Mile High Stadium Special: ‘Broncos fans won us the game’

About last night.

Mile High Stadium was special on Sunday when the Chiefs came to town.

It was electric in the building last year against Kansas City and even more raucous this time around.

The 28-24 Broncos win over the Chiefs wouldn’t have happened without Broncos Country going all out.

Sean Payton: Broncos fans won us the game

“I think this is a wonderful home crowd,” Payton said after the win. “It’s a special place. It’s something else. They won us the game tonight.”

All game long, Broncos fans brought the noise.

I can attest from the nosebleeds in section 511. We clapped, cheered, and stomped to make that Rocky Mountain Thunder rain down onto the field.

Speaking of rain, it started in the second half and dampened some spirits.

That was until the Chiefs final drive.

Sure, they manufacture the decibel numbers on the scoreboard to get fans even more hyped up. But the 100-plus decibels they showed late seemed plausible.

It wasn’t loud. It was deafening.

Especially on those final few snaps.

And on the second-to-last play of the game, the Chiefs seemingly won. Until the officials threw flags and blew the play dead due to a false start by Jaylon Moore.

Andy Reid said he didn’t see it. Patrick Mahomes says he was surprised they called it. Brittany Mahomes bitched about it.

No word on what Taylor Swift thought.

Chiefs fans cried in their beers about it and tried to start fights over it as I left Mile High last night.

Alas, it was the right call.

And it was due to Denver Broncos fans roaring like the Artemis III rocket launch.

Before that play the Chiefs tried to run the same play they had in multiple Super Bowls in the past. Vance Joseph’s defense sniffed it out and snuffed it; Mahomes couldn’t even get a pass off in bounds.

Then there was the final play of the game. Listen to the roar. The TV broadcast doesn’t do it justice but it’s still loud AF.

Empower Field at Mile High Stadium will never be Mile High Stadium.

But it has grown into something special over the years.

It's one of the best home field advantages in the NFL. They've won 63.8% of their games at New Mile High since 2001. And they've won 12-of-13 home games since the start of the 2025 season.

And it's one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL. 8th-loudest per a recent "study" by Commercial Acoustics.

As Bo Nix said last night, "But there's something magical about this place."

Broncos fans can and often do propel their favorite team to victory. They make it tough for opponents to hear the play-calls — right Matthew Stafford? — and hard to not commit penalties.

"We expect them to be so loud, and they are. It’s helped us a ton in these home games," linebacker Alex Singleton said after the win. "It’s the reason we’re undefeated at home, is them. The momentum and the feel, there wasn’t a moment tonight that didn’t feel like we were going to win the game because of the energy that we got every time that we went onto the field as a defense.”

Enjoy it Before it’s Gone

Empower Field at Mile High Stadium is special.

But soon it’ll be gone.

No more will we be dancing and cheering in the rain like on Sunday night.

The Walmart owners want our football played indoors. Not because they hate the elements, because they only love money.

They want a Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, and Taylor Swift concerts.

They will price out thousands of devoted Denver Broncos fans by shrinking the number of seats and then by putting an exorbitant seat licensing fee on every one of them. They will make it even more expensive than it already is, pricing out lifelong Broncos fans.

All in the name of making money.

Billionaire owners are quickly ruining football. They’re moving tons of teams indoors when football should be played outside. They’re also watering down the game with too many international games, ones that are on TV too early and price out real fans from attending.

The billionaires are stripping the memories as they tear down the buildings.

So, enjoy New Mile High now. It was built with the horseshoe to resemble Mile High Stadium. It was built with metal flooring to give it the Rocky Mountain Thunder. It holds 2 more fans than the old stadium; all because Pat Bowlen gave a damn about history.

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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.