Orange Crush

In 1977, the Denver Broncos and their infamous Orange Crush defense made their first Super Bowl run… and turned a town into a city.

As the 1970s dawned, Denver wasn't sure it wanted to become a city. The IOC awarded it the 1976 Winter Olympics in 1970 — then in 1972 residents voted the funding bond down, wary of the environmental toll, the taxes, and the overdevelopment. A sinking economy and rising energy costs pulled the place in every direction at once: transplants arriving to play in the mountains, others chasing the oil-and-gas boom, and a country that still saw a "cowtown."

Watching the Broncos in '77, few realized they were watching more than a football team — they were watching a town become a city, wrestling with expansion, race, finances, and identity all at once. Adapted from Terry Frei's award-winning book, '77 follows a team that lost the last game of the season but won something far longer-lasting for the city that claimed it.

No talking heads. Just the table.

'77 Orange Crush is rooted in Denver Journalist Terry Frei's award winning book '77 Denver, The Broncos, and a Coming of Age. We are eschewing traditional interviews in favor of group conversations at historic Denver restaurants, bars, and hangouts to incentivize storytelling, mirroring Frei's original work.