With an incredibly short timeframe to start construction on a major league women’s soccer stadium, Denver’s City Council dropped the biggest hurdle for Denver Summit FC.

Now, the team plans to move forward with its stadium and stay in Denver’s urban core.

“With Denver City Council voting the measure through, the club will proceed with building a new stadium in Denver’s urban core in advance of the 2028 NWSL season,” the team said in a statement.

City leaders approved a package of bills Monday, including rezoning the property near Interstate 25 and Broadway, to allow a stadium to be built on the site and an intergovernmental agreement at a price tag of $70 million for Denver to buy the land and upgrade its infrastructure.

Ten council members voted in favor, while Council members Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis and Stacie Gilmore voted against it over concerns regarding the city’s investment in the project.

“This is a monumental day for South Broadway, for women’s soccer and for women’s sports, and for Denver as a whole,” said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in a news release.

Before the City Council met, Denver Summit owner Rob Cohen told the media he met with every councilmember and he believes the team did everything it could have done.

Still, Cohen said, he felt a little pit in his stomach ahead of the vote.

“It’s like before a game, you know, standing on the pitch, wondering what’s going to happen in this match,” Cohen said.

Denver Summit selected Santa Fe Yards — a 6-acre portion of the vacant Gates Rubber Factory, where many developments have promised to bring life to the 41-acre area but never came to fruition — as the ideal home for its future stadium.

Many businesses on South Broadway said the team will help reinvigorate the dirt lot that has been empty for more than two decades and bring new life to its surrounding neighborhoods.

The stadium might not be a game changer for the area, said Councilmember Paul Kashmann. But, he said, he believes it will “move the needle.”

And, if it fails, he added that at least the land will go back to the city.

CONCERNS THE TEAM WILL GO SOMEWHERE ELSE

The 14,500-seat stadium project has been at risk of becoming like the many other visions that have tried to rise from the former factory’s contaminated soil.

Last month, a group of councilmembers responsible for reviewing developments within half a mile of the South Platte River criticized the mayor’s team and Denver Summit for not having a more detailed breakdown of the city’s financial spending to buy the land and pay for infrastructure upgrades.

Council President Amanda Sandoval pushed to get more information and the South Platte River committee voted to move its vote several weeks later, which changed the City Council’s vote on the $70 million agreement from Dec. 15 to Dec. 22.

Denver Summit said the delay made the team start talking with other cities outside of Denver.

The team spoke with four other cities, Cohen confirmed Monday. He did not disclose which cities.

Some councilmembers took the team’s statement as a threat to rush the process, while others said it was reasonable for the team to look at alternatives, in case efforts in Denver fail to get done on time.

While the team is looking elsewhere, “our heart is here,” said Denver Summit president Jen Millet on Monday. “We’ve attached ourselves to the site in Santa Fe Yards.”

The women’s soccer team is building a temporary stadium in Centennial for the 2026 season, playing at Empower Field for its first home game. The team will face fines from the National Women’s Soccer League if it doesn’t have a permanent stadium by the 2028 season, as it was part of Denver’s bid to secure a franchise.

Cohen has stressed the team needs to build its own stadium to prove women’s sports are profitable, as women’s sports teams playing in stadiums built for men’s teams lose part of their revenue to pay rent.

SUPPORT FOR WOMEN’S SPORTS, BUT WORRY OVER USING CITY MONEY

The city will put $50 million toward the stadium site and $20 million will go to upgrades for the area around the property.

Out of the $50 million, the city will buy the land from Broadway Station Partners and a sliver from the Colorado Department of Transportation for about $35.6 million, according to a city presentation.

The rest of the budget includes site logistics ($1 million), earthwork and excavation ($7 million), erosion control ($1 million), survey ($650,000), utilities ($3.75 million) and site work and safety ($6.75 million).

The total of nearly $56 million will exceed the city’s contributions and Denver Summit will be responsible for covering cost overruns.

The city will also be responsible for building a second pedestrian bridge at the former Gates Rubber Factory, which will cost between $20 million to $25 million, using state and federal grants.

A women’s soccer team could generate up to $2.2 billion in economic impact to the city over 30 years, according to a city analysis done earlier this year, as well as other benefits difficult to calculate, such as community pride and serving as an inspiration for generations of girls.

It’s a “once in a generation development coming to West Denver,” said Adriana Lopez, a member of the neighborhood group that negotiated a community benefits agreement with the team.

Several councilmembers cited worries about the $70 million coming from Denver’s Capital Improvement Program using $65 million in interest earned from the Elevate Bond program voters approved in 2017, saying they wished the mayor’s office had told them about the extra source of money before the stadium subject came up.

“I believe it is important to ensure that we are keeping good practices regarding those bondholders and I cannot say that I feel that way here” said Lewis, one of the councilmembers.

Councilmember Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, a self-proclaimed soccer fan and lifelong player, said she struggled on whether to vote yes or no, as there are many needs in the city.

“It is sad though that we don’t have the level of investment from private investors as we do with men’s sports,” she said. “That is incredibly frustrating that this is now coming upon us to publicly invest these funds with public dollars.”

Parady said she doubted the city’s money was “make or break” for the team’s ownership group, saying early estimates had the stadium construction at $150 million to $200 million but now could cost more than $300 million.

“They’re still planning to build it and spend it,” Parady said. “Where is that other $100 million coming from?”

For Sandoval, the rezoning was the easiest part of the package, but the contract was difficult to understand.

She said she didn’t agree with the city’s responsibility to fund the north pedestrian bridge but that she would still vote yes.

“I hope, in 20 years from now, that I am sitting with my daughter, and that this isn’t a regret,” Sandoval said.