The sale of the Denver Broncos in 2022 opened up millions in funding to Denver-area governments, and Douglas County is determining how to spend its nearly $1 million share of the profits on youth programs.

The county hopes to fund as many programs as it can, said Maureen Waller, special projects manager for the county.

“Of course, how many are ultimately funded will depend on how many apply and how much they request,” Waller said. “And since we plan to use the Youth Commission to evaluate the applications, it will depend on them too.”

Made up of Douglas youth, the Douglas County Youth Commission advises the county’s elected leaders on matters pertaining to youth and teens in the county.

As one of seven counties in the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, Douglas County was awarded the funds late last year that, by law, must be used for youth activities programs, according to a news release.

The Metropolitan Football Stadium District is a government body that was created for the purpose of planning, acquiring land and constructing Mile High Stadium, which is now called Empower Field at Mile High.

The district was authorized to collect a sales tax of one-tenth of 1% throughout the district’s area from 2001 through 2011. The sales tax assists the district in financing the acquisition of land, construction of the stadium and payments of debt service, according to its website.

The funding for youth activities comes from the $4.65 billion sale of the Denver Broncos to the Walton-Penner Group, which resulted in a $41 million refund to the seven counties and 40 municipalities that helped fund the stadium, The Colorado Sun reported.

The funds were to be shared with Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties and the cities and towns within them. Douglas County received about $940,000.

That’s one-time funding, but ideally, the programs the county chooses to fund will be able to continue after the funding runs out, Waller said.

“We want to hear about plans to keep the program (or) activity going in the future. We don’t have an ideal (number) of years in mind,” Waller said.

For Douglas County, proposals for youth activities to be funded were due July 28 and were to be reviewed in August. Grant recipients will be notified in the fall and announced publicly in November at the annual State of the County event.

Douglas County does not have any general topics that it is prioritizing for the funding at this point, Waller said.

“We are interested in hearing from any organization that is providing youth activities programs,” she said.

The county’s criteria for funding included that programs must:

• Occur in Douglas County;

• Provide access for all youth, including those with disabilities;

• And support Douglas County-based organizations with established access to and ability to reach local youth with their proposed youth activities program.

Elsewhere, Wheat Ridge received a portion of the Denver Broncos funds and its city council recently approved funding for a new playground at Anderson Park.

Brighton schools and parks will see the biggest benefit from that city's Denver Broncos funding, city councilmembers agreed in February.