CENTENNIAL, Colo. — During a special board meeting Wednesday, the Cherry Creek School District's Board of Education approved a Memorandum of Understanding that would help build a temporary stadium and training facility for Denver's new National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team.
In late January, Denver7 brought you the breaking news that the NWSL's newest women's professional soccer team would call Denver home. A couple weeks ago, the City of Denver and the NWSL released plans for a soccer stadium for the club. However, construction for this stadium is expected to finish until 2028, so a temporary space is needed.
The temporary stadium at the center of Wednesday's approved MOU would bring training fields, shared-use fields and a 15,000-seat temporary stadium that would be used by Denver's NSWL franchise team, owned by the Colorado Women's Soccer Coalition, according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The 43-acre site is planned for the southeast corner of S. Potomac Street and E. Fremont Avenue.
You can read the MOU in full below.
Along with a temporary stadium, the MOU says the project would also bring two natural grass soccer fields and one artificial turf located next to the training facility. It would be used by both the pro-team and for "certain district uses, at no cost to the district," according to the MOU.
The property would also have four additional turf soccer fields, which the district could use for no extra cost. Those fields would be available for soccer, flag football and lacrosse, according to the MOU.
You can listen to the full Cherry Creek School District board discussion about this development in the video here.
Today, the area is mostly calm, with the Denver Broncos training facility nearby, as well as the Arapahoe County District Courthouse.
That peaceful quiet is part of the reason why resident Tanya Palmarchuk chose to settle there.
"I like this area," she explained to Denver7 Wednesday. "It's a lot of space and I like that it's a lot of space. It's kind of a lot of free land and we can walk. We can, you know, have Saturday, Sunday to enjoy the nature."
Palmarchuk said she's not a fan of the development to come.
"It's disturbing me because first of all, we have really nice piece of land here that we can walk, we can enjoy," she said.
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But not everyone shares in those feelings. Luis Ramirez Matos grew up watching and playing soccer in South America. He also lives nearby and said he's thrilled by the news.
"It's great because, you know, I'll be close to two sports I like a lot: American football and soccer. I'm from South America — it's the only sport we play down there," he explained.
Ramirez Matos told Denver7 it's even more exciting to know children will have opportunities to go onto the soccer fields and other facilities.
"I'll be jumping [for joy]," he said. "I just have to walk from my house over there and watch training and official games."
During Wednesday's special board meeting, district leaders said they will split the cost of the temporary stadium, and continue using it once Denver's NWSL team moves to its permanent stadium in Denver, which is expected to happen in 2028.
The team is expected to use the temporary stadium for about two years while construction is underway at the permanent stadium, which is planned for the Santa Fe Yards area, near Broadway and Interstate 25. Once complete, it will seat 14,500 people.
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