The Broncos’ charitable arm raised over $130,000 from the sale of cardboard fan cutouts, far exceeding officials’ expectations and recouping most of the team charity’s losses from the pandemic. All told, 10 NFL teams have raised just over $1M via the cutouts, a league spokesperson said, under a new policy that allowed them if they benefitted nonprofits. The Broncos have displayed about 3,000 cutouts in all, including 1,800 that depicted characters from “South Park” last week as part of a charitable contribution from Comedy Central and South Park Studios.” Another 1,000 were bought by fans for $100 each, and a few hundred more were created to honor first responders and supported by team sponsors. Broncos Exec Dir of Community Development Allie Engelken said she thought they might sell 500. “I was pleasantly surprised and excited for the interest we received,” Engelken said. The $130,000 haul rights the ship for Denver Broncos Charities, which had to cancel or alter its three biggest offseason fundraisers: A TopGolf outing with the rookie class; a kickoff luncheon for sponsors (a digital replacement was used), and the food festival “Taste of the Broncos.” “It gets very close to replacing those losses,” Engelken said. “Not fully, but enough that we will not have to cut any of our programs or grant programs for 2020 and into 2021.” Nine other teams are selling the fan cutouts: Ravens, Rams, Bengals, Lions, Chargers, Texans, Vikings, 49ers and Titans. The Rams say they raised $165,000.
