For Denver FC plans women’s top-flight side, but which league to join?

For all of Twitter’s very public and increasing number of issues, it seems to have yielded at least one more positive development.

Born in Englewood, Colorado, Jordan Angeli has spent a lifetime in soccer. Her playing career took her from Santa Clara University to the WPS’ Boston Breakers, while she also appeared with the United States U-20 national team. When that league folded and the NWSL launched in 2013, she was initially selected by the Washington Spirit before being traded to the club which is now known as Gotham FC. Three ACL tears in five years led her to retire in 2016; she has since worked in broadcasting and regularly travels to cover MLS and NWSL matches.

Despite her many moves over her career, there was one experience which she never enjoyed: playing a competitive match in her home state. Despite being a staple among major American men’s sports leagues, Colorado does not have a presence in the two largest women’s sports leagues, the NWSL or the WNBA.

“This first came to my mind a long time ago,” Angeli said. “When I was a player, I never got to play in front of my home squad. I was never on the national teams that played at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. I never got to have my extended family, my friends from high school, everyone that knows me and helped me get to where I got to come and watch me play on a professional level. I want others to be able to experience that.”

Still, Angeli didn’t have a rolodex of investors ready to turn this concept into a project. In April 2023, however, Angeli received a Twitter direct message from Tom Dunmore, an executive at Major League Cricket who helped launch second-division men’s club Indy Eleven in 2012. Dunmore relayed that he’d been having discussions with Denver-based entrepreneur Ben Hubbard, co-founder and CEO of supply chain technology insurer Parsyl. 

Rather than talking about their current roles, they’d been looking at another venture: launching a professional women’s soccer club in Denver. 

“I used to play the game; I’m a fan of the game,” Hubbard said. “I’ve got two daughters who play, but I’m also an entrepreneur. When my daughter started asking, ‘why aren’t we going to the women’s games?’ (instead of Colorado Rapids games), I explained that there isn’t a women’s team. I just started to get curious: well, why? That quickly became: why not?”

Those conversations culminated in an effort to bring a first-division women’s soccer team to the Mile High City. On Tuesday, the group publicly announced its For Denver FC initiative. The group intends to submit a bid to join a Division One pro league by the end of this year, with the ultimate goal of beginning play in 2026. In terms of tangible interest, they pointed to both Denver’s prominence in men’s sports — with the Nuggets recently winning the NBA championship — as well as how well the United States Women’s National Team draws within the market. The U.S. has played seven friendlies at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park since 2008, drawing an average of 16,978 fans per contest.

The group is quick to clarify that the “For Denver FC” moniker is a placeholder and not a case of branding a horse before it has a cart attached. That said, they see the name as providing both a clear entity upon which to build groundswell, as well as a slogan which doubles as their mission statement. 

“I think there’s just a remarkable amount of innovation happening now in terms of how these teams and franchises are coming together in pretty non-traditional ways,” Hubbard said. “Everyone talks about Angel City — lots to learn and get excited about there — but look at what they’re doing in Minnesota with the Aurora, or the Oakland Soul and their purpose-driven nature, or certainly what Bay FC has done. Our belief is that engaging the community in this process is actually how you build a successful business and enterprise.”

On the surface, the act of bringing first-division professional women’s soccer to a new market is already an undertaking which requires many important decisions. A new team needs a brand identity, employees, players and coaches, a stadium, a training ground, a team headquarters, and many other elements.

It also needs a league. For a decade, the path to top-flight women’s soccer in the United States has exclusively led to the National Women’s Soccer League. For Denver FC now enjoys the unique distinction of having a choice: either the established NWSL, or the upstart USL Super League, which announced its intention to apply for USSF first-division sanctioning in May. Among the markets already confirmed to be involved are Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Tampa Bay and Washington D.C.

Should the USL secure its place alongside the NWSL atop the women’s soccer pyramid, it would allow For Denver FC to play the two circuits off of each other to find its best fit.

“I may be biased because I played in NWSL; I work in NWSL,” Angeli said. “I love this league, but I don’t know what the Super League is going to look like. We are actively having conversations to find out more about both leagues and to feel what fits best. It’s kind of cool to have options. It’s nice to sit here and say this is a real possibility, not just that it lives or dies with one league. I think that we’re going to do our best to find what fits right with the ownership and within the community.”

There are risks and benefits attached to each league. The NWSL has a decade-long track record of functional consistency, but has been undergoing a very public reckoning for operational malpractice which has left players and staff alike vulnerable to abusive situations. While the NWSL works to improve their standards and safety, the Super League enters without any experience at the highest level. Every year since 2013 has seen at least one or two, if not more, independent men’s clubs cease operations among the second-division Championship and third-division League One.

It’s worth noting that the sanctioning standards differ between the men’s and women’s pyramids. Speaking with The Athletic in May, Super League president Amanda Vandervort had no doubt that 10 to 12 clubs would be ready to kick off in 2024 at a first-division level.

“The standards at the Division I level, we are confident that as a league we will meet those standards,” Vandervort said. “And so the decision to go Division I was something that we took in collaboration with our ownership groups, but we feel very strongly that delivering the highest standards of American soccer for the women that play in our league is our not only opportunity, but our responsibility, and we’re really excited about it.”

On paper, Denver should be an attractive addition for both leagues. For the NWSL, it would further build its roster of clubs west of the Mississippi River (without adding another team in California) while giving a regional rival for the Utah Royals, which are scheduled to resume play next season after three years of inoperation. For the Super League, it could be a statement addition of a major sports market which could serve as something of an anchor for the new circuit.

“I think we want to make sure that we’ve got a pretty clear vision and values around what we’re trying to build here,” Hubbard said. “It really starts with a question Jordan asks all current and former players, which is ‘how do we build a club you want to play for?’ It all flows from that. We’re going to pick the best league option, and there’s a lot of considerations that go into that; that’s where we are in terms of leaving those options open. I just think it’s great for the game to have two division-one leagues out there. There’s more talent than there are opportunities right now.”

As they determine their course of action, the first step toward cultivating community support kicks off in earnest on Friday, July 21 at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time. The group will host a watch party for the USWNT’s Women’s World Cup opener against Vietnam. The venue, Number Thirty Eight, is a large hangout along the South Platte River which Angeli and Hubbard think will provide a great viewing experience for both families and the 21+ crowd.

Fans who show up will get to see two Colorado natives (Sophia Smith and Lindsey Horan) take the field on the sport’s grandest stage. Simultaneously, they could be at square one of the next chapter of women’s soccer in the Centennial State.

(Photo: For Denver FC)