Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News 
February 18 – The newly-announced US Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League (NWSL) group in Denver might get its personal devoted stadium, if majority proprietor Robert Cohen is nice to his phrase.
Denver beat off bids from Cleveland and Cincinnati to change into the NWSL’s sixteenth group final month, paying a report $110 million for the franchise – the biggest ever for a brand new ladies’s sports activities franchise within the US.
The Denver group will debut within the 2026 season alongside a brand new Boston franchise that paid $53 million in 2023 for his or her league place. Bay FC, who debuted within the 2024 season, additionally paid $53 million for his or her franchise slot.
The NWSL entered unique negotiations with IMA Monetary Group and its CEO Robert Cohen again on the finish of December, with Cohen anticipated to supply the majority of the financing for the Denver group and function controlling proprietor.
Talking on anticipated developments for his new acquisition, Cohen mentioned: “I consider it’s time for girls’s sports activities in Denver. Denver is an unimaginable sports activities city.
“I’ve been concerned within the material of sports activities in Denver for a very long time. However as you most likely know, we’re the biggest metropolis in the USA with out a ladies’s skilled group.
“So, it’s time for us to right that.”
The NWSL presently consists of 14 groups, with Boston becoming a member of Denver for the 2026 season.
At current, just one different group — the Kansas Metropolis Present — boast a devoted stadium. The 11,500-capacity CPKC Stadium, a uncommon soccer-specific venue, opened in Kansas Metropolis for the Present’s first house match on March 16, 2024.
The brand new Denver-based group’s possession group mentioned it plans to construct a soccer-specific stadium for the group, however earlier than its completion will play in a brief venue.
Cohen added: “We’d prefer to construct a franchise the place each participant desires to play right here, each coach desires to teach right here, each govt desires to work right here.
“And the best way that we’re going to do this is by constructing first-class amenities, when it comes to a devoted stadium. We’re prepared to make the investments to do this.”
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman added, “Because the NWSL continues its fast progress, we knew it was essential to launch our sixteenth group in a metropolis with a passionate sports activities tradition and vibrant fan base – and Denver is the proper match.
“The membership’s plans for a purpose-built stadium and state-of-the-art coaching facility reveal a dedication to offering world-class environments for our gamers and followers alike.”
Contact the author of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1739879103labto1739879103ofdlr1739879103owedi1739879103sni@g1739879103niwe.1739879103yrrah1739879103
