• Total/yr from game 18,103
• Average per game 584
• RockiesRide LRT (80 games)
• Total/yr from game 135,145
• Average from per game 1,668
• 6 transit ridership (BusLRT)
• Numbers low as many take other RTD routes to/from
  downtown (i.e. for work, shopping) with no way of
  tracking who goes to games

13
Transit Ridership and Denver SportsPepsi Center
(all yearly events)

• Two Stations serving Pepsi Center
• Pepsi Center/Elitch Gardens Station 100 feet or
  1 min walk
• INVESCO Station 5 min walk
• Yearly visitors to Pepsi Center 2 million
• Denver Nuggets
• Colorado Avalanche
• Colorado Mammoth
• Colorado Crush
• Concerts, Events, etc.
• Average Bus and Light Rail Transit
• 15 transit ridership
• 300,000 people on transit per year

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Transit Ridership and Denver SportsDenver
Broncos (2008, 10 games)

• Station Serving INVESCO
• INVESCO Field At Mile High Station (10 min walk)
• BroncosRide RTD Bus
• Total/yr to games 88,674
• Average per game 8,867
• Total/yr from games 96,356
• Average per game 9,635
• Average of buses per game 234
• BroncosRide Light Rail (LRT)
• Total/yr to games 82,067
• Average per game 8,206
• Total/yr from games 71,343
• Average per game 7,134
• 22 transit ridership (BusLRT)
• Based on sellout capacity for all games

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Transit Ridership and Denver SportsColorado
Rapids

• MLS Soccer Club founded in 1995
• Played home matches at Mile High Stadium and
  INVESCO Field from 1996-2006
• Moved into Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Commerce
  City in 2007
• Dicks Sporting Goods Park
• Located off Interstate-70
• When FasTracks transit system fully built-out,
  stadium will have transit connection

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Denver Sporting Venues Street Development
Agreements

• Venue owners of Denver sports teams all
  negotiated separate Street Development Agreements
  with the City County of Denver to control
  traffic issues
• Denver Metropolitan MLB Baseball Stadium District
• Kroenke Sports Enterprises
• Denver Metropolitan Football Stadium District
• Each sporting venue has a mandatory 45-min dump
  time after games whereby all traffic must exit
  facilities
• Coors Field
• Pepsi Center
• INVESCO Field at Mile High

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Result Compact downtown with sporting venues,
hotels, restaurants all within walking distance
of transit
INVESCO Field at Mile High
Pepsi Center
16th Street Mall
Coors Field
Colorado Convention Center Expansion
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Questions?

• Maria Garcia Berry
• CEO
• CRL Associates, Inc.
• 303-592-5437 (office)
• 303-888-4875 (cell)
• mgarciaberry_at_crlassociates.com