BOWLEN FOR DOLLARS

For the kind of money required to build a stadium, some have wondered if Denver should demand an ownership share of the Broncos as part of any stadium deal. That would tie the team to Denver permanently and prevent any possibility of the Broncos trying to break their lease. However, NFL rules now forbid municipal ownership. (The league wanted to prevent another city like Green Bay, Wisconsin, from seizing control of its local team. The Packers are the only publicly owned team in the NFL.)

Bowlen dismisses the idea of municipal ownership out of hand. He insists Denver already derives a tremendous benefit simply by having its name on the football team. In fact, he suggests the people of Denver should be thankful that he has given them free advertising by keeping the word "Denver" in its official name.

"If they can get $30 million to name Coors Field, the naming rights to a team are worth a lot of money," Bowlen says. "Why shouldn't I do a deal with Ford or General Motors and say I'll call my team the Ford Broncos? The city has a big stake in this."

Bowlen notes that the team draws a huge Denver television audience on Sunday afternoons and that watching a Broncos game remains a local tradition. Denver is still a Broncos town, he says. But he doesn't hesitate to remind residents that even the best-loved teams can pack their bags and take the next flight out of town.

"I've got a lot of work to do here in Denver," Bowlen says. "The landscape is littered with cities that have lost teams. Cities like Baltimore and St. Louis. It's absurd what's happening.