After months of private discussions with neighborhood leaders representing regions around Santa Fe Yards, Denver Summit FC released its community benefits agreement this week.

The contract details the team’s negotiations to bring an all-electric women’s soccer stadium, more tree coverage, reduced ticket price deals and a commitment to use woman-owned and minority-owned small businesses for construction.

The agreement is key for city leaders to give support for the new major league sports team to build its stadium on land the city will spend $70 million to buy and invest in its infrastructure. 

A CBA is a legal document between major developers and neighborhood leaders setting contractual obligations intended to ensure a property owner’s project will bring positive economic and social impacts to surrounding areas. 

While not technically required, many Denver City Council members want to see the city’s largest developments arrange CBAs with community leaders as a condition for their vote.

Projects such as the development of the west side of Cherry Creek Shopping Center and Ball Arena’s parking lot redevelopment all had CBAs arranged before they got City Council approval for rezoning. The Denver Broncos also said they will work on a CBA for a new stadium at Burnham Yard.

The women’s soccer stadium struggled with delays before the City Council as Council President Amanda Sandoval led an initiative to get a more detailed breakdown of how the $70 million would be spent. It spurred the team to consider looking outside of Denver for a stadium, with team leaders saying it was an obligation to the fans and league to look at alternatives due to the setbacks with the city.

Councilmembers received more information on the terms of the deal last week, but criticized the team for not having the CBA ready for viewing before the rezoning vote that was originally scheduled for Monday.

TheCity Council pushed back the vote to rezone Santa Fe Yards to next week, which will coincide with the vote for the $70 million intergovernmental agreement.

The CBA between Denver Summit and the West East Neighborhoods United outlined the creation of a Community Investment Fund (CIF). 

Denver Summit will contribute $400,000 in initial funding and will pay at least $300,000 every year “in perpetuity” for community priorities such as youth scholarships, athletics, sports equipment donations, housing stability, business support, environmental programs, local art, cultural preservation, community grants and workforce engagement. 

“Our goal has been to ensure that the input of the community is taken into consideration with this project,” said Connor Shea, co-chair of WENU and a representative of the Baker neighborhood, in a news release.  

“The club’s ownership has worked with us for many hundreds of hours this year to accomplish that, and we’re extremely happy to see the many improvements the stadium plans have accumulated as a result,” Shea added.

The agreement also details how the team will invest in youth sports from equipment donation, school programs and scholarships and host pop-up soccer clinics. 

The team also committed to free or discounted student or senior tickets and will work with the Regional Transportation District to integrate home game tickets with discount transit passes, though it will need RTD approval.

One of the largest commitments is to make the stadium fully electric and LEED Silver certified, the real estate industry’s standard for sustainable development. It would be among the first fully electric sports stadiums in the country. 

Denver Summit also committed to spending $300,000 in six years to plant hundreds of trees to increase the canopy around the stadium and nearby neighborhoods.

The agreement also outlines how the team will seek to work with woman-owned and minority-owned businesses. The team committed to reaching out to them for construction of the stadium, aiming to hire at least 25 businesses. 

Denver Summit also agreed to select woman-owned and minority-owned businesses to make up at least 25% of all of its food and beverage vendors. 

“Our goal with Denver Summit FC and our purpose-built stadium is to deliver a transformational project to Denver,” said Denver Summit FC President Jen Millet. “This CBA allows us to positively impact our local community for generations to come.”