Denver Native (Carol)
09-02-2016, 08:45 PM
As the final piece of gold confetti danced down to the field inside Levi’s Stadium following the Denver Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 win, football fans were already starting their countdown to the next season.
At the same time, the NFL started to cook up one of its biggest events, NFL Kickoff, with just seven months to go.
“Kickoff is a unique one,” said Peter O’Reilly, NFL senior vice president of events, explaining that the planning can’t start until the league knows who the winner is. The recent trend is the Super Bowl champions host the opening game and the celebration leading up to it.
“One of the spoils of hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy,” O’Reilly added. “This is, in our eyes, the bookend of the Super Bowl. In so many ways, this is about the Broncos fans.”
A bookend, and a rematch. The 2016 NFL season will kick off Sept. 8 when the Carolina Panthers face a slightly different looking Denver Broncos squad at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
Tickets were pretty tough to score, but luckily for fans in Denver, NFL Kickoff is more than the game.
Now in its 15th year, the first NFL Kickoff event featured a concert in Times Square by Bon Jovi. An event that once centered around music has evolved into what is now a multi-day fan celebration.
This year, that celebration is in Denver’s Civic Center.
The league scoped out a few locations in the city including closer to the stadium and a few spots around the 16th Street Mall, but there was no denying the natural flow of Civic Center for these types of events, especially after seeing images from the Super Bowl 50 victory parade, O’Reilly said.
The city backdrop and mountain landscapes don’t hurt, either. “Visually, it’s hard to beat,” he added.
rest - events and times, former Bronco players, etc.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/01/nfl-kickoff-2016-denver-civic-center/
At the same time, the NFL started to cook up one of its biggest events, NFL Kickoff, with just seven months to go.
“Kickoff is a unique one,” said Peter O’Reilly, NFL senior vice president of events, explaining that the planning can’t start until the league knows who the winner is. The recent trend is the Super Bowl champions host the opening game and the celebration leading up to it.
“One of the spoils of hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy,” O’Reilly added. “This is, in our eyes, the bookend of the Super Bowl. In so many ways, this is about the Broncos fans.”
A bookend, and a rematch. The 2016 NFL season will kick off Sept. 8 when the Carolina Panthers face a slightly different looking Denver Broncos squad at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
Tickets were pretty tough to score, but luckily for fans in Denver, NFL Kickoff is more than the game.
Now in its 15th year, the first NFL Kickoff event featured a concert in Times Square by Bon Jovi. An event that once centered around music has evolved into what is now a multi-day fan celebration.
This year, that celebration is in Denver’s Civic Center.
The league scoped out a few locations in the city including closer to the stadium and a few spots around the 16th Street Mall, but there was no denying the natural flow of Civic Center for these types of events, especially after seeing images from the Super Bowl 50 victory parade, O’Reilly said.
The city backdrop and mountain landscapes don’t hurt, either. “Visually, it’s hard to beat,” he added.
rest - events and times, former Bronco players, etc.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/01/nfl-kickoff-2016-denver-civic-center/