The yet-to-be-named Denver NWSL expansion team announced Monday it had become the fastest new team in NWSL history to surge past 10,000 season ticket deposits.
Denver will be one of two new clubs, along with Boston Legacy FC, to join NWSL for the 2026 season, taking the total size of the league to 16 teams, double from its early seasons a decade ago.
And the 10,000-ticket benchmark is particularly notable given that the club expects eventually to play in a 14,500-seat downtown stadium, meaning ticket demand for the new club could be among the highest of any pro soccer team, men's or women's, in the United States.
The fastest club to hit 10,000 season ticket deposits in @NWSL history 👏💚 pic.twitter.com/UL5EuRtUUn
— Denver NWSL (@denver_nwsl) April 7, 2025
In the interim, the club will share Dick's Sporting Goods Park, which has a capacity just north of 18,000, for at least two seasons with the Colorado Rapids of MLS.
The momentum behind Denver's addition to the league shows just how much the NWSL's overall prospects have improved over a short span, given that is was only six-plus years ago that two of the league's founding members -- Boston Breakers and FC Kansas City -- ceased operations following the 2018 season.
NWSL's explosive growth
As of next season, both markets will now have new clubs in place of those former NWSL franchises. And that will keep the league's expansion pace slightly ahead of the WNBA, which currently has 13 teams and will have 15 in 2026.
The league is likely to continue to grow so long as its business metrics keep flourishing. Since 2021, average NWSL attendance has more than doubled to 11,235 during the 2024 season. Over the same span, total attendance has ballooned more than 300% from 592,074 to 2,044,848.
Meanwhile, club valuations increased 57% just from 2023 to 2024, according to data from Sportico. The average NWSL value last year was $104 million, aboug 8% higher than the average WNBA club value.