Denver NWSL Team, Cherry Creek School District Hash Out Deal for Temporary Stadium

Denver’s new professional women’s soccer team plans to build a training center in Centennial along with a stadium to serve as the team’s temporary home before a permanent stadium in Denver is ready.

The Denver National Women’s Soccer League team is partnering with the Cherry Creek School District on the performance center and temporary stadium, with the two entities announcing today, March 27, that they will split the estimated $20 to $25 million cost of the stadium, which is intended to open by the 2026 NWSL season.

“The collective investment in the project for Colorado’s first professional women’s major league sports team and the facilities benefitting both [Denver NWSL] and the District will create a mecca for women’s, youth and amateur sports, creating new opportunities for the District’s students to engage with professional athletes in the academic setting and highlight professional women athletes serving as ambassadors for sport, academics and their community,” a memorandum of understanding between the team and the school district describes.

The City of Centennial purchased the land in 2011 where the stadium and training center will sit with the idea of creating a community asset at the intersection of South Potomac Street and East Fremont Avenue across from the Denver Broncos training facility. However, the city couldn’t secure funding to make a project happen until now.

With the NWSL team contributing private dollars and $15 million from a voter-approved 2024 bond from the school district, the land will finally be transformed now that the city has committed to a fifty-year lease on the property for a low fee, according to the memorandum of understanding.

Between the stadium and performance center projects, 31 acres of the 43-acre plot will be developed. Construction must start soon if the soccer team is going to play in the stadium for the 2026 season, however, as the NWSL season typically kicks off in early-to-mid March, about one year from now.

The stadium will seat 12,000 people for the 2026 and 2027 NWSL seasons and then be scaled back to seat 4,000 people for CCSD use into the future. Cherry Creek will then use the stadium for football games, graduations and other events. If the team’s permanent stadium isn’t ready by 2028 as planned, the parties can re-up their agreement for another year up to five times.

The soccer team will continue using the state-of-the-art performance center after the permanent stadium in Denver is ready for use. Prospective features include player lounges, private changing rooms for each athlete, hot and cold plunge pools, red light therapy and a video analysis theater.

Along with the training facility, the development will include eight fields, two of which are grass and the rest of which are turf. Denver NWSL will be responsible for replacement and repair of the grass fields while CCSD will do the same for the the turf fields, but Denver NWSL won’t charge the district for use of any of the fields.

The twenty-year agreement between the two parties allows for equal revenue sharing and operating expenses, with the exception of those specific field repairs.

Cherry Creek School District won’t have to pay its half of the costs until Denver NWSL is done using the stadium; if the stadium gets a naming sponsor through the NWSL team, the district will share in that revenue.

According to a community benefits agreement, the soccer team will also provide internships for CCSD students, instructional presentations to CCSD students and support for the district’s teacher apprenticeship program.

Denver NWSL is making a $100,000 donation to the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation and will annually donate 500 tickets per season to CCSD students for every year the team plays in the stadium, as well. The school district can purchase an additional 50 tickets per game at a discounted rate as part of the agreement.

“This project provides substantial short and long-term benefits for students, families and the community while maximizing taxpayer investment in the district,” Cherry Creek Superintendent Christopher Smith said in an announcement.

The NWSL team will proceed with plans for both stadiums and still plans to announce the team name, logo and colors at a later date.