On October 1, 2026 the Summit officially began a new chapter for the club, for Denver and for women’s professional soccer.
Players, supporters, community leaders and members of the Denver community gathered at Santa Fe Yards to celebrate a major milestone for Denver Summit FC: the groundbreaking of the club’s permanent home.
A Celebration of Place and Community
Before the shovels hit the ground, the ceremony began with a land blessing, offering a moment to pause and recognize the significance of the land and the community surrounding Santa Fe Yards before marking the start of something new.
That sense of place carried throughout the morning. Las Dahlias Mariachi brought music to the celebration, while members of the 14ers Supporters Group helped bring the energy and spirit of Summit fans to the future home of the club.
The program also featured remarks from many of the people who have helped make Santa Fe Yards possible. Summit President Jen Millet, Controlling Owner Rob Cohen and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston spoke about the significance of the project, its place in Denver and what it means to build a permanent home for women’s professional soccer in the city.
For the players, the conversation became a little more personal.
Sonis and Summit defender Eva Gaetino joined a fireside chat to talk about what it means to be part of the club at this moment and to eventually play in a stadium built specifically for them.
With the future stadium site behind them and an excavator marking where the center of the field will eventually be, the day offered a glimpse of what Santa Fe Yards will become.
A Stadium Built for Women
This is more than a new stadium.
The Denver Summit FC’s new home will be only the second purpose built stadium in the country for women’s professional sports. It represents a significant investment in the future of women’s soccer and a belief that professional women athletes deserve world class facilities built specifically for them.
For Summit President Jen Millet, the moment represented something even bigger.
What women lacked was investment, not talent.
For decades, women’s professional teams have often shared venues, schedules and facilities built for someone else. The Summit’s new home changes that.
As women and girls, we are taught implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, not to take up too much space
Millet said during the groundbreaking ceremony. “So, today, we aren’t asking for a room of our own inside someone else’s venue.”
Built in Denver, For Denver
Located at Broadway and I-25, Santa Fe Yards will transform a site that has sat empty for 25 years into a new sports and entertainment destination in the heart of Denver.
The 14 acre development will be anchored by the Summit’s stadium and will also feature a 3.5 acre recreational park, pedestrian and bike connections, and access to public transportation.
The vision is about more than what happens on matchday. Santa Fe Yards is being designed as a place where fans, neighbors, families and the broader Denver community can gather year round. It is a stadium built for the Summit, but it is also a place built to become part of the fabric of Denver.
A Moment Players Will Never Forget
For the players who will eventually call Santa Fe Yards home, the groundbreaking was a chance to see the vision becoming reality. For Colorado native and Summit defender Janine Sonis, the moment carried a special significance.
“There are not enough words to express what today means as a Colorado native and person involved in the club,” Sonis said. “The level of investment is something I’ve never seen.”
Sonis has watched the site at South Broadway and I-25 change over the years. Now, she gets to imagine walking onto a professional soccer field there wearing a Summit jersey.
And she is not the only one.
A Home for the Next Generation
The significance of this stadium reaches far beyond the players who will take the field.
For young athletes growing up in Colorado, there will soon be a place where they can watch professional women compete in their own city. They will see players become role models, experience the energy of a professional match and grow up knowing that a career in professional soccer can be part of their future.
That is what makes this moment bigger than breaking ground.
The Summit is building a place for today’s players, today’s fans and the generations who will come next.
This Is Just the Beginning
Today, Santa Fe Yards is a construction site. But soon, it will become the home of Denver Summit FC.
