Plans for a new professional women’s soccer team to build a stadium in Denver progressed Wednesday when a once-skeptical City Council committee gave its stamp of approval to key details of the deal.
Denver Summit FC’s owners had said they might abandon the team’s plans to come to the city if the full council didn’t give final approval soon to an initial $50 million public investment. The council’s South Platte River Committee had postponed four items related to the deal the last time it considered them in November.
Now, the full council will consider the measures on first reading on Monday. A final vote is set for Dec. 22.
Under the team’s agreement, Denver would invest up to $70 million in the project. That money would go toward purchasing the land where the stadium is built and making infrastructure and accessibility improvements to the surrounding area. The team has agreed to spend about $200 million on building the stadium itself.
City officials also hope to secure $25 million in federal grant dollars to build a pedestrian bridge from the nearby RTD station at Interstate 25 and Broadway to the stadium site.
An initial $50 million allocation is what the council advanced Wednesday afternoon. About $36 million of that would go toward the land acquisition, and another $15 million would go toward preparing the site for the stadium.
The committee approved four items that would finalize the deal if the full council approves them.
“It’s critically important that female athletes and female fans feel invested in. When you’re a tenant in a stadium, it’s not your true hub,” Jen Millet, the president of Denver Summit FC, told reporters after the vote, speaking about the importance of building the stadium. “Women deserve that. Just like men.”
The 14,500-seat stadium is planned for Santa Fe Yards, the former site of the Gates Rubber Co. The long-term plan for the site includes a neighboring mixed-use development with housing, restaurants and a hotel. The team is estimating there will be 40 to 50 ticketed events per year at the site and up to 250 less formal events like meetings, weddings and banquets, said Dan Barrett, an advisor for the team’s ownership group.
Council members initially postponed the four items because they said city officials had not yet provided all the financial details for how the dollars would be spent. It was another sign of deepening friction between Mayor Mike Johnston’s office and the council.
While the meeting Wednesday included some mentions of frustration and complaints of a cramped timeline — as when Council President Amanda Sandoval addressed the team’s comments about possibly leaving the city — it was notably less tense than the November discussion.
“As a female and as a leader on council whose job it is to help my colleagues usher this in, that felt like a direct attack on me because I was asking questions,” Sandoval said during the meeting.
Rob Cohen, the team’s controlling owner, responded that it was not the team’s intent to threaten the council.
Under the franchise agreement with the National Women’s Soccer League, Denver FC’s owners must build a stadium ready for play by March 2028. Team officials said that’s why they would have to consider other cities if Denver didn’t move quickly enough.
In the spring, the council approved the general framework for the deal, but several members said at the time that they were uncertain if they would ultimately approve the payments because of unstable city finances.
The city’s investment will come indirectly from interest accrued from the 2017 Elevate Denver bond program. The city will put that interest toward other city projects that are being paid for through its capital projects fund, using the fund’s resulting savings for the stadium.
The team has also settled on terms for a community-benefits agreement with groups representing the neighbors around the stadium site, city officials said Wednesday.
That agreement, which outlines things the ownership group has agreed to do for the surrounding area, is now being drafted. The council isn’t a party to that agreement, but its members typically wait to approve major allocations until such an agreement is settled. Sandoval asked that the lawyers working on the agreement send council members the draft by Friday so they could review it before they vote.
A rezoning hearing for the site is set for Monday.
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