HOUSTON -- It isn’t a glamorous decision to make like, say, adding a high-profile free agent or selecting a first-round draft pick. But a deal to put a name on the team’s home stadium is an important one to the franchise.

Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis said during the league’s Super Bowl festivities this past week that his hope was a naming rights deal for what is now Sports Authority Field at Mile High could be concluded by the start of the 2017 season.

Ellis said there are 14 years remaining on the current stadium lease for the Broncos so that’s the length of the naming rights deal the team is shopping. When asked if he believed a deal would be signed by the start of the season, Ellis said: "I hope so."

He then added: "You’re looking in the neighborhood of a $100 million deal. Fourteen years, which is what’s remaining on the lease right now, with maybe some options to go further, but at a minimum to get 10 years."

The Broncos are again shopping name rights for their home stadium because Sports Authority entered bankruptcy proceedings last year. The Broncos took over control of the naming rights this past August and are now working with WME-IMG, a global marketing and talent agency, to secure a new naming-rights partner.

That new partner will be the third company to put its name on the stadium since it opened in 2001. The stadium, built with taxpayer funds, is owned by the Metropolitan Football Stadium District.

Ellis has repeatedly said the stadium will need improvements and repairs over the next 30 years that could cost up to $300 million so the naming-rights deal is a key piece of the Broncos’ financial puzzle as the team operates season to season.

Now that the Broncos have also seen their last two naming-rights partners -- Invesco and Sports Authority -- enter bankruptcy proceedings when those companies held the naming rights, Ellis said the team is trying to both find the right partner and get the deal done.

"I’m not in a rush, a lot of people are in a rush, it's an important piece of future funding," Ellis said. "It's a deal we have to do and do right by the taxpayers ... we hope to have a really solid partner in place as soon as we can, but we’re not going to rush just to get somebody in there just for the sake of getting a name on the building. We’re going to get the right partner for the right name on the building."

Asked if he preferred a Denver-based or Colorado-based company to be that partner, Ellis said: “It would be great to have somebody local, but we’re not restricted to that," Ellis said.

In the big picture, Ellis said the team’s ability to create a strong corporate structure, including the naming-rights deal, would help the Broncos adhere to what owner Pat Bowlen’s mandate has always been -- to keep football first. Former coach Gary Kubiak said it was one of the things that made the Broncos so successful through the years.

"You know it’s all about success, about winning, about having all of the resources you need to compete for championships," Kubiak said last week. "I saw it every season I was with the Broncos, it’s what makes it a special place because everyone is pointed in the same direction."

"As long as we are doing everything we can to put football first and try to win Super Bowls, that’s our objective," Ellis said. "You’ve got to win to keep people interested in you ... it’s a much more rewarding place when you put all of the resources that come out of your hard work back into football. The game is the game and it’s what supports all of that stuff."