Broncos fans had to celebrate the beginning of football season a little differently this year, adhering to COVID-19 precautions and a no-fans-allowed home game at Empower Field at Mile High.

Without the chance to attend in person, many fans turned to watching the game in restaurants and bars around the city on Monday night.

“I know at Blake Street Tavern we hope to be the next best thing to being at Empower Field,” said Chris Fusilier, owner of Blake Street Tavern in LoDo.

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The Broncos game delivered big for Blake Street Tavern Monday, with an outdoor viewing center almost entirely full of soclally distanced orange-clad spectators.

For John Dee, watching the game at the Tavern was the first time he had been out of the house recreationally in three months.

“I’m happy to be out tonight,” Dee said.

While he usually spends football nights with family, COVID-19 has made it harder to get together. However, he prefers this to being in the stadium in person.

“Now that I got older, I don’t really like to go to the games because I like to focus on the games,” Dee said. “I don’t like being around a lot of people while the games on.”

For others, screenings at places like the Tavern are their only way to watch the game at all.

Fred Chavez typically tailgates at home games and doesn’t have cable at his house. Because of this, COVID-19 has disrupted his ability to enjoy sports.

“I live downtown and I would like to have that experience,” Chavez said. “We can’t go to the Broncos game, we cant tailgate.”

Following current state regulations, Blake Street Tavern is allowed 50 people per room inside and 175 people outside in their new patio section. With three indoor rooms, that’s a total of 325 people — over a third of the tavern’s usual capacity of 900.

The limited occupancy allows patrons to maintain the recommended six-foot distance between tables inside and outside. Servers are masked.

In June, Fusilier added a $20,000 “beer garden” outdoor seating area, complete with corn hole games, string lights and a 6-by-10-foot television.

“We’re trying to get creative but definitely the return of sports is our saving grace,” Fusilier said.

Sunday was especially busy at Blake Street Tavern with over a dozen NFL games telecast on the NFL’s first big weekend.

Fusilier said the restaurant earned $6,000 more in sales than it a year ago on the NFL’s opening Sunday, a rare occurrence during the pandemic.

“People feel really safe inside and outside with what we’re doing,” Fusilier said. “It was just so good to see that we can do this right and responsibly.”

The Denver Broncos will allow a limited number of fans to begin attending home games at Empower Field starting with the second home game on Sept. 27. 

Attendance will be limited to 5,700 fans, approximately 7.5% of the stadium’s capacity.