NEW YORK - Barack Obama will have a big stage when he accepts the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Democratic National Committee says Obama has agreed to give his acceptance speech at Mile High stadium in Denver.
Selection of the 76,000-seat facility that is home to the NFL's Denver Broncos appears to be aimed at least partly at filling a gap in fundraising.
The Democratic party convention is being held Aug. 25-28 at Denver's Pepsi Center, which holds up to 21,000 people.
However, lagging fundraising and cost overruns have left the host committee some $12 million short of the $40.6 million it has pledged to raise for the convention.
Committee members have spoke opening of the need for Obama to help and the selection of Invesco Field at Mile High would help that cause.
"Lots of conventions have had no connection to their host cities, but this one is really going to take advantage of being in a state that's going to be an important general election battleground," said convention organizer Jenny Backus.
"... What better way to kick off the fall campaign and get thousands of supporters and grassroots organizers all in one place to get fired up."
Obama is known for drawing huge crowds to many of his speeches. In May, a record 75,000 jammed into a riverside park in Portland, Ore., to hear him speak shortly before that state's primary.
Obama is scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday, Aug. 28, the fourth and final night of the convention.
It coincides with the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
