You can't go anywhere in Colorado and not find someone who isn't a Denver Broncos fan. One person is asking the question, is it time to recognize fans outside of Denver with a name change?

The man with the plan is Michael Scanlon, who lives in Commerce City. Before your orange and blue blood boils about someone proposing a new name for the team, the only thing Scanlon wants to do is change Denver to Colorado and he's attempting to get 76,000 signatures on a name change petition to present to the Denver Broncos

To make this perfectly clear, this idea did not come from the Denver Broncos, but a fan of the team who thinks Colorado Broncos is more representative of the team's popularity and fan base.

My first thought when I heard this was the state's professional baseball, hockey and soccer teams all have Colorado in their name.

Only the Broncos and Nuggets use the name Denver. So, it is certainly worth thinking about. To start, I researched the history of the team and came up with some interesting information.

Denver's professional football team was formed in 1959 by Bob Howsam, who also owned the Denver Bears Baseball team. Howsam tried to make Denver an expansion team in the NFL, but was refused.

Howsam didn't let that stop him. He gathered other owners who founded the American Football League.

The team had Denver as a name from the beginning, but Broncos came in 1960 from a 'name the team' contest.

One could argue Denver is more important to the team name than Broncos. But that's not the reason I'm voting to keep the team name Denver Broncos.

Scanlon's reasoning would appeal to me if the Broncos needed a name change to help rebuild the team image for better public relations. They don't, thanks to the massive number of loyal fans and the Broncos themselves.

As far as I'm concerned, the Denver Broncos are Colorado's team whether it's in the name or not. Plus, most fan-targeted promotion and merchandising either doesn't mention Denver or greatly minimizes it.

Take a look at the photo at the top of Karl Mecklenburg with the old 'Big D' emblem from the 1980's. The D is gone, but the Bronco remains, although updated.

To Broncos fans like me, Denver is just the home field location and the team is the Broncos, inclusive of any fan of the orange and blue anywhere on earth.

What do you think about the Broncos being renamed the Colorado Broncos?

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