There was a lot of excitement surrounding the opening of the new Denver Broncos facility in Englewood, Colorado, after reports suggested it was expected to be ready ahead of the upcoming NFL season. However, tragedy struck when a 25-year-old subcontractor died while working at the site. The incident occurred as the team and construction crew were putting the finishing touches on the franchise’s new headquarters. And now, the Broncos have issued a statement addressing the matter.

“The Denver Broncos are heartbroken to learn a subcontractor working on our new training center passed away Monday while on-site,” the team said in a statement, as per Zac Stevens on X. “We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the individual’s family, coworkers, and friends during this difficult time.”

Christa Swanson of CBS News Colorado reported that Arapahoe County deputies were called to the site at around 8:20 pm on the night of June 15. And according to Kiara DeMare of Denverite, the 25-year-old male worker had crawled into a narrow ceiling area to fix a light, and as a result, the construction crew on location was unable to get him down.

The South Metro Fire Rescue, upon its arrival, had to use its tools and equipment to reach the victim, who was later pronounced dead at the scene. The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office is currently investigating the cause of death.

Turner Construction, the general contractor overseeing the construction of the entire project, even released a statement to Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post.

“This is a heartbreaking loss for the worker’s family, loved ones, friends, colleagues, and all those impacted by this tragedy,” the firm stated.

According to Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk, Turner has suspended work on the site for the time being.

The facility itself represents a landmark moment for the Broncos, as it is the team’s most significant infrastructure project in decades. Their current facility opened in 1990. While that facility has been the backdrop for three Super Bowl victories, the new Walton-Penner ownership group determined it was time for the franchise to keep pace with modern NFL standards, standards that the team’s 37-year-old facility could no longer meet. Construction on the new $175 million site began in August 2024.

It was designed to be one of the best in the league as the Broncos continue to steer forward under new ownership.

The new headquarters was built to modernize the Broncos

The ownership group employed the services of HOK, a renowned architecture firm behind the construction of the state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and the large-scale renovation of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. HOK may receive its biggest spotlight yet when MetLife Stadium, which it helped design, hosts the FIFA World Cup final.

The new facility is likely to be spread across 205,000 square feet in a three-storey building. It will become the first Broncos HQ to feature football operations and the business side of the organization under a single roof. The Broncos stated that the new headquarters will be 30 percent larger than their current facility.

“Our vision is to create a new home for the Denver Broncos that reflects our values of winning and teamwork with a modern Colorado design,” Broncos Owner & CEO Greg Penner said in a statement. “While we considered several options to modify our current facility, we decided to do this the right way by building a new player-centered headquarters with an efficient layout and the latest amenities.”

HOK, during their early design research, found that Broncos players were walking from the weight room, locker room, and practice grounds at a higher step count than other NFL teams. So a major point of focus with this new facility was to make it player-centric and make the players’ day-to-day life less frictionless.

“The combination of layout, collaborative spaces, flexibility, and size will place the Broncos’ new training facility among the very best in all of sports. We thought about it with a player-first and football-centric mindset,” Broncos President Damani Leech said.

For now, however, attention and thoughts remain with the family and loved ones of the construction worker who lost his life, as the Broncos, Turner, and local authorities await a determination of the cause of death.