Sunday afternoon, Bryant Street is backed up past the ramps and your group is still three exits out on I-25 with kickoff twenty minutes away — anyone who has driven in from Aurora for a Broncos game already knows that feeling. Then there's the walk nobody warns you about until it's too late. Empower Field at Mile High sends rideshare pickup a quarter mile east to the corner of 5th and Walnut Street, an official Empower Field at Mile High directions and parking page notes is roughly a 15-minute walk each way — a hike your whole group makes twice, once on the way out and once when everyone just wants to sit down.
One question decides whether your night includes that walk: where does a bus actually drop your group, and where does it wait while you're inside?
A charter bus or party bus pulls into the same drop point the stadium already runs its rideshare, taxi, and limo traffic through — the NE corner near Gate 5 on Mile High Stadium Circle — and your group walks toward the gate instead of hiking back from Walnut Street. Below is exactly how that works using the stadium's own published rules, plus which vehicle fits your headcount, what a bus rental to Empower Field runs, and the roads and 2026 dates that shape the trip from Aurora and the rest of the Denver metro.
Why Rent a Bus to Empower Field at Mile High?
A Broncos Sunday involves more moving parts than the game itself: someone has to stay sober enough to drive, someone has to find a parking space before the good lots fill, and everyone has to somehow reconvene afterward when 76,000 people are leaving at once. Renting one bus erases most of that math in a single move.
An Aurora charter bus rental or party bus rental to Empower Field means your whole group leaves from one pickup point, arrives together, and has a set spot to meet back at instead of a scattered text chain trying to find the car. The tailgate starts on the bus instead of in a parking lot, nobody has to sit out the pregame beer because they're driving home, and the ride back is already handled while everyone else is circling Bryant Street looking for their own car. One quote covers pickup anywhere in Aurora or the metro, the drop near the gates, and a bus staged and ready when the final whistle blows.
Charter Bus & Party Bus Drop-Off at Empower Field at Mile High
The stadium's own gameday parking page names one clear curb for non-driving arrivals: rideshare, taxi, and limo traffic drops off at the NE corner of the stadium near Gate 5 on Mile High Stadium Circle. That's the closest coordinated drop point to the gates the venue publishes, and it's a straight walk in rather than a hike from an outer lot.
The stadium doesn't publish a separate curb labeled for charter buses or motorcoaches the way it does for rideshare and limo traffic, so the exact drop instructions for a full-size coach can shift by event and by gate staffing that day. That's the piece worth knowing before you show up: when you request a quote, the current drop procedure and staging plan for your specific game or concert date gets confirmed as part of booking, so your group isn't guessing at a gate on arrival.
Where a Bus Stages During a Broncos Game or Concert
Because there's no dedicated motorcoach lot published on the stadium's site, a bus serving your group typically stages off the venue's own property rather than inside Lots A or C. The stadium's directions page points to roughly 15,000 spaces in independent, privately run lots around the stadium — not stadium-monitored, but the same lots that absorb the overflow when the on-site permits sell out. That's generally where a coach waits out the game before returning to the Gate 5 curb for pickup.
One more detail worth knowing if your itinerary has anyone walking near the stadium perimeter between drop-off and gate: the stadium's own A-Z Fan Guide states plainly that vehicles are "prohibited on the sidewalks and / or walkways surrounding Empower Field at Mile High," so a bus can't simply pull onto a walkway to shave off the last hundred feet — it uses the published vehicle curb like everyone else.
A bus uses the same NE-corner curb near Gate 5 the stadium already runs rideshare and limo traffic through. That's the fact that keeps a 40-person group together on the walk in, instead of splitting across a 15-minute hike from Walnut Street.
Empower Field at Mile High Parking Rules Every Bus Group Should Know
Even though your group is riding a bus, it helps to understand what the stadium is doing with the roughly 6,500 on-site spaces, because those same rules shape how early lots fill and how tight the curb gets on a sellout Sunday. General lots open 4.5 hours before kickoff, with one exception: Lot C, the early tailgating lot, opens 6 hours before kickoff at $55 a space and, per the stadium's own gameday parking page, is typically gone within 30 minutes to an hour of opening. Lot A is the carpool section at $45 a space, but it requires a vehicle with four or more people in it and does not allow tailgating — it's built for arriving together, not setting up camp.
Everything on-site runs cashless: the stadium takes credit card only for gameday parking purchases, and by the time you're reading this, many single-game permits for the current Broncos slate may already show sold out on the team's own site. That's normal for a Denver home date, and it's exactly why locking in your Aurora charter bus rental or party bus rental early matters more than it would for a mid-size regular-season stop elsewhere — your group's transportation isn't competing for the same shrinking pool of car permits.
Accessible parking has its own pricing and its own urgency: Lot L runs $35 a permit and Lots D and G run $40, sold first-come, first-served on gameday only with no advance purchase, and the stadium's own ADA guide notes these lots "usually sell out within the first two hours" of opening. If anyone in your party needs an accessible pickup or drop point, mention it on your quote request — ADA-accessible vehicles are available through the booking network, and Gate 5, the same corner buses use for drop-off, doubles as the stadium's primary accessible entry.
Tailgating Rules for a Charter Bus or Party Bus Group
Tailgating is allowed at Empower Field with real limits. It is not permitted in the valet section or inside Lot A's carpool spaces, and the stadium's separately ticketed VIP Tailgate in Lot J opens three hours before kickoff and closes at kickoff — parking and game admission are not included in that ticket, so it's an add-on, not a parking solution. For a bus group tailgating from an independent off-site lot, the setup is simpler than it sounds: the coach's undercarriage bays carry the grill, the folding tables, and the cooler, so nobody has to caravan a trailer in or figure out where a second vehicle parks.
Empower Field Transportation: Every Option Compared
This is a bus-comparison site, so it's worth being straight about when a bus is and isn't the better call. Here's how the main ways a group gets to a Broncos game or a stadium concert stack up.
| Option | Cost shape | Arrive together? | Door-to-door | Drinking on the way | Best group size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private charter bus or party bus | One flat rate, split by the group | Yes — one vehicle, one arrival | Best — Gate 5 curb, steps from the gate | Yes — nobody needs to drive | 15–56 |
| Light rail | Per-ride RTD fare | Only if you board the same train | Good — Empower Field or Decatur-Federal station to the gates | No | Any, but no group control |
| Rideshare | Per car each way, plus post-event surge | No — multiple cars, multiple ETAs | Poor — drop near Gate 5, but a 15-minute walk back to pickup at 5th & Walnut | Yes, but fragmented and pricier after the game | 1–4 per car |
| Drive and park on-site | $45–$55 a space, credit card only | No — caravans split up finding spaces | Varies by lot | No — someone has to stay sober to drive | 1–2 cars |
For one or two people coming from a stop right on the rail line, light rail is honestly the cheaper, simpler call. But once your group is bigger than a couple of carloads, the coordination cost of separate vehicles — staggered arrivals, scattered parking, and someone always stuck being the designated transportation provider — tips the math firmly toward one bus.
Light Rail and Transit to Empower Field at Mile High
The stadium's directions page states that "the Empower Field & Decatur-Federal stations provide light rail to the stadium," and points fans to RTD's website for current schedules rather than publishing a fixed platform-to-gate walk time itself. That's useful for a couple of riders meeting a bigger group already arriving by bus, but it's not a group solution on its own — RTD doesn't coordinate seating or timing for a party of 20, and fares and frequency are set independently by the transit agency, not the stadium.
What Size Bus Fits Your Empower Field Group?
Group size and how much gear you're hauling are what actually decide the right vehicle for an Empower Field trip. Here's how the lineup breaks down.
| Vehicle | Typical seats | Gear / luggage | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprinter van | Up to ~14 | Light — a cooler, a few bags | Suite groups, small groups from one Aurora neighborhood |
| Party bus | ~15–40 | Onboard, lighter loads | Fan groups wanting the tailgate to start on the ride |
| 18–28 passenger minibus | ~18–28 | Overhead plus some underfloor | Mid-size groups, office suites, quick pickups around Aurora |
| Full-size charter bus | Up to 56 | Deep undercarriage bays | Large fan groups and tailgate gear, concert crowds |
A 15- to 40-passenger party bus is the pick for a fan group that wants the pregame energy going before the coach even reaches Bryant Street — onboard sound and lighting keep it rolling the whole ride down from Aurora. A full-size charter bus makes more sense once you're hauling actual tailgate equipment, since the undercarriage bays hold the grill and folding tables that would otherwise need their own vehicle. Browse the complete vehicle lineup to compare options side by side, or call 720-949-7830 and describe your group and someone can point you to the right fit.
Empower Field at Mile High Bus Rental Prices
There's no single sticker price for a bus rental to Empower Field, because the quote is shaped by a handful of clear factors: vehicle size, how many hours you need it (tailgate time plus the post-event wait adds up fast), the date and event — a Tuesday concert prices differently than a Broncos Sunday — and mileage, since a pickup in central Aurora runs a shorter trip than one from Parker or Highlands Ranch.
To give you an idea, party bus and charter bus rentals to a Denver-area stadium event commonly land in the range of a few hundred dollars an hour for a mid-size vehicle, with the total shaped by exactly those factors above — it always varies by date and headcount. Compare current options on the Aurora bus rental prices page, or call 720-949-7830 for pricing on your specific date in about a minute.
A Game-Day Example
To give you an idea: a 32-person fan group in Aurora books a 35-passenger minibus for a 1:05 PM Broncos kickoff. Pickup at 9:30 AM near the Aurora Town Center area, at the stadium's Gate 5 drop by 10:45 AM — a little over two hours before kickoff, with time to walk gear to a nearby independent lot and tailgate. The group heads in around 12:30 PM, and the bus is back at the curb for a 4:30 PM pickup once the crowd clears.
A 7-hour rental at that size might run somewhere around $1,700 to $2,000 — roughly $55 to $65 a person, with the I-25 drive, the parking hunt, and the walk back from Walnut Street all handled in that one number.
Getting to Empower Field at Mile High: Routes, Traffic & Timing
Empower Field sits at 1701 Bryant Street, in the Sun Valley neighborhood just west of downtown Denver across the South Platte River — a straight enough shot from Aurora, but one that funnels through downtown's tightest stretch of I-25 on gameday. Approximate drive times before event traffic sets in:
| From… | Approx. distance | Typical drive time (off-peak) |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora, CO | ~15–18 miles | 25–40 minutes |
| Downtown Denver | ~2 miles | 10–15 minutes |
| Denver International Airport (DEN) | ~25 miles | 35–45 minutes |
Those numbers stretch fast once a game is actually letting out or letting in. The stadium's own directions page doesn't publish turn-by-turn routing or a fixed closure map — instead it tells fans to lean on the Broncos app and Waze for the best path to their lot, which is a fair admission that the picture changes by event and by which ramps are running that day. A bus serving your Aurora pickup builds that uncertainty into the schedule rather than leaving your group to guess at it mid-drive.
Denver International Airport to Empower Field at Mile High
For an out-of-town group flying into Denver International Airport (DEN), about 25 miles east of the stadium, a single bus is the cleanest way to collect everyone at baggage claim and get straight to the game or the hotel instead of splitting a dozen people across separate rideshares fighting with luggage. One coordinated pickup also means the group isn't waiting around for stragglers whose rideshare transportation provider canceled on them mid-terminal.
The "bus from Denver airport to Empower Field" run is one of the more common out-of-town requests for a Broncos weekend or a stadium concert — see the Aurora airport transportation page for how that pickup gets arranged, including flight tracking so the bus is waiting when you land.
Leaving Empower Field at Mile High After the Game or Show
Getting out is where a bus earns its keep the most. Empower Field runs a strict no re-entry policy — once a ticketed guest scans out, that same ticket doesn't get scanned back in — so there's no slipping out to check on a car and slipping back in for the fourth quarter. When the game or the encore ends and roughly 76,000 people funnel toward the exits at once, rideshare pricing near the stadium climbs and the walk back to the 5th and Walnut pickup point gets slower the more crowded it is.
With a bus, your group skips that entirely. The coach is staged and ready near the Gate 5 curb for an agreed pickup window, so there's no standing in a surge-priced rideshare queue and no hunting through a packed lot for your own car. Everyone climbs aboard, and the ride from Bryant Street back out toward I-25 and Aurora is somebody else's problem to navigate.
Tips for a First-Time Empower Field Bus Group
- The stadium is cashless. Bring a card for concessions and for any gameday parking purchase — parking permits are credit card only.
- Follow the clear bag policy. Each guest may carry one bag no larger than 12" x 6" x 12", or a small clutch no larger than 4.5" by 6.5". Standard backpacks, purses, and diaper bags are turned away at the gate — diapers and wipes can go in an approved clear bag instead.
- Gates open on a schedule. General gates open two hours before kickoff, with Club-level access open three hours before — plan your bus pickup with enough runway to actually get inside before the first snap.
- No re-entry, so plan bathroom and merch runs accordingly. Once you're out, you're out for the day.
- ADA support has its own line. The stadium's accessibility hotline is 720-258-3337 for questions about accessible seating, parking, or entry — separate from general stadium information.
- Save the address. Empower Field at Mile High sits at 1701 Bryant Street, Denver, CO 80204, with a main stadium line at 720-258-3000.
What's Happening at Empower Field at Mile High in 2026
Empower Field stays busy well beyond the football schedule, and demand for a bus climbs with every high-attendance date on the calendar. Per the stadium's own Empower Field at Mile High event calendar, confirmed 2026 dates include:
- Zach Bryan, August 13–14, 2026 — a two-night stadium concert run with the kind of parking crunch a regular concert night doesn't see.
- Broncos preseason: Green Bay Packers, August 21, 2026, and Minnesota Vikings, August 28, 2026.
- Broncos regular season openers: Jacksonville Jaguars, September 20, 2026; Los Angeles Rams, September 27, 2026; Seattle Seahawks, October 15, 2026 — with the full home slate continuing through the season and posted as a printable calendar on the stadium's own site.
Whichever date brings your group together, the same logic applies: the closer you get to a Broncos Sunday or a summer concert night, the fewer on-site permits and the tighter the vehicle supply for the whole metro. Call 720-949-7830 to lock in your date early.
Types of Groups That Book a Party Bus or Charter Bus to Empower Field
The same door-to-door transportation works whether your group is there for the football or the encore.
- Fan groups and tailgaters. The party starts the moment the bus pulls away from the curb in Aurora — onboard sound and lighting keep the energy up from pickup to kickoff.
- Corporate and suite groups. Moving clients or staff from a downtown hotel or an Aurora office to a suite without anyone worrying about a parking permit or the post-game crawl. See the Aurora corporate transportation page.
- Concert groups. A Zach Bryan-style stadium show draws its own crowd and its own parking crunch — an Aurora concert transportation booking takes the group straight to the gate and picks everyone up when the last song ends.
- Birthday and milestone groups. A Broncos Sunday that doubles as a celebration, with the tailgate built right into the ride — check the Aurora birthday party transportation page.
Booking Your Empower Field at Mile High Charter Bus
Lining up a bus rental to Empower Field is straightforward:
- Request a quote with your group size, pickup location around Aurora or the metro, the event and date, and how much tailgate time you want built in.
- Confirm the vehicle and the drop point. The current Gate 5 procedure and staging plan for your specific date gets confirmed as part of booking.
- Set your pickup window. Agree on a post-event pickup time in advance so the bus is right there when the crowd clears — no standing at 5th and Walnut waiting on a surge-priced ride.
A common timing question: how early should the bus arrive? For a full tailgate, roughly three hours before kickoff gives your group time to set up in a nearby lot and still walk in comfortably before the gates fill.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does a charter bus or party bus drop off at Empower Field at Mile High?
Buses use the same NE-corner curb near Gate 5 on Mile High Stadium Circle that the stadium runs its rideshare, taxi, and limo traffic through. That's a straight walk to the gates rather than the roughly 15-minute hike from the 5th and Walnut rideshare pickup point.
Where does the bus park during the game?
The stadium doesn't publish a dedicated motorcoach lot, so a bus typically stages in one of the independent off-site lots near the stadium rather than in Lot A or Lot C. The exact staging spot for your date gets confirmed when you book.
How much does it cost to rent a bus to Empower Field at Mile High?
Pricing depends on vehicle size, total hours including tailgate and post-event wait time, the date and event, and mileage from your pickup point. Call 720-949-7830 or use the online quote tool for pricing on your date.
What roads should we expect trouble on?
The stretch of I-25 through downtown Denver near the stadium is the predictable pinch point on a Broncos Sunday or a big concert night. The stadium's own directions page doesn't publish a fixed closure map and instead points fans to the Broncos app and Waze for current routing, since the picture shifts by event.
Is there a train to Empower Field at Mile High?
Yes. The Empower Field and Decatur-Federal light rail stations both serve the stadium, per the venue's own directions page, which points riders to RTD's website for current schedules and fares. It works for a couple of riders but isn't a coordinated group solution the way a private bus is.
What's the bag policy?
One clear bag no larger than 12" x 6" x 12", or a small clutch no larger than 4.5" x 6.5". Standard backpacks, purses, camera bags, and diaper bags are not allowed through the gate, though diapers and wipes can be carried inside an approved clear bag.
Can our group tailgate?
Yes, with limits. Tailgating isn't allowed in the valet section or the Lot A carpool spaces, and the separately ticketed VIP Tailgate in Lot J doesn't include parking or game admission. A charter bus's undercarriage bays hold the grill, tables, and cooler without needing a second vehicle.
Is Empower Field cashless?
Yes. The stadium takes credit card only for concessions and for gameday parking purchases, so plan to bring a card rather than cash.
Can we re-enter if we leave during the event?
No. Empower Field enforces a strict no re-entry policy, so a scanned ticket doesn't get scanned back in once a guest has left the stadium.
What's the closest airport to Empower Field at Mile High?
Denver International Airport (DEN), about 25 miles east. One bus can collect a flying-in group at baggage claim and run straight to the stadium or the hotel, avoiding a scattered rideshare pickup with luggage.
Are ADA-accessible buses available?
Yes, through the booking network — note it on your quote request. At the stadium, accessible parking is in Lot L ($35) and Lots D and G ($40), sold first-come, first-served and known to sell out within the first two hours of lots opening, and Gate 5 doubles as the stadium's main accessible entry point.
How far in advance should we book?
As early as your date is confirmed, especially for a Broncos Sunday or a stadium concert like the Zach Bryan run in August 2026, when on-site parking permits sell out fastest and vehicle supply across the metro tightens. For a weekday event outside peak season, a couple of weeks of lead time is often workable — but earlier always means better vehicle options.
Also planning a trip to Ball Arena or the National Western Stock Show? Those guides cover their own drop-offs and parking rules.
Book Your Empower Field at Mile High Bus Today
The right bus for your Broncos Sunday or your next stadium concert is one call away. Whether it's a fan group tailgating from Aurora, a suite group moving from a downtown hotel, or a flight landing at DEN, Auroraminibuscompany.com helps you compare party buses, charter buses, and minibuses from a large network of bus companies serving Aurora and the greater Denver metro. Call 720-949-7830 any time for a price quote, or use the online tool for instant pricing — no account required.
