| Built
in 1948 and known as Bears Stadium for the
first twenty years of its existence,
Denver's Mile High Stadium was originally
built by Bob Howsam with minor league
baseball in mind. Denver's Bears
(1948-84) and Zephyrs (1985-92) brought
AAA baseball to town, but by the late
1950's Howsam wanted more. In an
effort to gain a franchise in Branch
Rickey's aborted Continental League, the
stadium underwent its first expansion.
When the CL concept didn't take off,
Howsam suddenly found himself with a major
league level stadium - but not a major
league level team to fill it.
Fortunately his timing couldn't have been
better.
The
American Football League was forming, and
Howsam and his family was awarded the
Denver franchise, which became the
Broncos. While Howsam would divest
himself of his sports-related properties
the following year, he had lit Denver's
major league fuse. By the 1970's
Mile High Stadium was owned by the City of
Denver and had a capacity of nearly 80,000
- and had been converted into a unique
multi-purpose stadium capable of hosting
both baseball and football without
significantly compromising seating for
either sport.
In 1980's the Denver Gold were among the
USFL's early success stories in terms of
attendance, while in the 1990's Howsam's
dream came true as the Colorado Rockies
expansion team began its history with two
years at Mile High before moving into its
own facility. By 1999 however Mile
High was beginning to show signs of age,
and a new, replacement facility was built
next door. In January 2002, Mile
High was demolished to accommodate parking
for the new stadium.
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MILE
HIGH STADIUM |
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Denver,
Colorado |
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