6 Colorado pro sports teams endorse Colorado Connector expansion ballot measure (Denver Post)

The owners on opposite sides of what Broncos head coach Sean Payton called a “family feud” matchup watched Denver storm back and beat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night.

Those same owners, though — the Broncos’ Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group and the Rams’ Kroenke Sports and Entertainment — are teaming up together with sports franchises in Colorado to endorse Issue 7A, the ballot measure put to voters in November that would use a new sales tax to fund expanded daily passenger rail service up and down the Front Range.

The endorsement came Tuesday morning in a joint announcement from six Colorado professional sports teams: The NFL’s Denver Broncos, NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, MLB’s Colorado Rockies, NWSL’s Summit FC and NLL’s Colorado Mammoth.

All six teams currently play near planned stops along the Colorado Connector’s path through the Denver metro area. In the future, the Colorado Connector, or CoCo, is committed to having special event stops at both the Broncos’ planned Burnham Yard stadium site and mixed-use district and also just to the south of there, at Broadway and I-25, near Summit’s stadium and district project at Santa Fe Yards.

The proposal Front Range residents will vote on would add a 0.333% sales tax — 33 cents on every $100 spent — to fund an expansion of the passenger train, which is already set to link Denver’s Union Station to Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins through three daily trips starting in 2029. The tax won’t apply to items exempt under state law, including food, gas, prescription drugs, medical supplies and residential electricity and gas.

If voters approve the tax, the measure will expand service for the Colorado Connector, which is funded in part by the Regional Transportation District and Colorado Department of Transportation, south. The expansion would add two daily trips between Union Station and Sterling Ranch, Littleton, Colorado Springs and Pueblo. It would also add a fourth daily trip to the northern section of the line.

“Broncos Country stretches across Colorado and beyond,” Broncos president Damani Leech said in a statement. “The Colorado Connector would provide fans with another convenient way to get to Broncos games while strengthening connections among communities throughout our state.”

KSE owns the Nuggets, Avalanche and Mammoth among the six teams supporting 7A. They all play at Ball Arena, which is close to Union Station. Executive vice president Mike Neary said, “daily train service will make it even easier to be a part of the action,” while Rockies owner Dick Monfort and Summit owner Rob Cohen offered similarly glowing endorsements.

“We can’t wait to welcome fans to our new home in Santa Fe Yards, and the Colorado Connector will bring them right to it,” Cohen said.

Last month, the Front Range Passenger Rail District’s Board of Directors heard mostly supportive public comments and voted 14-1 to refer the measure to the ballot.