David Baker said kickoff game and enshrinement weekend will be special, "Not only for the Broncos, and for Champ Bailey, but especially for Pat Bowlen.’’

KUSA – The Pro Football Hall of Fame has sent an invitation to Broncos fans.

Come on in. Take over our fair city of Canton, Ohio come the first weekend of August.

“We are inviting them to be our honored guests for something that is incredibly special,’’ Hall of Fame president David Baker said in a phone interview with 9News. “Not only for the Broncos, and for Champ Bailey, but especially for Pat Bowlen.’’

Bowlen, the Broncos’ owner since 1984, and Bailey, the team’s standout cornerback for 10 seasons, already had their dates set in Canton – Friday, August 2 for the Gold Jacket ceremony and Saturday, August 3 for their formal induction into the Hall of Fame class of 2019.



Now add what had been expected since Bowlen was elected as a contributor on February 2: The Pro Football Hall of Fame announcing Tuesday his Broncos will kick off enshrinement weekend by playing in the Hall of Fame game on Thursday night, Aug. 1., against the Atlanta Falcons.

“I think the greatness of a man like Pat Bowlen and his contributions is clearly league-wide, it’s national,’’ Baker said. “But to me, Pat Bowlen is synonymous not just with the Broncos and the NFL, but with that city.’’

Baker then cited examples of how a team catapult a city. Vince Lombardi turned Green Bay into Titletown, USA. Steel plants were closing in Pittsburgh but then came Mean Joe Greene, the Immaculate Reception and four Super Bowl wins in the late-1970s.

“All of the sudden Pittsburgh reinvents itself as this wonderful city of art and technology,’’ Baker said.

San Francisco was a culturally divided city and then 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. hired Bill Walsh and drafted Joe Montana and the city bonded together in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Dallas went through a horrible recession and then the Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the early 1990s.

Then there is what the Saints meant to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Drew Brees and Sean Payton helped make the music play again.

“Hope is a powerful economic tool,’’ Baker said. “And I think Pat Bowlen made the people of Denver feel like they were winners, they were champions. Six Super Bowls, winning three -- there are special cities that are so identified with the NFL that you can’t imagine them without that team. Denver is one of those teams.

“And I know you have a great baseball team and a basketball team and a hockey team there. But, respectfully, every time I pass through, it’s a football town.''

The Hall of Fame game will be added to the Broncos’ preseason schedule that will eventually include four other games. The HOF game will make five. In recent years, teams have not come close to playing their 22 starters in the Hall of Fame game, but that’s not the point.

What is the point of preseason games, again? Anyway, this will be the Broncos’ fourth Hall of Fame game appearance. Their first was in 1976 – the first of seven – count ‘em, seven – preseason games the Broncos played that year.

The Broncos behind starting quarterback Steve Ramsey (5 of 6, 66 yards), running back Jon Keyworth (1-yard touchdown run) and kicker Jim Turner (47-yard field goal) beat the Detroit Lions, 10-7 before a gathering of 17,639 at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.

It’s where former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels and current Broncos administrator Mark Thewes played their high school home games. Fawcett has since been remodeled and renamed Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

Based on their roster as it’s presently constructed, the Broncos’ probably starting quarterback on Aug. 1 would not be starter Joe Flacco, but backup Kevin Hogan with No. 3 QB Garrett Grayson getting plenty of reps in reserve.

In 1976, only three men were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Packers fullback Jim Taylor; Los Angeles Dons’ split end and Cleveland Browns defensive end Len Ford and Washington Redskins/New York Yankees coach Ray Flaherty.

The Broncos also played in the HOF game in 1991 – when Earl Campbell was the headliner in a class that also included offensive tackle John Hannah and former Bears linebacker and Broncos defensive line coach Stan Jones – and 2004, when John Elway and Barry Sanders shared top billing.

Elway will return this year as the Broncos’ general manager.

“And then you have the partnership with John (Elway) that Pat had,’’ Baker said. “The concept of “This One’s for John!’’ and “This One’s for Pat.’