WARE, U.K. — In 2022, Greg Penner toured Tottenham Hotspur Stadium not long after taking over as Broncos owner and was thinking about a new stadium for his team. He will return there with plans having come a long way in his quest.

The Broncos will face the New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, three years after Penner was in London to see them defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars 21-17 on Oct. 30, 2022 at Wembley Stadium. The win came two months after the Walton-Penner had bought the team in August 2022 for $4.65 million.

With Penner back in London, he gave an update Friday on the stadium situation in Denver. It had been announced Sept. 9 that Burnham Yard is a preferred site for a stadium with a retractable roof that would open for the 2031 season.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with support, interest and excitement that we’ve gotten since the preferred site announcement,’’ Penner said before a Broncos practice at the Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club in Ware, an hour north of London. “Certainly it’s the first step in the process. We have a long way to go. So the next step is really engaging with community leaders, working on a small-area plan. We’ve had a lot of outreach to (Denver) City Council members, talk with them on the phone. (Owner and wife) Carrie (Walton Penner) has met with a number of them.”

Broncos owners looked at a number of stadiums over the past three years. Penner liked what he saw at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a 62,850-seat venue that opened in 2019, saying it has “some really interesting elements.”

With the Broncos’ expected new stadium to have a retractible roof, that makes Denver a candidate to hold its first Super Bowl. The earliest possible one would be February 2033 since the NFL always has wanted a new stadium to have one year of use before a Super Bowl is granted in the second year.

Penner said having a Super Bowl in Denver is not “what’s driving the planning for the stadium.” But he would welcome one.

“We’d certainly be excited about that,’’ Penner said. “As we’re thinking about the stadium, our first and primary focus is on what’s best for our team, our players and our fans. Then you get to the next step of, ‘OK, we want to have some flexibility.’ It’s the reason why we’re looking at a retractable roof.

“Our intent is for our football games to be played with the roof open in the elements. The exception will be to close the roof, but it would give us the flexibility to host events like Super Bowls, concerts, other events and that’s something we’d be excited about.”

Penner said the Broncos are “still in the early phases of design” on the stadium, “have not selected a contractor yet” and “have world-class architects that we’re talking to.” He said there is no timetable yet for hirings.

As for the Broncos’ other big construction project, Penner said extensive work on new additions at Broncos Park is “about 60% complete.” He said the Broncos are “on budget” and everything is on track to be completed in May.

As for now, Penner is excited about the Broncos coming off a 21-17 upset last Sunday at Philadelphia to raise their record to 3-2.

“I said to the team after the game in the locker room how proud we were of that win,’’ Penner said of the Broncos overcoming a 17-3 deficit early in the fourth quarter. “It wasn’t looking great there for a few quarters, and this team has shown a lot of resilience and was able to bounce back at the end of the game. I think it just shows again the competitive nature of this team and willingness to keep fighting.”

Next, the Broncos will take on a 0-5 Jets team. But the game is expected to be a sellout as the popularity of football in the United Kingdom has continued to increase.

“We’re excited to be here in London again … just to represent the NFL, help grow the game,’’ Penner said.

The Broncos will play their third international regular-season game and each time they have been the visitor. They lost 24-16 to the San Francisco 49ers in 2010 at Wembley Stadium and then returned in 2022 as the visitor to face the Jaguars.

But that will change due to recent NFL guidelines.

“Every eight years, each team is required to play one of their home games over here,’’ Penner said.

The last time the Broncos played in London, they were a mess. The Broncos entered the game against the Jaguars at 2-5 and even though they won, first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett would end up being fired with two games left in the season. Quarterback Russell Wilson, acquired earlier that year from Seattle and signed to a five-year, $245 million extension, had a disastrous 2022 season.

The Broncos finished the year 5-12 and Payton was then hired. Although Wilson was better in 2023, he was released after that season and the Broncos made the playoffs in 2024 for the first time since 2015 with rookie Bo Nix at quarterback.

“We’re a completely different team, different leadership, different quarterback since that time (with) bringing in Sean and having him really build a strong culture of high expectations, winning, competitiveness.’’ Penner said. “We’re on a different trajectory. The roster’s different, leadership’s different.”

It was three years ago that Penner was in the early stages of stadium planning. Now that also has come a long way.