Soccer-Boston, Denver set high expectations with NWSL expansion

Audio By Carbonatix

By Amy Tennery and Janina Nuno Rios

NEW YORK/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The National Women’s Soccer League wraps up its season with Saturday’s championship clash but the work will not stop for two expansion teams ready to make their 2026 debut.

Boston Legacy FC and Denver Summit FC have fewer than four months before they kick off, as the top-flight NWSL rides the steady momentum for women’s sports around the world while fending off growing competition from European leagues.

The new teams come on the heels of successful launches by Angel City FC and San Diego Wave in 2022 and Bay FC in 2024. The league announced another team will launch in Atlanta in 2028 for a reported record expansion fee of $165 million.

Angel City changed ownership in 2024 in a sale that valued the club at $250 million, a then-record for a women’s sports team.

“They’ve created a roadmap for what it looks like to build a women’s soccer club quickly and in a way that is built on creating a community around the sport,” said Amina Bulman, Chief Revenue Officer for Boston Legacy.

Boston are developing their own privately funded, $27 million performance center as the standard for women’s professional soccer grows and competition for international talent surges.

England’s Women’s Super League enjoyed record revenues for the 2023-24 season, while the popularity of the women’s game continues on an upward trajectory across Europe.

“NWSL is still the best women’s soccer product in the world. And part of how we make sure that it remains the best place to be if you are a professional soccer player is investing in the athletes,” said Bulman.

Boston will make their home debut on March 14 at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots, but plan to move into White Stadium, which they will share with Boston public schools – in 2027.

‘YOU’RE CRAZY’

The two expansion teams will build out their rosters differently from clubs in the past, signing players directly after the NWSL became the first major U.S. league to eliminate drafts in August 2024.

“We had to dedicate more time and resources to scouting and recruitment,” said Boston General Manager Domenec Guasch.

“But we are able to build the type of thing that we want. And I would say the best thing of it all is that players are also picking to be here.”

Guasch joined Boston after nearly 14 years with Barcelona, the three-times UEFA Women’s Champions League winners.

“When I told (friends), ‘Hey, I’m leaving Barcelona, this established club, and going to this thing that we start from zero, in Boston, away from home, another culture, another language’, they’re like, you’re crazy,” he said.

“I embrace challenge, I love it.”

DENVER, A GRASSROOTS FOUNDATION

More than 1,700 miles west, Denver Summit FC are also starting from scratch on an even tighter timeline.

“This is probably one of the fastest builds in the NWSL,” said the club’s President Jen Millet, with the Denver expansion having only been announced in January.

“We’re really focused on building both the business and sporting teams right now, and at the same time we’re constructing three massive facility projects.”

The club’s plan includes a temporary stadium and state-of-the-art performance centre in Centennial, south of Denver, followed by a purpose-built stadium at Santa Fe Yards expected to open in 2028.

“It’s a big infrastructure investment in women’s sports by this ownership group — not just for the expansion team, but really doubling down and creating these facilities for athletes and fans,” Millet said.

With more than 15,000 season ticket deposits, Denver has shattered an NWSL expansion record.

The club will play their inaugural home match on March 28 at Empower Field at Mile High, where they aim to set an attendance record for professional women’s sports.

“We wanted a venue that could host as many people as wanted to come,” Millet said. “I think the big thing is just not taking any of those 15,000 people who put deposits down for granted.”

Millet says the passion behind the club began long before investors arrived. Local supporters led an independent campaign to bring a team to Colorado.

“This club really arrived in Denver because of a movement that fans had,” Millet said. “My responsibility is to make sure that I don’t lose that connection.”

The team now counts more than 8,500 season-ticket members for the first year, with another wave of supporters joining their wait-list program.

Millet, who previously helped launch Bay FC, says her biggest lesson from that project was understanding that women’s soccer fandom is far broader than people assume.

“I entered that role thinking the fan base was predominantly women,” she said. “I learned pretty quickly that it’s everyone.”

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York and Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Ken Ferris)