Where the fans are.

• Author: Schley, Stewart
• Position: SPORTS biz

IT'S MIDWAY INTO THE THIRD QUARTER ON a bright September afternoon at Sports Authority Field. and the Broncos are putting it to Michael Vick and the Eagles. Peyton Manning just capped an 80-yard drive with a touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. and the crowd's roar is infectious. Two 20-something women gyrate in a victory dance. A tall guy in an orange jersey. with BAILEY stitched in white lettering across the shoulders. hoists a beer and joins in, his face lit in a loopy Party grin. A woman to my left slaps me a high-five as music pulses over a sound system built into the stadium. Fans are loving the moment.

Except: We're not actually celebrating in the stands. We're 30 yards or so removed. on the first level at the stadium's north concourse. Close to 100 Broncos faithful are watching the game on TV monitors circling the walk-up bar at The Tavern Mile High, a gathering place set up as part of a stadium improvement initiative called the Sports Authority Mountain Village.

The scene is familiar: sports fans whooping it up at a bar on a Sunday afternoon. But there's a surreal element here. A short Walk takes you through a tunnel that leads to the open stadium, where there's actually a live game--the same game were tuned into here on the screens. 11w same game these people at The 'tavern presumably paid lots of money to attend.

The thought. strikes that it would be a lot cheaper to just go to a bar. But that doesn't seem to matter to my new friends camped out here. None ofthem look like they're in a hurry to get back to their seats.

"It's more fun here!" the woman next to me explains. "My husband's still up in the stands!" She says this with a smug grin.

The full-on party that's happening at The Tavern says a lot about the state of live sports. especially football. Across the NFL, teams worry the in-home television experience has become so captivating, with its high-definition camera views and comfortable couches and relief from $50 parking tabs, that it's becoming more challenging to convince fans to attend live games. One of the responses--even in Denver, where a deep season ticket waiting list is the stuff or legend has been to glitz up the stadium experience by borrowing creature comforts from home. Teams across the NFL and major college football programs have invested in better wireless data networks. giant video screens and beautification efforts. The Broncos have experimented with remedies including giving away handheld video...