Denver Summit set the NWSL attendance record at 63,004, raising the bar for future expansion
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The Colorado native and Summit fullback has long known the city of Denver was a prime location for a professional women’s soccer team, but wasn’t sure she’d witness it during her career — let alone as a player signed to that team and playing in a game that set a new record for attendance. When the Summit took on the Washington Spirit Saturday afternoon, 63,004 people showed up to Empower Field at Mile High, eclipsing the last record by more than 22,000 fans.
And yet, for all the unforgettable memories the day carried, Sonis hopes the record itself is fleeting.
“I hope the record gets broken sooner rather than later,” she said in a postgame press conference. “That’s good for everyone. I think that if there’s a motto that should be branded across women’s sports, it’s: If you build it, they’ll come.”
Considering the way things have gone the past few years in the NWSL, chances are Sonis’ hopes could be fulfilled soon. Since 2021, the league has added eight expansion teams, including the return of the Utah Royals. The single-match attendance record has been broken three times in the last three years — each time involving an expansion team. Ambitious expansion teams want to establish themselves as league contenders — as businesses if not also champions — and, increasingly, are aiming to break the latest attendance records early.
In 2024, Bay FC participated in what was then the most-attended regular-season game when they visited Wrigley Field in Chicago to play the Stars (formerly known as the Chicago Red Stars) in front of 35,038 fans during their inaugural season. The next year they were the hosts, topping the record again by packing the stands at Oracle Park in a match against the Spirit that drew 40,091 to San Francisco.
This year, the NWSL’s newest expansion — Denver and the Boston Legacy — got to work immediately on their attendance projects, setting new bars in each of their home openers. On March 14, Boston held theirs at Gillette Stadium to the tune of 30,207, the largest showing for an expansion team’s inaugural home opener. Two weeks later, Denver more than doubled that in theirs.
There is no official correlation between an expansion team’s ability to attract this volume of supporters and a successful NWSL bid, but it has certainly incited the kind of healthy competition the league wants to see.
A great beginning to the Boston Legacy 🦢
The game's attendance of 30,207 sets a new record for the largest inaugural home opener crowd in NWSL history 👏 pic.twitter.com/9m2gn8V5nS
— ESPN (@espn) March 14, 2026
“It actually wasn’t really front and center on our radar that Denver would have had the ambition to do what they’ve done here,” league commissioner Jessica Berman said in a brief press conference Saturday before kickoff.
“It surprised us that it could happen in such a short period of time and was a testament and a proof point to the vision to bring women’s soccer here, but I will tell you without breaking any news that it has spurred a whole bunch of really fun and productive conversations among other clubs to say maybe we should look at playing a game or two at a bigger building in our city and maybe we could break their record. We welcome that kind of banter and competition amongst our owners.”
The Summit won its franchise on January 30 last year (before the club had even settled on a name), leaving just shy of 15 months to stage what is now the largest standalone women’s soccer game in the country.
Saturday morning, hours before kickoff, supporters swept through Mile High, many already donning the team’s new kits (several of which bore the name of its marquee signing, U.S. women’s national team captain Lindsey Heaps) and navigating their way through the stadium like seasoned sports fans.
Denver had been yearning for a women’s professional soccer team for so long that the energy on the day it finally, officially arrived, jubilant as it was, was undergirded by a sense of expectation. Not entitlement, but the feeling that 63,000 people showing up to watch a soccer game was reflective of the state’s love for the game.
It also never hurts to schedule a match like this against a team like the Spirit, who’ve carved out a reputation as the primary invitee to big games. They were on Bay FC’s list for the Oracle Park game last summer and were also involved in the Seattle Reign’s 2023 game at Lumen Field. Gotham FC selected its match against Washington later this year at Citi Field for the inaugural Queens Classic.
The proof of concept that a record-breaking attendance provides could also benefit clubs’ ambitions to host an NWSL Championship, something Bay FC also accomplished early on with last year’s final in San Jose.
“It’s been a topic of conversation over these last few weeks because it can’t not make us rethink what’s possible,” Berman said. “We’re going to continue to explore the best place to host a championship and put other options on the table that might not have otherwise been on our radar, because we couldn’t imagine that this could become a reality for the NWSL.”
As with most growth spurts, the NWSL’s record-attendance era still has its pain points. The one major element lacking from Saturday afternoon’s extravaganza was a goal from either side in the 0-0 final score. It was the first time the Summit had failed to score. There is plenty to say of individual performances — Denver forward Yazmeen Ryan continues to pose attacking threats, and goalkeeper Abby Smith’s renaissance has been inspiring — but you can’t help but mourn the missed opportunity to convert a casual fan into a dedicated one if, say, they could have witnessed a goal (from either side) in a crowd of 63,000 people.
An empathetic read of the result factors in both teams’ midweek matches (and last weekend’s fixtures that preceded them) and the travel itineraries they required. On Wednesday, Denver was in New Jersey for a match against Gotham FC, their first win in franchise history. The Spirit was at home for theirs, but nonetheless traveled to Denver and had very little rest.
This is an exceptional year in NWSL match scheduling, between the men’s World Cup clashing with many of the venues where clubs compete and the month-long break the league will take to accommodate that.
At the same time, with Atlanta and a yet-t0-be-determined 18th team to begin play in 2028, the match calendar will only get more full, raising serious questions not only about a team’s attendance ambitions, but their intentions, presumably, to put on a show that isn’t hampered by players’ heavy legs.
Regardless, Denver Summit continues its bright start to the NWSL with five points in four games and, with a hulking caveat that this season isn’t even a month old yet, a No. 7 spot in the table that would qualify them for the playoffs. Smith will savor the roaring rumble of the supporters group behind her during half the game, while Sonis is ready to run it back.
“I wish that we could do this day all over again and walk away with three points,” she said, “but it’s just a really special moment and definitely something that I’m gonna cherish.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Washington Spirit, Denver Summit FC, Soccer, NWSL, Sports Business
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