The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team Denver Summit FC may be named for the State’s capital but it could still cancel its plans to build a permanent home in Denver (US) – a message the team sent publicly as the Denver City Council debates plans to provide City funding for the stadium site.
‘Denverite’ stated that the Council delayed a key vote that would release $50 million in City funds for land acquisition and infrastructure construction at the site of Denver Summit FC’s future stadium. The team’s ownership said it was considering options elsewhere.
The Denver Summit FC is a future American professional soccer team based in the Denver Metropolitan area (US) that will compete in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) starting in 2026. It was accepted as an expansion team on January 30th, 2025.
A statement sent out read, “Given the challenges we have faced in the Denver City Council process we are currently pursuing a parallel path regarding the stadium site and engaging with other jurisdictions outside Denver.”
The team isn’t pulling out of its Denver plans – it said it will continue to work with the City on the plan to build in the Baker neighborhood which has been months in the making.
‘Denverite’ further stated that but its statement could put pressure on the Council members to speed up the approval process. The team has promised the National Women’s Soccer League that it will open a permanent stadium in 2028 and the team says it needs approvals in hand by the end of the year to stay on track.
Curt Johnston, General Manager of Denver Summit FC, said in a statement, “Losing this team would be devastating for the thousands of people who have already fallen in love with this franchise and the small businesses who are counting on the boost it will bring.”
Council Member Flor Alvidrez, who represents the Baker neighborhood, did not immediately respond.
The Council members delayed the vote after Johnston’s office presented documents they said lacked key financial details about the City’s plan to purchase the land underneath the stadium and build improvements on it. While the City has officially set aside $50 million for that it hasn’t specified how the money will be spent.
Sandoval said the fine details are necessary given a previous incident where the mayor’s office quietly altered the deal to swap land with a developer to obtain Park Hill without getting the Council’s explicit approval. The City granted the developer more land near the airport than was initially disclosed.
Council President Amanda Sandoval said, “I’m just saying that when I approve something, I want to see the whole entire package.”
Sandoval said the fine details are necessary given a previous incident where the Mayor’s office quietly altered the deal to swap land with a developer to obtain Park Hill Park without getting the Council’s explicit approval. The City granted the developer more land near the airport than was initially disclosed.
The team owners have already sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into Summit FC’s newfound existence mostly to secure the new franchise from NWSL.
At the center of that investment is the planned stadium in Baker. It’s a vision that Denver’s City leaders have bought into hoping that a surge of support for a professional women’s sports team could help revitalize the economy and a plot of land that’s sat vacant for decades near Interstate 25 and Broadway.
Said Johnston when the stadium’s location was announced, “We wanted it to be centrally located in Denver. We wanted to be in a place where it could catalyze a real neighborhood of development around it.”
While the city would invest tens of millions to make the stadium happen it would also retain ownership of the land if the team ever left.
The City’s Finance Department published a study earlier this year that found that over the next 30 years the stadium could generate over $500 million in tax revenue from spending in and near the stadium. If the stadium moves from Denver, the hypothetical tax revenue also disappears.
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