I don’t care about the Rockies,
They don’t care about me,
All I care about,
Is Denver Summit FC!!!

As an avowed soccer supporter, coming up with chants and songs comes with the territory. I have been singing that one in my head for the past week as MLB Opening Day and the Denver Summit FC’s inaugural home match barreled toward us.

I was a Rockies season ticket holder for nearly two decades. After Rocktober in 2007, I invested in a mini-plan and quickly evolved into a full-fledged, 162-game owner. With seats in straight away centerfield just below the Rooftop, the setting could not be better. 

Throughout the years, I had some great times at the ballpark: I saw Nolan Arenado hit for a walkoff cycle, I was there for the 2021 All-Star game and I froze my feet when I wore sandals to one of the few Rockies playoff games over that stretch. And, of course, I went to almost every Opening Day.

But I turned in my tickets at the end of last year.

The Rockies stink, and they will continue to stink. While I applaud hiring Paul DePodesta, the inspiration for Jonah Hill’s character in Moneyball, as President of Baseball Operations, that is not enough to overcome three 100-loss seasons in a row and a general malaise. 

Especially since he has been out of baseball for a decade and working for a middling football team where he made one of the worst trades in history followed by signing the worst contract ever (yes, worse than Russell Wilson).

But DePodesta’s worst pales in comparison to sin committed by Rockies ownership: Coors Field has become the greatest awayfield advantage in all sports. 

There are few true Rockies fans (and as I know from personal experience, you can be ejected for cheering too loudly for them). The majority in attendance on any given night are either young adults treating the stadium as a cool bar with a view or transplanted fans rooting for anyone but the home team.

So I quit the Rockies.

My timing could not be better. Just as I canceled my Rockies season ticket autopay, the Denver Summit FC came calling. I could not have planned out a better way to spend that extra money than on Colorado’s first professional women’s soccer club.

Between writing this column and its publication, I will have already been to their first home match. And I will not be alone. Their first match has already sold enough tickets to shatter the NWSL record for attendance. Previously set at a little over 40,000, the Summit needed to open the upper decks at Mile High in order to accommodate more than 60,000.

The last time Denver saw something like this? April 9, 1993 — the Rockies Inaugural Season Home Opener.

That should be a warning for the Summit ownership group. Colorado fans will show up to support their teams, but take them for granted at your peril. The good news? In contrast to the Sleepy Monforts, the ownership group for the Summit has been aggressive, aggressive, aggressive.

Planning to build a gorgeous new stadium downtown is inspired. It worked for the Broncos, the Nuggets/Avalanche and even the Rockies (even if those baseball crowd numbers are juiced by away fans). That is in contrast to the dwindling crowds for the Rapids on the outskirts of civilization at Dicks Sporting Goods Park. In full disclosure, I gave up my Rapids season tickets years before I bailed on the Rockies.

The Summit doubled down by putting together a team with both youth and experience. Bringing in Lindsey Heaps, the USWNT captain and a Denver native is nothing short of a coup. The club she is finishing out a season with right now — OL Lyonnes — is arguably the greatest women’s soccer team in the world. Over the past 15 years, they won eight Champions League titles.

To put that in context, signing Heaps is like the Rockies signing Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.

Heaps will not be at the home opener, but should be arriving just before the team settles into their new temporary digs in Centennial this Fourth of July. She might be adding to an already solid foundation.

While the Summit lost their first match, it came with a caveat. Janine Sonis received a bogus red card 30 minutes in, which led to a 2-1 loss. But a week later the Summit went to New York and thrashed the defending NWSL champs, Gotham FC. That is a great first win for the franchise.

If the Summit can harness the imagination of supporters, and given that their relationship with the 14ers Supporters Group already looks stronger than the Rapids, who not so long ago endured a supporters walkout, then the Summit could be the toast of the town.

Or better still, the Summit is the best bet to hit a homerun in Colorado this week.

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Type of Story: Opinion

Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.