“I don’t believe this stadium will ever be built… I wish that I did,” remarked Denver City Councilwoman Sarah Parady, seemingly crushing the dreams of the 16th NWSL franchise during an initial meeting where the club unveiled its ambitious $70 million stadium project. At the time, it felt like they had hit a brick wall—like their much-anticipated dream was about to go up in smoke. But now, it seems there’s finally some good news on the horizon.

Earlier, they announced plans to build a 14,500-seat stadium and entertainment complex at Santa Fe Yards. Located on Broadway and Interstate 25, it would span 14 acres, with the entire design project led by the architectural firm, Populous. Yet, concerns were recently raised during a South Platte River Committee meeting about the project’s financial implications and rushed decisions.

However, the second meeting seems to have won the motion of confidence. As per the latest reports from The Denver Post, the majority of the City Council members are not skeptical about the project anymore. “I think in the last meeting, they just didn’t have enough information and weren’t comfortable,” said Rob Cohen, the owner of Denver NWSL .

In the previous meeting, the CEO of the yet-to-be-named team had sent a bold response to the city council’s skepticism, stating all the stakeholders are “very committed” to the project and unequivocally told they won’t “abandon” their idea at all costs. Likewise, joining the chorus was also Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez, who rather found the committee’s skepticism “a little bit disturbing.” 

Further expressing her displeasure, Alvidrez added, “This, to me, is a small investment in an area that has historic redlining, that has a lack of public spaces. I’m pretty appalled that when it comes to investing in this area, all of a sudden it’s too much.”

Well, the committee did find it too much. Even though the Denver owners were willing to pay the $150 to $200 million cost of the stadium, they were asking $70 million from the City Council by relying on its Capital Improvement Program. The proposal involved using interest earnings from the $937 million Elevate Denver Bond, approved in 2017 for infrastructure upgrades across the city. The plan was simple; get $50 million for land and nearby infrastructure, with $20 million being allocated to off-site improvements.

This funding would come from shifting resources away from other projects, such as the 16th Street Mall renovation. However, this did not sit well with Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who cited economic uncertainty and concerns about betraying voter trust. Despite the backlash, some council members floated the idea of using a voter-approved sales tax to secure funding instead.

Fortunately, the second meeting saw the members of the council present a lot of questions concerning the stadium. Ultimately they decided to push it through full council. However, if you think it’s all easy rowing from here for Denver NWSL, there’s a catch!

Denver NWSL still has a long way to go with their $70 million investment

Though the deal has moved to full council, this intergovernmental agreement is set to go through two additional rounds of votes in the coming week. On the contrary, Rob Cohen and Jeff Dolan—chief strategist for the mayor’s office—had previously met one-on-one with council members to address their questions about the project between the two committee meetings held this month.

The same source indicated that Cohen and Dolan also arranged a site tour this past Saturday and revised parts of the agreement to better align with the city’s interests. However, Councilwoman Jamie Torres, chair of the committee, disagreed with Dolan’s description of the day’s action as a “conditional vote.”

In fact, Torres had more to clarify. “I don’t think council would be digging in as deeply on the details if this was inconsequential to future votes,” she said. “This is a big deal because we’re talking about establishing a commitment to use taxpayer dollars for something.”

That’s not all; many council members also suggested the idea of Denver NWSL submitting a community benefit agreement to support the surrounding neighborhood. However, Cohen was not ready to disclose how much the ownership group would commit to such an initiative.

What he rather assured is that the team will be disclosing its official name in the coming weeks. “We’re working on the name. We are still gathering information from the community at large,” Cohen said. “We heard you loud and clear.”

Either way, let’s see how things unfold for them.