Denver is next in line for a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team after its bid won the spot on Jan. 30, as women’s sports rise in popularity nationwide. The team and its owner already have multiple ties to Creek, CCSD, and the community.
The expansion team, which has yet to be named, is working in collaboration with both the City of Centennial and CCSD to build practice fields and a temporary stadium, both of which will be leased to the district after the 2027 season. A May 13 Denver City Council meeting approved the land for construction use.
In total, the project plans to bring eight total fields, including the 12,000 person temporary stadium, which will be brought down to 4,000 seats in 2027, along with many facilities for the NWSL team, all of which will spread through 43 acres of land in Centennial.
Centennial mayor Stephanie Piko is happy to establish more in her city, especially when the fields are so close to the Denver Broncos’ Dove Valley practice field and Family Sports Center, where the Colorado Avalanche practice occasionally as well.
“I think it’s always exciting to have and support another professional team in our community,” Piko said. “All of that together helps attract visitors to the region, attracts attention to some of the businesses that are in the community around it as well.”
To Piko, it’s only perfect that those fields go right back to the community when the NWSL team no longer needs them.
“The opportunity for students in Cherry Creek and for Cherry Creek athletes to utilize some of those facilities going forward and as part of their education only adds icing on the cake,” she said.
The stadium and fields don’t have a set purpose yet for when they’ll be given to the district, and might even become a multi-sport environment.
“I’m sure that it being a professional women’s soccer team, everything’s going to be lined for girls soccer, automatically,” Athletics Director Jason Wilkins said. “But I doubt that the district got involved in all this, and it’s gonna say that only one sport can use it.”
Having a pro team in the same fields and facilities will motivate students, Piko hopes.
“To have the aspirational value of having a professional women’s soccer treat team training side by side with some of our youth athletes, I think that’s an experience that will be an attraction for Cherry Creek School District, but also a rewarding one for the athletes themselves,” she said.
The money for the land bought in 2011 came from an open spaces sales tax initiative passed by Arapahoe County voters three times. It works mutually for Centennial, CCSD, and the team. CCSD and the team need practice fields, and Centennial gets visitors and tourist draws. At the same time, CCSD and the team can act as groundskeeping for the facility because Centennial’s parks department can’t operate and maintain the fields.
“Our partnership with the City of Centennial and the Cherry Creek School District represents the power of sports to unite communities and create opportunity,” NWSL team controlling owner Rob Cohen said in an interview to the NWSL.
After 2027, the team moves to its permanent home at Broadway and I-25, a move that Denver mayor Mike Johnston and team executives hope establishes a new recreational and social hotspot on the outskirts of downtown.
But the field isn’t the only tie to Creek – the team’s first president, Jen Millet, is a former Bruin, graduating in the class of 1992.
“Building a franchise is a special experience, especially for a community and a fan base that is so passionate about their sports, and that’s what we have here in Denver,” Millet said in a team Instagram press release. “A big reason that I joined was to be part of this exciting movement in women’s sports and bring that to the Denver market.”
She says her experiences at Creek helped her to bring her where she is now.
“I want to use those leadership skills that I gained back as a freshman at Cherry Creek High School to pour into this club, to inspire this next generation of athletes, to inspire this next generation of fans,” Millet said.
Piko is proud of how cooperation between the city, the NWSL, CCSD, and the taxpayers made the project possible.
“It’s an exciting time for everybody, and I think that it is a great example of how we can have public, private partnerships together to work to benefit both the youth and the adults in our community,” Piko said. “To bring not only entertainment, but to have athletic opportunities and what is a growing and exciting sport.”
