{"id":843231,"date":"2025-04-24T13:12:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T18:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/nwsl-denvers-70-million-project-overcomes-major-obstacle-to-make-huge-impact-on-womens-soccers-future\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T13:12:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T18:12:27","slug":"nwsl-denvers-70-million-project-overcomes-major-obstacle-to-make-huge-impact-on-womens-soccers-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/nwsl-denvers-70-million-project-overcomes-major-obstacle-to-make-huge-impact-on-womens-soccers-future\/","title":{"rendered":"NWSL Denver\u2019s $70 Million Project Overcomes Major Obstacle to Make Huge Impact on Women\u2019s Soccer\u2019s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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\u201c<\/span>I don\u2019t believe this stadium will ever be built\u2026 I wish that I did,\u201d <\/span><\/em>remarked Denver City Councilwoman Sarah Parady, seemingly crushing the dreams of the 16th <\/span>NWSL<\/span><\/a>\u00a0franchise during an initial meeting where the club unveiled its ambitious $70 million stadium project. At the time, it felt like they had hit a brick wall\u2014like their much-anticipated dream was about to go up in smoke. But now, <\/span>it seems<\/span> there\u2019s finally some good news on the horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier, they <\/span>announced plans <\/span>to build a 14,500-seat stadium and entertainment complex at Santa Fe Yards. Located on Broadway and Interstate 25, it would span 14 acres, with the entire design project led by the architectural firm, Populous. Yet, <\/span>concerns were recently raised<\/span><\/a> during a South Platte River Committee meeting about the project\u2019s financial implications and rushed decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the second meeting seems to have won the motion of confidence. As <\/span>per the latest reports<\/span><\/a> from The Denver Post, <\/span>the majority of the<\/span> City Council members are not skeptical about the project anymore. <\/span>\u201cI think in the last meeting, they just didn\u2019t have enough information and weren\u2019t comfortable,\u201d<\/span><\/em> said Rob Cohen<\/strong>, the owner of Denver NWSL .<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the previous meeting, the CEO of the yet-to-be-named team had sent a bold response to the city council\u2019s skepticism, stating all the stakeholders are <\/span>\u201cvery committed\u201d<\/span><\/em> to the project and unequivocally told they won\u2019t \u201cabandon\u201d<\/em> their idea at all costs. Likewise, joining the chorus was also Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez, who rather found the committee\u2019s skepticism\u00a0<\/span>\u201ca little bit disturbing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Denver NWSL team owner Rob Cohen and city leaders are back in front of a City Council Committee trying to get members to vote YES to move forward on plans for a new permanent stadium at Broadway & I-25. @KOAColorado<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/L2dspe4MOH<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Robert Dawson (@DawsonRob) April 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Further expressing her displeasure, Alvidrez adde<\/span>d<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThis, to me, is a small investment in an area that has historic redlining<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>that has<\/span>\u00a0a lack of public spaces.<\/span>\u00a0I\u2019m pretty appalled that when it comes to investing in this area, all of a sudden it\u2019s too much.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Well, the committee did find it too much. <\/span>Even though the Denver owners were willing to pay the $150 to $200 million cost of the stadium, they were asking $70 million from the City Council by relying on its Capital Improvement Program. The proposal <\/span>involved using<\/span> interest earnings from the $937 million Elevate Denver Bond, approved in 2017 for infrastructure upgrades across the city. The plan was simple; get $50 million for land and nearby infrastructure, with $20 million <\/span>being<\/span> allocated to off-site improvements. <\/span><\/p>\n

This funding would come from shifting resources away from other projects, such as the 16th Street Mall renovation. However, this did not sit well with Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer<\/strong>, who cited economic uncertainty and concerns about betraying voter trust. Despite the backlash, some council members floated the idea of using a voter-approved sales tax to secure funding instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, the second meeting saw the members of the council present a lot of questions concerning the stadium. Ultimately they decided to push it through full council. However, if you think it\u2019s all easy rowing from here for Denver NWSL, there\u2019s a catch!<\/span><\/p>\n

Soccer Denver NWSL still has a long way to go with their $70 million investment<\/span><\/h2>\n

Though the deal has moved to full council, this intergovernmental agreement is set to go through two additional rounds of votes in the coming week. On the contrary, Rob Cohen and Jeff Dolan<\/strong>\u2014chief strategist for the mayor\u2019s office\u2014had <\/span>previously<\/span> met one-on-one with council members to address their questions about the project between the two committee meetings held this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Soccer<\/p>\n

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The same source indicated that Cohen and Dolan <\/span>also<\/span> arranged a site tour this past Saturday and revised parts of the agreement to better align with the city\u2019s interests. However, Councilwoman Jamie Torres<\/strong>, chair of the committee, disagreed with Dolan\u2019s description of the day\u2019s action as a <\/span>\u201cconditional vote.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In fact,<\/span> Torres had more to clarify. <\/span>\u201cI don\u2019t think <\/span>council<\/span> would be digging in as deeply on the details if this was inconsequential to future votes,\u201d <\/span><\/em>she said. \u201cThis is a big deal because we\u2019re talking about <\/span>establishing a commitment<\/span> to use taxpayer dollars for something.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not all; many council members also suggested the idea of Denver NWSL submitting a community benefit agreement to support the surrounding neighborhood. However, Cohen was not ready to disclose how much the ownership group would commit to such an initiative. <\/span><\/p>\n

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What he rather assured <\/span>is<\/span> that the team <\/span>will be disclosing<\/span> its official name in the coming weeks.<\/span> \u201cWe\u2019re working on the name. We are still gathering information from the community <\/span>at large<\/span>,\u201d<\/span><\/em> Cohen said. <\/span>\u201cWe heard you loud and clear.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Either way, let\u2019s see how things unfold for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Camellia Fetzer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer \u201cI don\u2019t believe this stadium will ever be built\u2026 I wish that I did,\u201d remarked Denver City Councilwoman Sarah Parady, seemingly crushing the dreams of the 16th NWSL\u00a0franchise during an initial meeting where the club unveiled its ambitious $70 million stadium project. At the time, it felt like they had hit a brick wall\u2014like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":843232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38072,308,2005],"tags":[12405,5238],"class_list":["post-843231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denvers","category-million","category-soccer","tag-denvers","tag-million"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}