A temporary 12,000-seat stadium for Denver’s first professional women’s soccer team will be built in Centennial, ready for the team’s first two seasons, before the venue transitions into a smaller stadium for the Cherry Creek School District for student athletes and their families, Denver’s National Women’s Soccer League team said Thursday.
On the 43-acre property, southeast of the Denver Broncos’ Dove Valley practice complex in Centennial, the league said it also plans to build a 20,000-square-foot training center for professional women athletes. There will be eight fields total, including the temporary stadium field.
In unveiling its plan, the club said the training facility’s design was catered to female athletes and it aims to “be among the best training facilities in the NWSL,” while prioritizing athlete’s recovery through holistic treatments and state-of-the-art recovery facilities.
“Our partnership with the city of Centennial and the Cherry Creek School District represents the power of sports to unite communities and create opportunity,” Rob Cohen, the club’s controlling owner, said in a statement, calling Centennial the perfect home for the team.
“We’re proud to invest in world-class facilities that will support our athletes, engage students, enhance education, and leave a lasting impact on our community and the region.”
The training center will include hot and cold plunges, a float pod, red-light therapy and a recovery lounge, the team said. It will also have a quiet room dedicated for families, a video analysis center, a dining area and lounge for players and their family, and an elite training area for strength and conditioning.
After the 2027 season, the stadium will be reduced to 4,000 seats and will be used by the school district.
The stadium is estimated to cost between $20 million to $25 million and will be split between the district and soccer club, Ashley Verville, director of communications for the school district said.
The district will fund NWSL facilities by using money from the 2024 voter-approved bond measure. In December, CCSD sold its first issuance of 2024 voter-approved bonds and because of the district’s credit rating, the district generated $46 million of additional funds for bond projects, Verville said.
“A portion of these funds will support this project without impacting any of the 2024 bond projects promised to voters,” she said in an email.
The bond dollars can only be used for capital construction projects and cannot be used to cover the district’s operating expenses, such as increasing teacher pay or reducing class size, she said.
In January, women’s soccer fans across the state celebrated as news broke that Denver was selected as the home for the league’s 16th franchise. The team begins play next March.
The ownership group is paying a record $110 million expansion fee to join the league, Sportico reported. For comparison, teams in Los Angeles, San Diego and Utah paid a $2 million entry fee in 2020-22. The last two teams to join the league — Bay FC in San Jose, Calif. And Boston — paid $53 million in 2023.
The team announced this month plans to build a stadium and venue in Denver near the intersection of Interstate 25 and Broadway for the 2028 season.
The school district will have access to the training fields and stadium, along with a “robust benefits package” for its students, families and communities, including internship opportunities for students in sports management, health and wellness, and other related roles, the league said.
The league will also make a $100,000 donation to the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation and give the district 500 game tickets per season.
Beyond the opportunities for students, the partnership will “maximize taxpayer investment in the district,” Cherry Creek Superintendent Christopher Smith said in a statement.
Populous, a design firm that has designed stadiums around the world, including the London 2012 Olympic Stadium, will lead the performance center and temporary stadium design.
The NWSL started play in 2013 to replace the Women’s Professional Soccer league, which ran from 2007 to 2012. The NWSL started with eight teams.
Each team currently plays 26 teams, from March through November.
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Olivia Prentzel covers breaking news and a wide range of other important issues impacting Coloradans for The Colorado Sun, where she has been a staff writer since 2021. At The Sun, she has covered wildfires, criminal justice, the environment,... More by Olivia Prentzel