The Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup playoff game on Saturday at Ball Arena, mixed with Juneteenth celebrations downtown, drew the largest crowd to Denver since St. Patrick’s Day 2019, according to data from the Downtown Denver Partnership.
About 277,520 people came downtown Saturday to enjoy the Avalanche watch parties, helped by Denver’s streamlined approval process for expanded alcohol service areas outside bars and restaurants and places like Ball Arena and the Auraria Campus.
It was the biggest crowd in downtown Denver in years. The biggest in 2022 before Saturday was on April 9, when 262,806 people showed up for the Colorado Rockies Opening Day weekend. The All-Star Game last year drew 232,952.
It's a far cry from the huge crowds seen in 2019. St. Patrick’s Day that year drew 383,603, according to the Downtown Denver Partnership — which uses a third-party vendor to estimate crowd counts by reading cellphones in the area without gathering personal information.
Chelsea Rosty, chief of staff for Denver Economic Development & Opportunity, predicted last week that the watch parties should “activate downtown as everyone’s celebrating.”
While Rosty didn’t want to jinx the Avalanche by talking about a victory parade, she said the possibility is exciting. The Avalanche could clinch the Stanley Cup with a victory Friday over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena.
It would be the first time Denver has hosted three large parades in one month: Juneteenth Saturday, Pride Parade and a possible Stanley Cup victory parade for the Avalanche.
“We’ll be ready if it happens,” she said. “We’ll be making up for lost time.”
Denver activated its Emergency Operations Center for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Its Office of Emergency Management is working with state and federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, “to evaluate potential threat assessments surrounding the Stanley Cup finals,” according to a news release.
“Denver OEM has prepared an Emergency Preparedness action Plan in coordination with city agency partners, the Avalanche, Visit Denver and other regional partners in preparation for a Stanley Cup win, resulting in any post-victory celebrations.”
Bringing major sports teams to Denver has been an economic development strategy for decades, Rosty said.
“We’re seeing the fruits of our efforts now,” she said. “You also have to remember that media coverage that comes to Denver with these types of events is great exposure for us. We’re already a popular destination, but this will only contribute to that.”
