Broncos CEO Joe Ellis: It will be a 'real challenge' to repair fire-damaged stadium by Week 1

It seems the fire that damaged a portion of Empower Field at Mile High last week was worse than even some within the Denver Broncos initially realized. 

According to Ryan O’Halloran of the Denver Post, Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis told reporters Monday it will be a "real challenge" to repair the 12 luxury suites and "couple hundred seats" that were impacted by the blaze before Denver's regular-season home opener in September. 

"At first glance, we thought it wasn’t much of a big deal, but after going to see the damage and witnessing it in-person and spending time with fire inspectors and people from our stadium and the reclamation team that came in, it was a significant event," Ellis explained while at the league's annual meeting. 

"Our staff did a great job in what was a serious situation. Everything worked the way it was supposed to in terms of our sprinkler system and evacuation system, which was important because the fumes from those seats (burning) were incredibly toxic — something I didn’t realize was an issue, but it would have been significant for people had they been subjected to it."

While a tour group was inside the stadium when the accidental fire started in an East Club lounge construction area, no injuries were reported. The venue is still scheduled to hold the Monster Jam on April 23. 

"The heat from the fire, once it got going, those risers buckled," Ellis added. "We’ll have to re-fabricate those steel risers in those particular sections and with supply-chain issues around the world and each one is a different dimension because of the way the seating bowl is constructed and contoured, it will take some time to get those replaced and they will have to be replaced."