ENGLEWOOD — Greg Penner is “not satisfied” with the Broncos simply reaching the AFC Championship Game.

The team’s controlling owner and CEO made his ambitious mindset clear during a Wednesday news conference at Broncos Park.

“The main message is that we are not satisfied,” Penner said. “We know that we have a lot of work to do. We have obviously made a lot of progress in the last four years, but we are going to work our tails off this offseason and come in next year ready to go.”

The Broncos finished last season 14-3 and fell in the AFC title game, 10-7, to the Patriots. Penner called the result against New England as “disappointing and not what we were expecting.” But he gave credit for the success of players, coaches and the front office in making a deep run. Penner also gave a shoutout to Broncos Country.

“We really reestablished a strong home-field advantage this year,” Penner said. “Our fans were just incredible.”

The Broncos also successfully overcame an $85 million dead cap hit created by releasing ex-quarterback Russell Wilson ($53 million in 2024 and $32 million in 2025).

“I think we navigated it well,” Penner said. “You prefer not to have that kind of dead money on your books because it can be a limiter, but I love the approach we took — which was none of us were ever going to make any excuses for that. … We’re going to have to be scrappy, and we’re going to figure it out and put a great product on the field. I think that we’ve done that.

“We’re in a good position now in terms of cap space, as well as our draft picks. That’s exciting as we go into this offseason.”

Penner deferred to the coaching staff and front office when asked for specifics on where the team fell short this season and what positions must be addressed — “I think that’s their job, and what they do really well,” he said — while acknowledging the Broncos won’t stand idle in free agency.

“We’ll definitely take an aggressive approach, but we’re also not just going to bring in somebody that’s not right for this locker room,” Penner said. “There’ll be a lot of factors that we consider. I’d say we’ll be opportunistically aggressive.”

Penner explained that his approach toward making football decisions with general manager George Paton and coach Sean Payton is to “probe and ask lots of questions” and not be in a position to “make any final decisions without their input.”

Penner added: “If the two of them agree on something and recommend it, it would be pretty unlikely that I’d ever overrule that.”

Penner also explained his approach to building relationships with team members.

“I think what’s important is for our players to know that we care about their success,” Penner said. “We want to enable them to perform at the highest level that’s possible for them. … You’re not trying to become best friends with the players. I don’t think that’s the right relationship, either.”

The Broncos have reestablished a winning culture reminiscent of the Pat Bowlen ownership era. They’ve also taken transformational steps to upgrade facilities. Like a new $175 million team headquarters and training center, adjacent to their current facility, with an expected completion before next season. Broncos team president Damani Leech told The Denver Gazette last month that the project is “on budget and on schedule.”

“Right now, because we’ve been space constrained, we essentially have four different buildings — three here and one at the stadium — where we have people located. This will allow us to bring those people into one location,” Penner said. “At the same time, we wanted to size it in a way that player travel, and how they manage their daily work was easy for them. The whole first level will be player-oriented. That will be tied into the field, and the weight room and locker room will be much bigger.”

Penner also gave an update on the Broncos’ progress toward a new stadium with their preferred site at Burnham Yard. It is projected to open for the 2031 season. He said the team is “working through preliminary designs with architects” and community planning with surrounding neighborhoods.

The Broncos will host a second community open house in February to continue that dialogue.

“We’re listening. That is what this period is about. Taking in that input and thinking how that is going to impact what our plans are as we come up with a community benefits agreement,” Penner said. “There are also lots of conversations with City Council members. We think that we will create something that is going to be special for the city of Denver and the state of Colorado. We also understand that when you take on a project of this scale, there is going to be a lot of different opinions, and we have to take those in and then come up with the right solution.”

The Broncos plan to utilize a retractable roof on the new stadium. That discussion peaked during the AFC Championship Game when snow flurries disrupted the second half against New England at Empower Field.

Will the Broncos’ retractable roof be closed under similar circumstances in the future?

“We’re evaluating retractable roof options,” Penner said. “In this case, you all saw the weather this year. It was fantastic really until the last game. The NFL does have guidelines or rules around the home teams selecting or choosing what they’re going to do with their roof, and when they can open or close it. So, we’d obviously comply with that. In this case, we would have likely closed it ahead of time given both the temperature and the potential precipitation.

“That being said, who knows if that would’ve had any outcome on the game? Either way, this would have been more around what was going to be good for the fans. It was pretty rough.”