Burnham Yard Community Action Begins CBA Negotiations with the Broncos

The Burnham Yard Community Action coalition announced this week the organizations and values it will bring to the table as it prepares to negotiate a community benefits agreement with the Denver Broncos. Th

The coalition, made up of 16 organizations from the La Alma-Lincoln Park, Baker, and Sun Valley neighborhoods, will negotiate a legally binding CBA with the Broncos as the team moves forward on its planned stadium and entertainment district at the 58-acre Burnham Yard site. If finalized, it will be the first CBA negotiated directly between an NFL team and a community group.

The coalition has identified 6 core values for the negotiations: equity, housing, youth and education, economic empowerment, quality of life, and the arts.

We're proud to share that our firm has been retained by the community coalition to draft the CBA. This is exactly the kind of work we got into public interest law to do: making sure the people most affected by a massive development have a binding, enforceable seat at the table.

The La Alma-Lincoln Park neighborhood is a predominantly Hispanic community, home to the Art District on Santa Fe, and a designated historic district honoring the Chicano movement. Four-generation families still live there. The CBA process is their best tool to ensure that stays true after a stadium goes up next door.

Denver City Council has signaled it won't grant final approvals on rezoning, the small area plan, or tax-increment financing until the CBA is in place. That gives the community real leverage, and we intend to help them use it well.