JON CALDERA: A Broncos bargain: No new stadium until Denver is safe & clean.

The people of Colorado have been faithfully loyal to the Denver Broncos, win or lose, for 65 long years. We should get a fraction of that loyalty back. If your girlfriend demands you buy her a new car or she’s leaving, you might be dating the wrong girl.

Look, we all know how this game is going to play out. Once the Broncos have a decent season or two, they’ll announce their plan for a new stadium. The “economic development” bros will pimp study after study showing how this colossal redevelopment will pay for itself many times over within 15 minutes of the first kickoff. (Really, every city should build 10 stadiums to be rich). And there will be rumors of cities wanting to lure the Broncos to their town.

Bottom line: sports-crazed voters will pass the tax and debt package, and a new Dixie cup stadium will go up.

So, why don’t we taxpaying Broncos fans get out in front of it? Before the Broncos owners make a deal with the city, let’s demand a deal from the Broncos. Instead of waiting for them to threaten to leave, let’s hold a new stadium over their heads until we get something first.

Taxpayers are diffused, rarely organized to flex political muscles or negotiate for real results, so we get little for what we pay for. Perfect example: tax increases for schools.

Colorado’s educational system is a failure. Reading and math scores are in the toilet. So, inevitably, school districts ask for more money to fix the problem, promising with more cash our kids will finally read and write at grade level. But we never demand any accountability in exchange.

You wouldn’t build your house like that. You wouldn’t pay a contractor the full price before he even put a shovel in the ground. You’d give him enough money to get started. Then, when he finishes the foundation, you’d give him another check, when the framing is done, another check, and so on.

We should only agree to school tax increases if the deal is structured with guaranteed outcomes before money is paid. The school district gets a first tranche of money to get started and then, in two years, if reading and math scores reach a mutually agreed level, they get the next tranche.

The accountability must be verifiable and agreed to before we say yes.

This could take a while.