Top Professional Sports Teams & Events in Boulder, Colorado
Located just 30 miles outside of Denver, Boulder enjoys the benefits of being a suburb to the biggest city in Colorado. Namely, they are just a few miles away from four major sports teams, several of which have had significant success in their professional sports league. Denver is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is located just east of the Rocky Mountains, and Boulder is a similarly beautiful city. Let’s look at the most prominent sports teams in the area and what we can expect from them in the coming months.
Denver Nuggets | National Basketball Association
For most of Boulder’s history, the Denver Broncos have been the favorite professional sports team. In the 1980s and 1990s, even before the Rockies existed, the Broncos were highly successful, winning two championships in the late 1990s.
The Nuggets, on the other hand, were widely associated with professional sports team failures. Before Carmelo Anthony came to town in the mid-2000s, the Nuggets had reached the Western Conference Finals just once in their franchise’s history, and even through the Carmelo era, they had never reached the NBA Finals.
That all changed last season when Denver became the most exciting basketball team for live sport action. Nobody batted an eye when the Nuggets drafted Nikola Jokic in the 2nd round of the 2014 NBA Draft — not even Nuggets fans. Their team had drafted Dough McDermott as the 11th overall pick, and their attention was on him. What happened next surprised everybody. Jokic nearly won Rookie of the Year and Most Improved Player his sophomore year. Two years later, he was a Surprise All-Star and MVP candidate, and just two years after that, at 25, Jokic won the league’s MVP.
His rise catapulted them into conference contention, as he won another MVP and narrowly missed his third last season. With a healthy supporting cast, the 2022–23 team cruised to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history and easily defeated the Heat in the Finals. They are currently defending their title in the NBA playoffs as the #3 seed in the West.
Colorado Rockies | Major League Baseball
The youngest team, the Rockies, came to town in 1993 as one of two expansion teams in the National League. Since then, they have been one of the most successful teams in the league. Their .464 winning percentage is the fifth-worst among all Major League Baseball teams.
The Marlins, the other expansion team from 1993, are slightly worse, but they have two World Series titles during those years. The Rockies have just one pennant and zero championships. They have made the playoffs five times in 32 seasons and never won the National League Western Division.
Last season, the Rockies lost 103 games, the first time in franchise history they lost more than 100 games. This season hasn’t gotten off to a better start, as they are currently 4–15.
Denver Broncos | National Football League
Unlike the Rockies, the Broncos have been a wildly successful franchise in their league. Since 1966, only nine teams have a higher winning percentage than the Broncos’ .544 mark. They are tied for second in the NFL for the most Super Bowl appearances at eight. They are 3–5 in those games and have won three straight after losing their first five appearances with John Elway at quarterback.
Recently, though, the team has struggled. Denver hasn’t reached the playoffs since they won the Super Bowl in Peyton Manning’s last year in the league in 2015. That is eight straight seasons.
During that time, their rival Kansas City Chiefs have won the division each year, reaching four Super Bowls and winning three. When they won their last Super Bowl, the Broncos were unquestionably the best team in AFC West history, but the Chiefs have now surpassed them. They cut Russell Wilson after a disastrous two-year stint and are projected to finish in the last next season as well.
Colorado Avalanche | National Hockey League
While hockey isn’t quite as popular as the previously listed sports, the Avalanche have been arguably the most successful team. They are 9th in the NHL all-time with a .535 points percentage, and their three Stanley Cup championships are more than all but nine teams.
They won their third Stanley Cup two years ago and will be in the thick of the NHL playoffs again this season. They are set to play the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the playoffs as the 3rd Central Division qualifier. Led by solid performances from Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, Denver will be battling it out in the playoffs as the Nuggets look to win back-to-back championships simultaneously.
Are More Teams Coming to Boulder?
It is unlikely that more professional sports teams will come to Boulder. The Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer round out the area’s professional teams, but the metro area isn’t big enough to support multiple teams. However, with the success of the Nuggets and Avalanche, it’s an excellent time to be a sports fan in Boulder.
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