Marijuana Dispensary Seeks Naming Rights For Mile High Stadium

DENVER (CBS4) - The recent bankruptcy filing by Sports Authority has raised questions about possibly renaming the stadium the Broncos play in, and a marijuana company is one such interested buyer.

Native Roots is one of Colorado's largest dispensaries. It expanded from one to 14 stores over the last year. The marijuana dispensary chain said they are fully ready to make a multi-million dollar commitment if the contract between Sports Authority Field at Mile High and Sports Authority ever ends.

They also acknowledged the poor timing of announcing the news on April Fools' Day, but insisted that they are serious about the proposal.

"It's not a joke, we're very serious," said founding partner Rhett Jordan.

The company released a rendering of possible new branding for the stadium, which they say is just preliminary. They'd be willing to forgo the marijuana leaf in favor of its more well-known symbol, a simple tree with roots.

Native roots says the affordability of the contract isn't a problem, whatever it may cost. For Sports Authority, it's at $6 million a year.

"We've always been huge fans of the Broncos, we felt like this was a great opportunity to bring two brilliant brands together," said Jordan.

The company says it has begun the process of acquiring the naming rights. However, since the contract still belongs to Sports Authority, Native Roots says for now that process has consisted of internal meetings.

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If everything were to go as planned and the naming rights approved, its founder says the stadium will be called Native Roots Field at Mile High.

"Native Roots was born and raised in Colorado and we are the natural candidate for this. I don't see cannabis going anywhere but up right now so we are prepared for that," said Jordan.

CBS4 reached out to the Broncos for comment and they shared the following statement: "Sports Authority has been a great partner for many years and we certainly hope to keep it that way."

It's likely they thought it was a prank.