Denver named NWSL's 16th team; to start in '26

Denver was officially announced as the NWSL's 16th team on Thursday and will begin play in 2026.

The ownership group is led by Rob Cohen, the chairman and CEO of IMA Financial Group, who will serve as controlling owner. The Denver team is the first women's professional sports team in a top-level national league to call the Mile High City home.

Project Level, a subsidiary of Ariel Investments that seeks to level the playing field in terms of investment in women's sports, is also an investor. The group is led by chairwoman Mellody Hobson and former Washington Commanders president Jason Wright. Hobson will serve as the organization's alternate governor.

FirstTracks Sports Ventures LLC (FTSV) -- led by siblings Jon-Erik Borgen and Kaia Borgen Moritz, Neelima Joshi and Dhiren Jhaveri -- and Molly Coors are also part of the investor group.

Cohen has been involved in sports endeavors in the Denver area for over 30 years, including the founding of the Denver Sports Commission in 2001, as well as being a board member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, which is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Cohen got involved in the NWSL push after a grassroots bid named "For Denver FC" was launched by former soccer executive Tom Dunmore and former NWSL player Jordan Angeli.

"Being around the sports world, I heard about the grassroots effort around bringing a soccer team to Denver," he told ESPN in an exclusive interview. "I met with that group and the more I started to learn about what they were thinking, what their vision was, set me on a journey to start learning about the league, what they were doing, to the point where ultimately wanted to lead the bid and hopefully bring a team to Denver, which we're now doing."

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman added: "As the NWSL continues its rapid growth, we knew it was critical to launch our 16th team in a city with a passionate sports culture and vibrant fan base -- and Denver is the perfect match.

"The club's plans for a purpose-built stadium and state-of-the-art training facility demonstrate a commitment to providing world-class environments for our players and fans alike."

Denver is paying an NWSL record expansion fee of $110 million, more than double what was paid by both BOS Nation and Bay FC. Cohen's background in the financial services business helped him feel comfortable with that kind of outlay, which is expected to increase as various parts of the business come online.

"This is about making the largest investment in women's sports, probably in history," he said. "And it's more than just the expansion fee. It's the commitment to building a permanent stadium and a training facility that are world-class and that are primarily for women. And so I think in aggregate, we feel good about that investment and what it is that our vision lays out. And the economics of the league are changing and changing rapidly around media rights and other aspects of the league that we feel good about our investment."

In terms of a stadium, Cohen said the club will play in a temporary venue that he declined to name. When asked if Dick's Sporting Goods Park, the home of MLS side the Colorado Rapids, is a possibility, Cohen didn't rule it out, but said "our focus is in other areas."

He added the team is "quite far along" in determining a location for a permanent stadium.

"We're on target for all those things to be ready by the dates that we need them, and hopefully we'll be in a position to make a more formal announcement in a couple of weeks," he said.

The stadium will be a critical piece in terms of generating revenue streams, and Cohen has reached out to other NWSL teams, including the Kansas City Current, about the best path forward. But Cohen feels that the training facility will be vital in terms of attracting players to the team.

"We've spent a lot of time on the training facility actually studying the needs of women because it's quite different than men," he said. "Most of the training facilities have been built, for lack of a better word, in the shadow of men's facilities as opposed to really leaning in and understanding what it is that women need and how they need it, and building a facility around that. We think if we do that and get that right, that will help us attract the players."

These are just a few of what Cohen calls "the pillars of work" that will need to be done prior to the team's inaugural season in 2026, which he added is a "sprint" as opposed to a marathon. These tasks include choosing the team's name and establishing colors.

"We want to be very thoughtful about [the name], get the community's input, really do a process that, again, gets it right," he said. "You only have one chance to do it right and get it right."

As for cracking the sports-mad Denver market, Cohen, with his knowledge of the area, is confident that the NWSL team will succeed.

"I think there's plenty of room for a well-run franchise that puts a winning product on the field," he said. "I think the appetite for sports and the appetite for women's sports particularly is quite high in this community."