of tonight's underdog win. we're taking a closer look at what to watch. and before the gates open- the heart of downtown is transformed into one big broncos party. what to do today- before this is 9 news. good morning, it won't be long now before the sun comes up over the field at mile-high stadium, the grass is painted, looks gorgeous, the signs are up, the fans are ready for the 2016 season kick off. >> it will take the effort of champions to pull off tonight's underdog win. >> and before the gates open and people show up here, the heart of downtown nfl party, we'll talk about all of that coming up in the next half hour. good morning, everyone, thanks for joining u we are live at the stadium, gary, corey and cheryl with you, we decided to show up early because we needed a good seat. >> warming up the seat, no big deal. >> all right. we'll be back out with more, now over to marty, marty sounds like it will be a perfect night for a football game. >> i can't imagine better this

wet wind and rain around here, we're not going to be seeing that at all during the night tonight. the last night, gosh, fantastic around here, sunset across the area, lots and lots of imagery coming in, keep it coming. clear conditions for you this morning, if you are getting out the door after 6:30, bear in mind, eastbound as you are going to have sun glare this morning. thunderstorms wrapping up in northeastern colorado, had a couple in washington and yuma county early this morning, those are done. ea upper 80s to near 90 degrees during the afternoon. now, the one problem we're going to have across the region from jackson county touch the north into wyoming is red flag warnings, extreme fire danger into the panhandle of nebraska, the friends to the north, concerned about wind and low humidities, for the evening, the temperatures in the 70s to low 80s with clear skies around here. true summer-like weather to kick

>> so what a day to enjoy it, too, so many people down around civic center park today, and enjoying those pregame festivities and heading down to mile-high, it will be a great day to be in denver. outside we go, some of us have to work first, we'll get you to the office right on time. got your c-470 commute, flowing smoothly at broadway, enjoy the drive across littleton and highlands ranch, no problems. views across 470 equate the sun is back. we're going to see that sun glare in the eastbound lanes of traffic. outside across the maps, a problem around green valley ranch. back in the traffic center and check it out. overall, enjoying speeds like this. >> wow, that is nice. >> yeah. it's 5:32 right now, the broncos are starting the season at a full gallop.

regular season tonight. corey, gary and cheryl are back out at mile-high stadium this morning, we're getting a real strong orange and blue vibe coming from you. you look coordinated, like a singing group. >> in is like your uniform. >> we dressed the part, any way. >> this is our fall broncos version, we have the fall version and then the winter version. >> so after the super bowl win, i will bet there was not one person in colorado that thought, well, when time, trevor siemian will be the quarterback. that came out of nowhere. we'll see how it works out. but the teams behind him, trevor siemian will make history tonight, going to be become the first nfl quarterback from the defending super bowl team to take the field without ever having thrown an nfl pass. now, somebody tweeted us earlier and said brian was and we checked and he's not. >> he threw three passes in the regular season when he was a backup for elway. just three. >> trevor siemian.

he did not have the most stellar preseason of any of the broncos but he did just enough to make the team, that's for sure, he played well enough, siemian completed almost 63% of his passes for 285 yards. one touchdown and 2 interceptions. that was his preseason. with the broncos. >> so he's going to have play well for tonight and the entire season if siemian wants to keep the starting job, waiting in the wings is rookie quarterback paxton lynch, lynch s reps throughout the preseason, including playing the entire last game a week ago, he showed a lot of promise. he did throw a costly pick in the fourth, that would cost denver the game. a first round draft pick out of memphis, completing 59% of his throws, 4 touchdowns, 2 interceptions. >> before all of the festivities tonight and the big game, of course, denver fans are already planning to party, they started yesterday, they're going to

9 news report ser joining us live in civic center park, a lot happening there. >>reporter: oh, so much happening down here, guys, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., can you believe this setup? that's going on right behind me. to civic center park, very difficult to navigate the area, there's a lot of closures, but you are totally rewarded with this. the city and county building totally decked out for this game this evening. look at the colors, look at the lightninhi up, so much fun for you know for the players and all of theen fas, this is our -- the fans, this is your area, to have the time of your life. dirks bentley. they are going to be out here for a free concert. this is all for you, they're doing this so you can kick off football season in the right way. we're expecting to see some fan out here this morning.

you know, calling in sick today, maybe, because this is just that big of a deal. i know we live in broncos country, right, we are always united in orange. they're telling everyone, if you're coming down here to civic center park today, sport that orange, head to toe, maybe die your hair orange, do what you have to do to make sure you are one of the denver broncos fans. we may be joined by carolina panthers fans. we talked to theef super bowl last year. we gave them their five minutes of fame to tell us why they thought they were going to beat us. that didn't happen, a lot of smack talk happened but this morning, guys, we know who is king of colorado right now, huh? >> i'm surprised their coming back for more. >> didn't they learn last time? >> they do have a great fan base here in colorado.

were on the field. >> are you dying your hair orange? >> huh? for tonight. do that ryan lochte thing? with blue hair? maybe not. okay. let's -- >> remember when we did that to greg. >> yeah. >> all right. well, i don't have much hair to die, but i could die my skin, i guess. all right. let's send it over to marty. around here, we have dry weather conditions, guys, and the reason for that is we have the monsoon wind that has shd and also the remnants of tropicaltorm newton has pushed over into texas this morning, that leaves us with sunshine through the day, rapidly warming. i know it's cool, i see you guys with your little sweatshirts on your legs there, it will warm rapidly this afternoon into the upper 80s to near 90 degrees and of course, i can't really see any reason to change a forecast we've had for the last week for this game. still anticipating warm, dry conditions through the evening. barely slipping below 70 degrees

broncos win between 9:00 and 10:00. >> oh, i like how you called that, wrapping up the broncos win. thank, marty. it is 5:37. prosecutors have reached a plea deal with the driver who crashed a school bus with kids on board, the driver could spend a year on probation. elizabeth was accused of driving erratically. the bus rolled on its side. she drove for the school 13 charges, including dui and child abuse. she reached a plea deal and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of careless driving yesterday. now, in addition to probation, she will face a fine and community service. her sentencing is next week. it was the place where a 3 million gallon toxic spill started, before flowing into the animas river. now, the gold king mine will be a super fund site. that means the epa has cleared

dollar federal cleanup. the epa also added other nearby mine related sites, and sites in 8 other states to the super fund list. some people living near the gold king mine in colorado were worried, though, that a super fund designation could hurt tourism in the area. after weeks of media attention, and a lot of effort from the city of denver, people in the cherry creek trail say things are looking better. denver police have made 128 felony drug arrests on the trail this year, parks and rec collected 3500 spent needles along the creek and the department has spray painted those no loitering signs in the areas where people were just doing heroin in broad daylight. support groups are concerned, though, that the crackdown is sending drug users underground where they may be harder to reach and help, but others say the cleanup is better for safety and the similar city's image. hillary clinton can donald trump were on the same stage, not at the same time what both of them had to say as we get

broncos, why he's picking the

we have breaking news to show you right now, sky 9 is over the area of 56th and pena, that is where we're hearing a person was hit by a car. a pedestrian hit. we're working to confirm any road closures, amelia earhart is looking into this right now, checking out alternate routes, and all of the other information from the accident. we will get that for y up in just a few minutes but again sky 9 headed to the scene at 56th and pena, where there has been an accident involving a person getting hit by a car. all right. good morning, everyone, thanks for joining us again, we are out at the stadium, mile-high stadium, we will call it that, it doesn't have a name. everybody wants to call that all the time, we don't have a chance, because it's sponsored,

we'll call it mile-high stadium. >> we're optimistic about the game tonight, it is kickoff of the first game, if the past opener performances are any indication, here are the stats, since 2000, the broncos are 15-1 in home openers, the best in the nfl. >> oh. >> that is pretty cool. so they might be the 3- point under dogs, but they won the super bowl by 2 touchdown, let's not forget that. the season openerru that takes you back to the orange crush, doesn't it? and you know, it's a big game, when bob costas comes to town. >> right. >> so spends a lot of time in rio, covering the olympics, takes a week or so off, heads to denver. yeah. he's coming for the big game today. and he's talking to people there, throw the ball, yeah, he's asking somebody to get open. right? he's going to start his second decade as host of football night in america, he's one of the few

broncos can pull off a win tonight. >> there's always going to be nay sayers. they have, obviously, quarterback is an essential position and a very unusual circumstance, to have someone of siemian's inexperience and his collegiate background take over a team of this caliber, but most of the essential personnel is back and they won the super bowl, so i consider them a contender. >> yes. >> thank you, costas, thank you. because everyone looks at the quarterback, that such a key position, but denver has shown, that the corner stone can be the defense, too, and von miller is back, and a lot of the defense is back, and you can never count out a team when their defense is as strong as the denver broncos. >> we'll talk to ron about it, but i do think that a, as you said, the defense is the same, b, i think siemian has showed that he's capable, he's got a

offense, which is a running offense and they run to set up the pass, and i think that's going to -- i think that's going to be a big deal tonight. >> i love kubiak's philosophy, i take it play-by-play and it worked out for him. >> that defense has been watching a lot of film on cam newton. >> that's for sure. there will be a lot of traffic around the stadium throughout the day, and tonight, coinciding right around rush hour. >> it will be super busy because a lot of folks are going to cl try to get to their destination, wherever they're going to watch, early for that incredible pregame show, civic center park, a lot of volume right around downtown denver. so the 16th street mall ride is going o be awfully busy, a lot of folks filtering in and out of town. out we go to the current conditions, not too bad n. the meantime, a nice easy start, but here is your broncos traffic game plan, to help you get around town if you're headed

tonight, starting out around 3:00 or 4:00 this afternoon, civic center park, colfax, 14th broadway and bannock, very busy. and as for your game plan, we want to hear where you're headed, send us a tweet, #9 news and #9 news mornings. amelia, sunshine through the day, once it comes up here in about an hour, we'll be very warm by late this afternoon. temperatures in the upper 80s, to near 90 degrees. humidity levels high this morning, over the eastern plai range as we are not going to have any storms yet again today. there are areas of high humidity over right along the kansas-nebraska border, i still they we could see 1-2 isolated storms for our friends on the extreme eastern plains today. red flag warning out again today in jackson county, noon to 7:00, gusts to 30 miles per hour and low humidity levels, remember,

no more sending ground troops to iraq, that's what democratic nominee hillary clinton promised. the first ever commander in chief forum, focused on national security, and military issues, she said the same no ground troops rule would apply in syria, when clinton started at secretary of state, 200,000 troops were deployed, in iraq and afghanistan.

republican presidential candidate, donald trump, defending his opinions on the war on iraq and his relationship with russian president vladimir putin. clinton's claim otherwise -- he said he does not regret saying good things about vladimir putin because putin said good things about him. all right, guy, we're going to take a look here from sky 9, unfortunately, we are reporting yet another fatal crash this accident involving -- two pedestrians, and at least one vehicle here. what we know so far is that one person has died in this car versus pedestrian crash. another person has been taken to the hospital. and we're still waiting to learn more about their exact condition. this is all happening at 56th and tower road. which is directly to the east from 56th and pena boulevard. right now, the intersection is closed off, it's a very, very dark intersection, there aren't

there is basically the police lights there and some smaller basically street lights in the area, illuminated the way. sky 9 launched early to get us this picture. pena and 56th will be the best way to get around these delays, we'll continue to find out more here. the maps, the rest of the drive has been calm and quiet, the views to the east are going to get complicated if you are headed to dia, plan that there is visibility here out across pena boulevard, if you're headed

occasionally wind gusts to 20-25 miles per hour in the mountains, and foothills, otherwise, just a dry, warm day, mid 80s to near 90 for our daytime highs, record high is 94. we're going to come to that. plenty of humidity over eastern colorado, as that shifts to the east, i still think we could see isolated storms right along the kansas-nebraska border, otherwise, especially from the front range west, completely dry today. 80s and 90s around here, through northeastern colorado and the west, plenty windy and warm for the mountain valleys with 70s to near 80s. occasionally breezy, especially this afternoon, the wind dies down, we stay generally clear through the night, going into the low 50s, look for some gusty winds out of the northeast tomorrow. 20 miles per hour-plus. as we get bumped back into the 70s. a few clouds saturday morning. give way to clearing skies for the rest of the weekend.

welcome back, everyone, we are live at the stadium, we are previewing tonight's game with the carolina panthers and the denver broncos, kind of a repeat of super bowl 50, i guess, if you're not coming to the game, you've got to be on channel 9. that is the place to watch all of the game today and all of the

4:00 on 9 news right here from inside of the stadium, then at 5:30, nbc will have its kickoff special, they'll be down at civic center park, with previews of the game as well as the concerts down there. dirks bentley and one republic. 9 news will be the first in the locker room as always to get you interviews and analysis with the players. >> turn your tv's on for a special pregame chaio 70,000 ticket hold toers be in their seats please, by 6:00, a super bowl championship celebration begins at 6:20. it's a big celebration, at 6:20. again, kickoff at 6:40. they say things for tonight. >> yeah. >> you know. >> that's kind of fun. as you're digging out the orange and blue this morning, share your favorite game day pictures with us. we're going to use the #we are

show off your broncos swag, and show off your cute kids because we've seen a lot of cute pictures of the kids in the orange and blue, and peyton manning jerseys, too, i think people start getting their trevor siemian jerseys. >> a lot of little number 18s out there. little number 7 there. >> i like the little cheer leader on the left side with the skirt on. >> use the #we are broncos and we will a here. >> all right. >> we'll help you show off your kids. a lot coming up in the 6:00 a.m. we'll talk to michael hancock about all of the stuff going on, he's got to be a proud guy today in the city. >> absolutely. >> a lot of things going on. that's it for 9 news at

this is 9 news. breaking news now, sky 9 has launched early to head out over the intersection of 56th and pena boulevard where an auto-pedestrian accident has happened, one person has been killed in this crash and another person has been taken to the hospital. according to denver police, they just tweeted out information, that there were cars, plural involve, and we are working to learn more on the condition of the person hospital. right now, 56th is closed down underneath pena boulevard, all lanes of pena remain open at this point in time. it's a very, very dark start to the east, of course, we are still in the darkness, so in that area, the only light near that intersection would be from the street lights and the headlights of the cars. to the maps here, we'll talk about alternates to get around the delays that are inevitable here. 56th closed down beneath pena, the ramps are shut down from pena boulevard as well as in the