Incoming NWSL side Denver Summit FC will kick off in style, with the 2026 expansion team announcing Monday that the club will make its big debut on March 28th at Empower Field at Mile High — the home stadium of the city's local NFL team, the Denver Broncos.
The venue shift comes shortly after the club surpassed 15,000 season ticket deposits, setting a new NWSL record for an expansion franchise.
"This will be an unforgettable moment for our club, our players, our city, and our fans," said team president Jen Millet about the inaugural match. "We're honored to play our first home match and host 'The Kickoff' in such an iconic stadium."
With the ability to hold a crowd of 76,125, Empower Field could also provide an opportunity for Denver to immediately contend for the NWSL's single-game attendance record, which currently stands at 40,091 fans after Bay FC shattered the previous record at San Francisco's Oracle Park in August.
"This venue has hosted many memorable moments in Colorado sports history, and we look forward to working together to bring a best-in-class experience for Summit FC fans," said Broncos president Damani Leech in Monday's club statement.
How to attend the Denver Summit FC "Kickoff" match
Though the expansion side's debut opponent is still unknown, fans can be a part of NWSL history by snagging tickets to fill the Mile High City's NFL stadium at the March 28th inaugural Denver Summit match.
"The Kickoff" tickets will go on sale at DenverSummitFC.com on Wednesday, November 12th.
The WNBA Players Association is making friends, as brother player unions for the NBA, MLB, and NFL all issued statements last week supporting the WNBPA while the league officially extended the ongoing CBA negotiations by an additional 30 days.
Calling WNBA players' impact on the league "undeniable," the NFLPA wrote on Wednesday that "It's time for fair compensation, proper working conditions, and a future that puts players first."
"We're with you for as long as it takes to get what you deserve," the MLBPA told WNBPA players in a Saturday solidarity post on social media.
"We stand with the women of the WNBPA as they work toward a collective bargaining agreement that reflects their value and impact both on and off the court," the NBPA posted on Saturday.
Amid the statements of support from other player unions, the WNBA and WNBPA also officially extended their CBA negotiation deadline on Friday.
The league office and the WNBPA now have until November 30th to reach a deal, though the players can terminate the extension at any time with 48 hours notice — a move that would put them on a path toward a possible work stoppage.
"While we believed negotiations would be further along, the players are more focused, united, and determined than ever to reach an agreement that reflects their value and undeniable impact on the league," the union wrote in a Friday statement.
ESPN reported that the two sides met multiple times last week, as a busy WNBA offseason with two expansion drafts and an active free agency period looms.
Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon is stepping into the spotlight, with Variety announcing that the three-time WNBA title-winning boss will star in a forthcoming documentary from NFL athlete-backed production houses SMAC and 2463 Entertainment.
"For decades, women on the hardwood [were] underestimated and told to stay in their lane," said SMAC CEO and co-founder Constance Schwartz-Morini. "Becky defied every expectation and broke through barriers that once seemed unshakable."
Schwartz-Morini, Fred Anthony Smith, Ajay Sangha, and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Sean Clifford will serve as executive producers, joined by 2463 founder and Super Bowl champion wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. as well as SMAC founder and retired New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan.
Through audio diaries, the documentary will provide an inside look at Hammon's rise up the WNBA coaching ranks as well as her experience as the first woman to serve as an acting head coach for an NBA team, with Hammon taking the reins of the San Antonio Spurs in 2020.
A six-time WNBA All-Star during her playing career, Hammon left the NBA for Las Vegas at the end of 2021, leading the Aces to three championships in four years.
The report didn't specify the film's title or scheduled release date, with more details expected in the coming months.
The NFL is putting women on the gridiron, with commissioner Roger Goodell announcing plans to launch both a men's and women's professional flag football league at Thursday's Leaders in Sport conference in London.
Looking to have both new ventures up and running in "the next couple of years," the NFL's goal is to introduce the leagues prior to the 2028 Summer Games in LA, where flag football will make its Olympic debut.
"The demand is there. We're seeing colleges in the States and universities internationally also that want to make it a part of their program," Goodell said. "If you set that structure up where there's youth leagues, going into high school, into college, and then professional, I think you can develop a system of scale. That's an important infrastructure that we need to create."
Building that infrastructure also feeds the ongoing NFL goal of growing flag football in order to construct a young fanbase for the gridiron sport at-large, with the league investing in a fan pipeline to support the NFL's future.
In part due to past NFL investments, women's flag football has seen significant growth across the US over the last 25 years, with over 30 states now offering competitive opportunities for high school girls — and at least half of those states fielding it as a full-fledged varsity championship sport.
Even the NCAA is getting in on the action, taking initial steps earlier this year to introduce flag football across all three of the governing body's divisions in the near future.
Though the LA Olympics are three years away, flag football is already charging ahead on the international stage, featuring in the 2022 and 2025 World Games — where the same US talent that the NFL is eyeing for its new league snagged a pair of silver medals.
Flag football has gone global, as the emerging sport takes center stage this week at The World Games 2025 in Chengdu, China.
Eight top national flag football teams will kick off their tournament campaigns beginning on Wednesday night, all aiming for Sunday's championship final.
Reigning champions Mexico will look to defend their 2022 title against the 2024 IFAF World Championships-winning USA as well as 2024 bronze medalists Japan.
Meanwhile, squads from Austria, China, Canada, Great Britain, and Italy will look to upend the three tournament titans.
Fueled primarily by women's sports athletes, the sport is on the upswing, rising from its debut at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, to secure a spot at the 2028 LA Olympics amid growing media exposure as well as backing by the NFL and the NCAA.
"[The sport] started rolling faster after World Games [2022]," Mexico captain and quarterback Diana Flores said at an IFAF press conference this week. "It was a very important moment for the flag football community… the first time flag football was showcased on a platform as big as the World Games, a multi-sport competition where the most elite athletes go and represent their countries."
"It took a quick spiral from the World Games Birmingham to the media exposure we got to the support our organization has given us," echoed USA star quarterback Vanita Krouch. "To be here paving the way, being these trailblazers and pioneers, it's a huge honor."
How to watch flag football at The World Games 2025
The USA and Canada will kick off The World Games 2025 flag football preliminaries at 9 PM ET on Wednesday.
Knockout rounds begin when the quarterfinals take the field 8:30 PM ET on Friday, with Saturday's 11:30 PM ET bronze-medal game and Sunday's 12:50 AM ET final determining this year's podium.
The tournament will stream live on The World Games website.
Boston Legacy FC will make their NWSL debut inside Foxborough's Gillette Stadium, the 2026 expansion club told reporters on Wednesday.
After significant delays impacted the proposed redevelopment of White Stadium, located in Boston's Franklin Park neighborhood, the team will call the NFL venue home for its full inaugural campaign.
With room for 20,000 soccer fans — when not used by up to 64,628 fans for NFL games — suburban Gillette's primary tenants are the New England Patriots.
The stadium is also the current home of pro lacrosse team Boston Cannons and MLS side New England Revolution — as well as the Revolution's third-division counterpart.
With White Stadium originally slated to reopen in March 2026, the Boston Legacy ownership group hit several snags in their plan to renovate the 76-year-old venue.
Following a controversial partnership with the city's public schools, an ongoing lawsuit from an area conservancy organization and community pushback are still causing significant construction delays.
Even so, the NWSL team remains committed to seeing the project through, telling The Athletic that "Boston Legacy FC will play its inaugural season at Gillette Stadium before the club moves into its permanent home at White Stadium in 2027."
"After nearly two years of community process, including more than 70 public meetings, a landmark lease agreement, and a clear victory at trial, White Stadium construction is well underway," the club's statement continued. "But construction will not be finished by March of 2026."
Calling the White Stadium conversion a "profit-driven rush," a local resident told the publication "This news comes as a relief for the communities around Franklin Park."
While sharing Gillette's turf-covered field with several different pro teams isn't an ideal situation, it does allow the NWSL's 15th addition to start off on what appears to be more stable footing — at least for now.
Last week, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics recommended that all three Divisions should sponsor legislation adding flag football to the collegiate governing body's Emerging Sports for Women program.
The program aims to address gender equity by offering up-and-coming women's sports a sanctioned interim growth period at the varsity level.
Once added to the program, a sport has 10 years in which to establish a minimum of 40 school-sponsored varsity teams. Participating schools must also meet certain competition and regulatory requirements for the sport to ultimately earn official NCAA championship status.
Growth spurs NCAA efforts to elevate flag football
With the announcement that flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 LA Games, the sport has seen increased popularity across the US. That interest has sparked inquiries into upping the sport’s competitive status at the NCAA level — particularly from women athletes.
At least 65 NCAA schools currently offer women's flag football at either the club or varsity level, with more slated to join in 2026, per the NCAA.
Division III's Atlantic East Conference will officially become the first NCAA league to sponsor the sport this year, with seven teams set to kick off their inaugural varsity season next month.
Division II's Conference Carolinas will join the varsity flag football party during the 2025/26 academic year, with at least six programs competing in that inaugural season.
Outside the NCAA, the NAIA — a governing body that oversees collegiate athletics at more than 200 mostly private schools — has been officially sponsoring women's flag football since 2020.
The NFL is also involved in growing the women's game, partnering with Atlantic East's efforts and recently advocating for flag football to become a girl’s high school varsity sport in all 50 states in a 2025 Super Bowl commercial.
Currently, just 14 states sponsor girl's high school flag football at the varsity level, though 18 more have pilot programs to test future state-wide sanctioning.
Emerging Sports program boosts NCAA gender equity
If the NCAA committee's recommended legislation successfully advances, flag football will join the likes of rugby, stunt, triathlon, acrobatics and tumbling, and equestrian in the Emerging Sports for Women program.
Since its 1994 establishment, the program has seen five women's sports — ice hockey, beach volleyball, rowing, water polo, and bowling — elevate to full NCAA championship status.
With its first championship season slated for 2025/26, women's wrestling will soon graduate from the program to become the NCAA's 91st title-winning sport.
All in all, enthusiasm for both youth and adult flag football is on the rise across the US, with this latest news indicating that the sport will likely join the college fold sooner rather than later.