{"id":840326,"date":"2026-03-29T04:50:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T04:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/840326\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T04:50:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T04:50:42","slug":"denver-summit-fc-shatters-nwsl-attendance-record-in-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/840326\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Summit FC shatters NWSL attendance record in home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fireworks<\/p>\n

Denver Summit FC set a new NWSL attendance record in the expansion franchise’s first home game. Dustin Bradford \/ NWSL via Getty Images<\/p>\n

DENVER \u2014 Denver Summit FC didn\u2019t hide its ambitions when the expansion franchise announced in November that it would play its very first home match at the home of the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n

The Summit wanted to set a new NWSL attendance record \u2014 one that would shatter the previous record of 40,091 for last year\u2019s Bay FC match at Oracle Park in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n

The Summit and Washington Spirit drew a record 63,004 fans for their match at Empower Field on Saturday, setting the bar for a league that grew to 16 teams this spring after adding Denver and Boston Legacy FC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a pinch-me day,\u201d team owner Rob Cohen said on the CBS game broadcast. \u201cWe set out a vision. \u2026 We wanted to have over 60,000 people here, and it looks like we accomplished that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denver plans to construct its own 14,500-seat stadium with public funding a few miles south of Empower Field. The team hopes to play most of its home games this season and next at a 12,000-seat modular stadium in Centennial, a Denver suburb, before moving to its permanent home in 2028.<\/p>\n

The fan base has grown quickly, with the club topping 15,000 season-ticket deposits in September<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDenver is an incredible sports city; they have a lot of love for their teams,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cI think the fact that we haven\u2019t had a professional women\u2019s team in this town, (Denver Summit FC) is filling a need.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Summit claimed their first win last week with a stunning 2-0 victory against reigning league champion Gotham FC. With a 1-1-1 record entering Saturday afternoon\u2019s game, the franchise has proven it won\u2019t be a pushover in its inaugural season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about expecting and demanding excellence day in and day out,\u201d Cohen said. \u201c\u2026 And we\u2019ll just continue to do that every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Mar 28, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Summit FC set a new NWSL attendance record in the expansion franchise’s first home game. Dustin Bradford…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,115575,2426,7,6,15916,156,75993,24650],"class_list":["post-840326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-broncos","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denver-summit-fc","tag-denverbroncos","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-nwsl","tag-sports-business","tag-washington-spirit","tag-womens-soccer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116310666514362617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}