The Denver Gazette sports business insider is a reader’s guide to understanding the influence of money, politics and power behind their favorite leagues, teams and players:

Sports business insider: The Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche are one step closer to a new practice facility.

Short version: The Denver City Council voted unanimously Monday to rezone about 70 acres of land around Ball Arena owned by Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE). Plans allow for development of housing, parks, restaurants, office space — and potentially — a new NBA/NHL practice facility.

“While I can’t provide any specifics on timeline, I have seen the (practice facility) designs, and they’re pretty incredible for what we’re trying to do here for downtown Denver,” Avalanche and Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke said back in March. “When you’re trying to do something on the scale that we’re trying to execute, obviously, there are a lot of hurdles to be involved.”

Long version: Many NBA and NHL arenas are located in areas split between entertainment, business and residential districts. There are 50-plus acres of surface-level parking lots surrounding Ball Arena. That’s about to change.

But it won’t happen quickly.

The privately financed mixed-used development could break ground in 2026, the Denver Gazette previously reported. However, it could take more than a quarter century to complete. KSE senior vice president Matt Mahoney indicated the project would likely begin with a pedestrian and bike bridge over Speer Boulevard.

The “big date” to keep in mind is 2050.

“This is the date we’re asking for all of our entitlement vesting for both River Mile and Ball Arena to be protected,” Mahoney said. “And in return, we’ve committed to keeping our teams at Ball Arena through 2050.”

Key context: The Avalanche and Nuggets have outdated training facilities in comparison to their NHL and NBA peers. The Avs practice at Family Sports in Centennial — a public ice rink/arcade center/laser tag/events space — with few major upgrades since the 1990s. The Nuggets have just one full-sized practice court available inside Ball Arena that is not their main game floor.

What’s next: Kevin Demoff — KSE president of media and team operations — spoke with The Denver Gazette recently about progress toward a new practice facility for the Avalanche and Nuggets.

“There is great excitement around everything that’s going on with Ball Arena and Elitch Gardens and that long-term process,” Demoff said. “The goal still remains to get a practice facility there. Something that makes a streaming deal seem easy is zoning requirements and getting entitlements to go get the practice facility. … Our team has done a great job of continuing to push that forward. Hopefully, there will be positive news here soon out of the city. Then we can actually figure out what the next steps would be on a practice facility for both the Avs and the Nuggets.

“Because they’re both very deserving. The two things ownership mentioned to me when we first started talking about this were: How do we get on television and how do we continue to work toward a new practice facility? We’re checking one box. It’s time to go to the next box.”