One Broncos fan has started a petition to change the team's name from the Denver Broncos to the Colorado Broncos. Would you sign it?
Citing a need for the team to adequately reflect its statewide fan-base, Commerce City resident Michael Scanlon has created a petition to get the Denver Broncos' team name changed to the Colorado Broncos. Interestingly, he's hoping for 76,000 signatures -- the same number of seats that fill Mile High Stadium -- and he's even already purchased the coloradobroncos.com website domain name, supposedly to ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.It came to me in the Pepsi Center," Scanlon explains on his website. "I was watching the Colorado Avalanche get slaughtered, and my mind wandered to ... the Colorado Rapids. I realized both teams made the same excellent marketing move. Like the Rockies, these teams embraced the whole state of Colorado. Absolutely brilliant."
If the petition reaches his requested 76,000 signatures, Scanlon promises to personally hand-deliver them to Joe Ellis, the Broncos' President and CEO.
Colorado is more diverse than Denver – like Bronco fans!" Scanlon writes. "I’m not dissing on city dwellers here, city folk make great Broncos fans too. But think about it. Isn’t Colorado more representative of Broncos Country than Denver County?"For the nay-sayers, Scanlon (who works for the Commerce City Chamber of Commerce) has formulated a list of frequently asked questions to further explain his position. The FAQ page answers everything from his opinion on who should be the starting QB (leaving it to the coach's judgment) to what we would ever do with all our outdated Denver Broncos gear (he suggests keeping everything as collectors' items). Speaking of which, does anybody find it interesting that Scanlon founded and owns Colorado Broncos LLC, which would ultimately give him the sole rights to the "Colorado Broncos" name? Changing the team name to the Colorado Broncos would obviously ensure a huge payout for the naming rights, giving him a personal vested interest in the switchover. But of course, that's all just editorial speculation from all of us at OCN!
In addition, most NFL teams are named for the cities where they're based -- It's the Dallas Cowboys, not the Texas Cowboys. The Kansas City Chiefs, the Chicago Bears, the Atlanta Falcons. In fact, only five of 32 NFL teams are named for states or regions instead of cities.
We want to know what you think! Will it catch on? Or should we leave the Broncos' name alone?
If you want to sign the name-change petition and become a part of a stadium's worth of "Colorado Broncos supporters," visit Scanlon's website.
Either way, leave a comment below, and let's get the conversation started!
