DENVER — Excitement surrounding Denver's National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team is still the talk of the town. With plans for a temporary stadium in Centennial and a permanent one in Denver, many fans are beaming.
However, during a meeting of the South Platte River Committee Wednesday afternoon, the Denver NWSL ownership group faced skepticism over its proposed intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the City of Denver and Broadway Station Metropolitan District.
The agreement would establish the permitted use of city funds and give the city future interest in the land.
Under the proposed agreement, the city would invest up to $70 million. Of the $70 million, up to $50 million would be used to acquire the land for the proposed stadium, while the other $20 million would be used for off-site stadium improvements, including pedestrian sidewalks, trails to connect parks, parking, traffic, street lighting and more.
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For those who call southwest Denver home, it's a thrilling time to hear about potential improvements.
"I think it's long overdue that the city does invest on this side of the neighborhoods, this side of Denver, especially with the connectivity between west and east," said Anita Banuelos, president of the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association. Her jurisdiction is adjacent to Denver's Baker neighborhood, where the NWSL stadium would be built.
Banuelos told Denver7 she's excited about the potential stadium and what it could bring to her neighborhood and those nearby, but she questions the IGA's price tag and whether it's a smart investment for the City of Denver.
"It's a large number. It's really big," she said. "Right now, can the city actually afford that? With everything that's going on, that is a major concern."
Some Denver City Council members shared that skepticism during Wednesday afternoon's committee meeting.
"We really have to be careful about our dollars. I think that goes without saying," said At-Large City Councilmember Sarah Parady.
After questioning the agreement, Parady went on to say she was unsure about the plausibility of the overall project.
"We are facing the collapse of global financial markets," she said. "So I have to say, I don't believe that the stadium will ever be built, and I wish that I did. I don't think it's gonna get built."
"I think we're gonna be sitting here in a year [and] we will have paid in our amount of money from our incredibly scarce dollars that we are going to need for so many fundamental needs in the city," she added. "We're gonna need those things for a wave of homelessness. We're gonna need those things for hunger. WIC applications in the city have metastasized in the last couple [of] months. People are hungry. We spend this money. We're not getting the stadium, and I wish that we were."
- Watch the full meeting in the video player below
On the other hand, District 7 Councilmember Flor Alvidrez, who represents where the proposed stadium site, believes investing in the agreement is vital.
"I think that I understand that economic times are uncertain, but this is a very new investment," she said. "If we're not investing in our economic growth, we're not investing in our people."
She told Denver7 that the money the City of Denver is being asked to invest is already set aside.
"It came from leftover bond funds from previous bonds and the capital improvement projects," Alvidrez said.
Alvidrez believes District 7 and the people who call it home deserve the investment.
"I will say that this is a drop in the bucket of the needs of District 7," she said.
For those like Banuelos, questions remain.
"Right now, can the city actually afford that?" she said.
The South Platte River Committee will vote on whether to push this plan forward for a full city council vote in the next couple of weeks.
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