Denver team to join NWSL in 2026 after official unveiling - ESPN

Denver was officially announced as the NWSL's 16th team on Thursday and will begin play in 2026.

The ownership group is led by Rob Cohen, the chairman and CEO of IMA Financial Group, who will serve as controlling owner. The Denver team is the first women's professional sports team in a top-level national league to call the Mile High City home.

Project Level, a subsidiary of Ariel Investments that seeks to level the playing field in terms of investment in women's sports, is also an investor. The group is led by chairwoman Mellody Hobson and former Washington Commanders president Jason Wright. Hobson will serve as the organization's alternate governor.

FirstTracks Sports Ventures LLC (FTSV) — led by siblings Jon-Erik Borgen and Kaia Borgen Moritz, Neelima Joshi and Dhiren Jhaveri — and Molly Coors are also part of the investor group.

Cohen has been involved in sports endeavors in the Denver area for over 30 years, including the founding of the Denver Sports Commission in 2001, as well as being a board member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, which is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Cohen got involved in the NWSL push after a grassroots bid named «For Denver FC» was launched by former soccer executive Tom Dunmore and former NWSL player Jordan Angeli.

«Being around the sports world, I heard about the grassroots effort around bringing a soccer team to Denver,» he told ESPN in an exclusive interview. «I met with that group and the more I started to learn about what they were thinking, what their vision was, set me on a journey to start learning about the league, what they were doing, to the point where ultimately wanted to lead the bid and hopefully bring a team to Denver, which we're now doing.»

NWSL