DENVER, Colo. — Four previously postponed measures regarding the proposed National Women's Soccer League stadium in Denver moved out of committee and toward city council Wednesday.
The four action items were a property agreement, and intergovernmental agreement with the Broadway Station Metropolitan District, an approval to remove $50 million from the Capital Improvement Projects, and the finally, a Department of Finance amendment to the 2025 intergovernmental agreement.
The four items were postponed during November's South Platte River Committee meeting after some pages were left blank and committee members were left without answers to specific questions surrounding the site and finances.
"One of the biggest reasons that these were postponed is we didn't have all the details, and we were provided some blank pages at committee, and so we have the details for those," said District 7 Council member Flor Alvidrez.
Scripps News Denver's Veronica Acosta spoke with Council member Alvidrez before the committee meeting Wednesday. She said she felt optimistic about the work council and committee members had done in the past month surrounding the remaining four measures.
"I feel like we have gotten a lot of answers," she said. "In the last few weeks, we've all been working. All of these things seem like positive momentum that will get us before council."
During Wednesday's meeting, there also a moment where council members and the team's leaders and ownership addressed a statement from November, from Denver Summit FC in which it said it was, "pursuing a parallel path regarding the stadium site and engaging with other jurisdictions outside of Denver."
Denver Summit FC ownership is committed to fulfilling our obligations to the league, our fans, our athletes and the community. That means we need to deliver a purpose-built stadium for women’s professional soccer - on time, ready for play in March of 2028. We have been planning for a permanent stadium at Santa Fe Yards in Denver’s urban core. Given the challenges we have faced in the Denver City Council process, we are currently pursuing a parallel path regarding the stadium site and engaging with other jurisdictions outside Denver. We will continue to engage in an open and honest dialogue with the Mayor, City Council and Community in Denver. We are grateful for the steadfast support that we have received from fans, the community, the Mayor, the business community and small businesses throughout Denver.
"I did not come in last time, thinking I was going to stop this from moving forward," Council President Amanda Sandoval said. "I was asking question from the documents that I received, and that's all I was doing, and that's what I was elected to do."
She added, "I just have to clear the air on that."
Jen Millet, the president for the team, then went on to say the following.
"I would like if I might just apologize for not doing outreach," she said to Council President Sandoval. "Our effort was to make sure that we lived up to that responsibility and not to push back on this process."
Rob Cohen, the owner of the women's soccer league, also addressed the room.
"I just wanted to say, first of all, thank you for bringing it up," he said. "None of us are happy about how the process evolved. I just wanted it to be on public record that we did not go to the media. We did not make threats. Somebody else went to the media and said we were talking to other jurisdictions, and we merely responded to that, and then we were just transparent in the fact that if city council was going to, you know, do their homework and do their work, then we needed to do ours, just as Jen said, to make sure that we were protecting the club, the fans, the players, etc. in case, you know, something happened where the city didn't approve this."
Cohen went on to say, "I think that was our fiduciary responsibility to the fans and to the team and, and it's not meant to be personal in any way. I appreciate the fact that everybody is just trying to do their best and is trying to do what's right, and I told you this long ago, I'm going to assume positive intent from each and every person that we interact with, whether that city council or community, etc, that everybody has the best interest of Denver in mind."
Committee members did go into executive session at one point toward the end of the meeting to discuss "threatened litigation" on the topic of the stadium.
Afterward, the committee voted in favor of moving the action items to full council.
Scripps News Denver reached out Denver Summit FC Wednesday afternoon for comment. A spokesperson for the team provided the following statement:
Denver Summit FC is excited to continue to take the next steps towards our goal of a purpose-built, soccer-specific stadium in Denver’s urban core. We appreciate the continued support and collaboration from the Denver Community, Denver City Council, WENU, the Mayor’s Office, local businesses and our fans and supporters. We look forward to next week’s meeting and remain committed to creating something impactful for the Denver community.
Denver's city council is expected to have a first reading on the action items Monday, Dec. 15. A second reading and vote is expected to happen on Dec. 22.
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