Denver sports are currently on fire with several franchises experiencing great success, such as the Denver Nuggets recently winning the championship and becoming a consistent power in the Western Conference, the Colorado Avalanche capturing the Stanley Cup in the 2021-22 season, and the Denver Broncos’ recent dominant season in the NFL. Creating a new sports franchise from scratch in a city rich with sports tradition is a difficult task. Yet Denver’s newest franchise of the National Women’s Soccer League, the Denver Summit FC, has surpassed 15,000 season ticket deposits ahead of its inaugural season.
Since the team was announced in January 2025, excitement around Denver Summit FC has surged, with the organization unveiling plans to build a state-of-the-art, 14,500-seat stadium at Sante Fe Yards (Broadway and I-25), installing former Head Coach of New York City FC in Major League Soccer Nick Cushing as coach, and announcing the signing of United States Women’s National Team captain Lindsey Heaps.
At the first full-team media availability event on January 17th, some of the players met for the first time and answered questions from the media ahead of their training camp in Santa Barbara, California.
In addition to his tenure with New York City FC, Denver Summit coach Nick Cushing brings a championship pedigree from women’s soccer. He led Manchester City Women to six major trophies, including the 2016 FA Women’s Super League title, and was named the league’s Manager of the Year. As for his vision in Denver, Cushing said he wants an aggressive, attacking style that entertains fans and gives them plenty to cheer about.
“We’re going to attack everybody,” said Cushing. “We’re going to have fear for nobody. Of course, it’s going to take time to develop our team, to blend our environment and our culture and to develop our style. But I will be really clear from day one we’re going to attack. And I take the responsibility of putting a team that can entertain on the field as a really important part of my job.“
Summit FC defender Janine Sonis, from Highlands Ranch, played in over 100 NWSL matches, including the Houston Dash, Portland Thorns, and Racing Louisville FC, and helped the Portland Thorns win the NWSL Championship in 2022. Because of this, Sonis is no stranger to winning and wants the Summit to compete with the top teams in year one despite the franchise being brand new.
“We want to bring Denver fans championships,” said Sonis. We want to be a winning franchise. We have ambitions to win in our first year, which is quite unheard of, especially in soccer.”
Defender Carson Pickett, an NWSL champion in 2024, is signed to a multiyear deal that runs through the 2027 season. While the Summit remains in its early stages, Pickett said she already feels a shared winning mentality with coach Nick Cushing.
“He’s so personable,” said Pickett. “Obviously, we haven’t stepped on the field yet, but the fact that you kind of feel like you trust your coach before you didn’t step on the field is something that’s really important. He’s a winner. He wants to win here. We don’t want to wait.”
General Manager Curt Johnson asserts that the Santa Barbara training camp will provide the blueprint of how the team will begin to learn the tactics and strategies that will make them successful.
“You get a base of fitness, said Johnson. “You get the first teachings of the tactical side of the game. It’s part getting to know one another. All these things are interwoven into a couple of weeks that will be in Santa Barbara. At the end of that, we’ll play a closed-door exhibition that will give us kind of the first taste of the group together, and I’m looking forward to watching for a couple weeks. I think it’ll help me and our group assess kind of where we need to go from here as we evolve the roster.”
In an effort to get her teammates to get to know each other before training camp, Janine Sonis began a group text to get help everyone to get to know each other, which has increased the anticipation for the season.
“And what I’m most excited about is I think the culture that we’re going to create here is what we get to make it, which is so exciting,” said Sonis. “And not very many people in their careers get to say that they were at a club from the start.”
After the Denver Summit FC training camp in Santa Barbara, California, they return for more preseason prep in Denver from Tuesday, February 3, to Friday, February 13.
Fans looking to catch Denver Summit FC matches can catch all the action NWSL’s national broadcast partners, including CBS, ABC, ESPN, ION, Prime Video, CBS Sports Network, and NWSL+. You can view the full schedule here and see which games will air on Denver7/The Spot Denver 3.
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