The Denver Broncos are not sitting on the sidelines and waiting to see how Sports Authority’s bankruptcy plays out in court.

The reigning Super Bowl champs have struck up conversations with at least a dozen companies — some current partners, some not — to gauge their interest in the naming-rights for Mile High Stadium in Denver.

“We think it’s a great opportunity for a company to partner with us,” Mac Freeman, the Broncos’ senior vice president of business development, said in an interview with The Denver Post. “Our brand’s connection to this market is incredibly special. On top of it, this city is in a really special time.”

The naming rights for Sports Authority Field at Mile High stadium have been in limbo since earlier this year, when Englewood-based Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That uncertainty grew after the sporting goods retailer failed to reorganize, instead moving to shutter its operations and liquidate its stores.

Sports Authority shelved hundreds of its sponsorship agreements, ranging from little league organizations to professional sports teams including the Broncos and the Colorado Rockies. But the naming-rights contract inked with the Denver Metropolitan Football Stadium district remained active in the bankruptcy process and eventually was included in a group of intellectual property assets to be auctioned.

That has left the stadium district in a pickle. Sports Authority technically remains in good standing in its contract with the district, so the public entity remains bound to the agreement and is forced to play a waiting game, officials said at a board meeting earlier this week.

The district has filed paperwork with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware asserting its right to object to a transfer of the naming rights. But given the circumstances, the district did what it could: Start the process of hiring a marketing team that could sell the rights.

But the privately held football club that calls Sports Authority Field at Mile High home and the company that manages the stadium are hoping to do their part to help land a successor for Sports Authority, which pays upward of $6 million a year for the naming rights.

“Every discussion is different,” Freeman said. “You try not to focus on specific things, you try not to rush. You’re trying to find the right partner. You’re not trying to find the fastest partner or even necessarily the highest paying partner.”

The Broncos would like to see a longer-term partner for the naming rights and the complementary sponsorship agreement with the team, he said.

“You don’t build the equity in the brand” with a 5-year deal, he said. “You want the fans and the community to embrace that partner.”

Freeman said he and the Broncos organization understand the fans clamoring for no sponsorship arrangement, and for Mile High Stadium name to again stand alone on the Broncos’ home field. However, that partner is critical for the future preservation and operation of the stadium, he said.

The team and the district have invested $100 million in the stadium during its first 16 years and anticipate spending another $300 million in the next 30 years, he said.

“A big chunk of the (naming-rights contract) revenue goes to take care of the taxpayer-owned asset,” he said.

The Broncos remain a proponent of having “Mile High” remain a part of the name, he said.

“Most partners that we’re talking to understand the fans’ connection to Mile High,” Freeman said.