Photo credit: Denver Summit FC
“Third first home game” draws sellout crowd of more than 12,000 to brand new stadium
With 20 minutes or so to kill before the RTD bus begins its route to Centennial Stadium, you take a seat and think about what it might be like to arrive at Denver Summit FC’s inaugural match in its new home.
The first person to walk in after you is a school teacher named James, equipped with a Summit FC scarf and the biggest hat he could find to shield his face from the sun. He’s been thinking about today all week.
He was introduced to soccer and women’s sports on a trip to Kansas City a couple of years ago, where he caught a KC Current match before Summit FC was the NWSL’s 16th team. He was hooked. Now that there’s a team in his home city, he’s all in.
He’s learning the sport as he goes, asking how different numbers correlated to their positions. You explain to him that the No. 9 is your goalscorer, No. 10 is your creator and so on. That reminds him: now that he was going to see the game from much closer up, he’s got to know who he’s cheering for. He has a loose idea from the Summit FC games he’s already been to this season, but just to make sure, he pulls out a pen and pad, looks up the roster and writes every single name and matching jersey number as a reference.
You say your goodbyes when you arrive at the stadium and make your way to the fan fest on the other side of the more than 12,000-person venue, consisting of a couple dozen tents spread across the soccer fields surrounding the stadium. As the noon kickoff approaches, the temperature rises.
One of the most popular people at Centennial Stadium’s grand opening is someone you couldn’t see: the water-gun guy.
As you meet with friends, walk around the vendor tents and watch kids playing kickball in the adjacent fields to Denver Summit FC’s new temporary home, the coolness of the water being spritzed in the air and onto your neck was a reminder of how hot it had gotten by midday on Saturday. You turn around to find the source, but they’re already gone.
You walk over to the coolers containing free ice-cold water bottles, past the temporary tattoo station and the create-your-own friendship bracelet table. In the distance behind you, people took photos by a large sign which reads, ‘Together We Climb.’
There, you’re greeted by leadership of the 14ers Supporters’ Group, a grassroots, volunteer-only organization dedicated to building an inclusive culture for new and existing women’s soccer fans from scratch.
“I think there’s an innate goal of community. As you get older and as I come into motherhood and raising two little ones, those opportunities diminish a little bit,” 14ers Officer of Funds Alison Pilsner said between water-gun spritzes. “It’s harder to find community and find people who are like-minded and passionate about the same things. This has brought me back to something that was such a big part of my life for so long. It’s been really special.”
Pilsner, 14ers President Megan Hart and Events Lead Jolene Woodward joked that Saturday was the “third first home game.” First was “The Kickoff” at Empower Field, which drew an NWSL and American pro women’s sports record 63,004 people. Then the first game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the club’s first official sellout of 16,932 strong.
Saturday’s opener at Centennial Stadium ended up selling out too, with a final attendance of 12,372. 14ers leadership got a sneak peek of the venue a few days beforehand to get an idea of how pre-game logistics would shake out. For those three, it felt different from the other two firsts.
“I got a little choked up in the stands (during their preview),” Hart said as goosebumps formed on Woodward’s arms. “I thought it would be for just the first (Empower Field) game, but it’s been that one, the first one at Dick’s and then to now have a stadium that’s built for this team, … Get out of here.”
An hour before the match, the 14ers gathered for their first march into Centennial Stadium. A few brass instrumentalists and drummers led around 250 people to the southeast gate. The walk felt a bit awkward, as many firsts are, but if nothing else, it felt united.
The stadium itself felt intimate. Unlike Empower Field and DSGP, the stands were above you instead of below. The metal fences that separated outside from in, along with small merch stands and food trucks made it feel like a lower-tier English soccer stadium in all the best ways. To cap off the vibe, only a few feet separated row one from the field of play.
Before the game, some fans took shelter in the shade below the stands while some reserved their spots in section 114 — the supporters’ section behind the south goal — and set up shop with signs, banners, tifos and chant lyrics.
Section 114 stood the entire game while two brave souls faced away from the field and into the sun to facilitate the chants, most of which the section was learning in real time. They even put their own spin on Norway’s beloved “row” chant from this year’s men’s World Cup: putting their hands up, waiting for the two drum beats, then violently pumping their fists downward while chanting, “climb.”
Some 20 rows up in 114, a little girl screamed her head off for every action — a clearance, shot, save, questionable whistle, it didn’t matter. To her and many others, every moment was worth celebrating.
Summit FC came back from down a goal to beat the Portland Thorns, 2-1, leaving it to a late Natalie Means winner assisted by Colorado native and women’s soccer legend Lindsey Heaps in her Denver debut.
The bus back to the off-site parking lot is much more packed than before, but you and James run into each other again. His smile is much wider this time, and someone has convinced him to get green sparkles scattered on his face. He jokes about the prospect of tiny star-shaped tan lines when he washes them off later.
The reason the Current’s game made a new women’s soccer fan of James was the culture and the people he met, he said. Chances are Saturday’s match at Centennial Stadium made droves more.
