Denver Summit FC’s home stadium debut will have to wait.
Colorado’s National Women’s Soccer League club was scheduled to open at its temporary venue, , on July 3. But due to weather-related construction delays, Summit FC has push back its opener there to July 18.
The club, which played its debut home game in front of a record crowd at Empower Field at Mile High on March 28, played its next two home matches at the Rapids’ stadium, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. That’s where Summit FC will play the Kansas City Current on July 3 and the Houston Dash on July 12, after snow and rain throughout May delayed the timeline for finishing the sidewalks and roads surrounding Centennial Stadium.
“We had to evaluate where we were and all the possible options, but we ultimately determined that a short delay is more responsible, so we can give our fans enough notice and time to deal with the adjustment,” Summit FC owner Rob Cohen said.
“The progress is really going well on the , the adjacent training fields, as well as the temporary stadium. … It’s just really these roads and sidewalks where the authorities would not let us open the stadium with gravel roads or secondary sidewalks because of fan safety, and we agreed. And so at the end of the day, that became the decision factor.”
That means the first game in Centennial Stadium will be against the Portland Thorns, a marquee NWSL franchise that has won an NWSL-best three championships. The game, which kicks off will be nationally televised on CBS and Paramount+.
Cohen added that the July 3 and July 12 games, which were already sold out, will now be able to host more fans at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
“It’s a great opponent to open the stadium with, and it’s going to be a great contest,” Cohen said. “So there’s a lot of positive aspects to (the pushback), although we understand that this change causes frustration and we just want to assure the community that the decision was not made lightly and that we’re committed to opening the stadium at a level our fans deserve.”
The Thorns are currently second in the . Denver sits in 12th place among the league’s 16 teams at 3-4-3 with 12 points. But Cohen is hopeful the club can find a groove following the league’s June break, when Summit FC’s schedule is backloaded with home games and Denver will get UWSNT midfielder Lindsey Heaps into the lineup following the conclusion of her season in Europe.
“It’s an expansion team, and these women have only been together for four months,” Cohen said. “It takes a while to find the chemistry among the players. We’ve been competitive in every single match. I could argue that we could have won every single game that we’ve been in.
“And I do think the back half of the schedule is favorable for us. … We’ve got Lindsey coming in and the team is getting better every time they play.”
Cohen also provided an update on the team’s permanent stadium, being built at Santa Fe Yards at Broadway and I-25. The owner said the project for the 14,500-seat stadium is moving in the stage of construction drawings and permitting, and that he hopes to break ground on construction by the end of the year. The stadium is supposed to be ready for the 2028 season.
