Updated at 1:12 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Denver’s incoming National Women’s Soccer League team has set its sights on the Baker neighborhood as the home for its future stadium.
But before shovels hit the ground, the proposal will have to go through Denver City Council, because the city plans to help acquire the land.
“The land that's going to be under the stadium and then kind of adjacent to the park, we want to make sure that stays public,” said Laura Swartz, director of communications for the city’s Department of Finance. “So we are going to help purchase that land.”
In addition to the land, the city will help fund public infrastructure around the stadium, like streets and sidewalks. A final price tag for that surrounding work hasn’t been set yet, but will become clearer when a proposal is officially entered into the city council agenda.
While the city is helping buy the land and develop infrastructure, the stadium itself will be built using private dollars from the NWSL team’s ownership.
The public-private partnership means the city and its residents will be able to use the land for public events, like graduations, festivals and farmers markets.
“It also means whenever the stadium's not on the land anymore in the future, the city has an option to take it back and make it city-owned land that we don't have to pay future real estate prices for,” Swartz said.
Details on what funding mechanism the city will use to fund their side of the purchase will be available when it comes to city council.
The stadium is set to open in 2028. The team will start playing in 2026 at an unannounced temporary site.
Excitement surrounds the project, but one city leader questions its funding
Beth Fluto, the president of the Baker Neighborhood Association, said she’s cautiously optimistic about the stadium.
She’s excited to get rid of the dirt lots at the south end of the neighborhood, and hopes the city and the team will make good on their promise to create a dialogue with neighbors as they shape the vision of the stadium.
“Baker right now is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Denver and we'd love to see this enhance that, improve it and there's always housing issues,” Fluto said. “Are we going to have some affordable housing? There is something we're concerned about as well.”
Flor Alvidrez, the city councilmember who represents the district the stadium will be built in, is excited.
“All I can say is District 7 was the perfect space,” she said during a press conference at the Girls Athletic Leadership School.
Meanwhile, Sarah Parady, one of Denver’s two at-large councilmembers, said it's too soon to say how she’ll vote on the proposal once it enters council. But she’s guarded about where the city will find the money to invest in the project.
“Capital improvement dollars are precious, they're scarce, and I just think we need to always put that in context for the public when we're thinking about spending them on something,” Parady said.
Editor's note: Due to an editor's error, a previous version of the subhead on this story incorrectly stated who would be paying for the stadium.
