The future home of Denver’s women’s soccer team took a step closer to staying in the city.
Denver City Council’s South Platte Committee moved proposals to purchase and improve the land for Denver Summit FC’s stadium forward for a full vote — easing concerns that the team would leave the city before it has even played its first game.
Council members delayed a preliminary vote last month to release $50 million for both the land acquisition and new infrastructure for the proposed stadium. Council members said the city was missing key details about the proposals.
Shortly afterwards, the team said it was under a deadline and could move the stadium away from Denver if the city didn’t move quickly.
On Wednesday, the council committee continued questioning the funding measure and the slow drip of information from both the city and the team.
Ultimately, the seven committee members voted through four measures related to the stadium. However, they warned that the team still needs to finalize one key piece of information before a pivotal vote next week.
How the city will spend $50 million was disclosed.
When they delayed the vote, council members complained that the city didn’t have specific breakdowns of how it would spend $50 million to purchase and improve the land in the Baker neighborhood.
On Wednesday, the city provided those details. $35 million would be spent on the land acquisition itself, with the rest would be allocated to improvements like excavation and utilities.
The city also projects that onsite work will exceed initial projections, but the team’s ownership will be responsible for any cent more than the $50 million the city has dedicated.
The stadium’s land purchase will be funded through the city’s capital improvement funds. The city was able to carve out room for the stadium land acquisition by funding several other existing capital improvement projects through interest made from the earlier Elevate Denver bond.
Council member Sarah Parady questioned whether $15 million the city would pay for various improvements would be a smart use of city funds.
“It feels to me like we're paying $50 million for a $35 million lot,” she said.
The city also could spend another $20 million on offsite improvements, like parks, trails and other local improvements near the stadium.
The approval of funds faces one more hurdle.
The four measures approved by the council committee still need to be passed by the full council. They will be heard for their first reading by the full body on Monday, Dec. 15.
But council members said they’re still missing one key detail: the official community benefit agreement between the team and community members who live near the proposed stadium.
The agreement is a legally binding document between the two parties that outlines the benefits a community will receive from a major local development. Those can include the use of infrastructure, commitments to affordable housing and more.
Team officials said Wednesday they had come to an agreement with the community last week and are in the process of finalizing the documents.
Council members asked the team to finalize that before the end of the week, or face another delay.
“We cannot vote on Monday without that [community benefit agreement] being provided to us by Friday. I cannot state that more clearly,” Councilmember Darrell Watson said. “There is no way that there is a vote on this on Monday without us receiving a CBA.”
Denver Summit FC is set to kick off their debut season in spring 2026 at a temporary stadium in Centennial.
