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 PWHL is gearing up for a blockbuster third season, with the pro hockey league reporting surging season ticket sales across all markets — and 2025/26 expansion sides Seattle and Vancouver are leading the charge.
PWHL executive board member Stan Kasten told Sports Business Journal last week that each of the new teams amassed more than 5,000 season ticket deposits for the 2025/26 campaign as of May, fueling growth throughout the emerging league.
"In every city this year — every city — we have sold more season tickets than we had last year," Kasten said. "The two expansion teams we added this year are just the two leaders of what is going to become a movement. We are going to be adding more teams much sooner than other people thought because the demand is there, the players are there."
The league is also banking on the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics to boost interest, with more than 50 current PWHL players expected to take the global stage in Italy this February.
"I expect it to be a really important milestone for us," Kasten said of the Winter Games earlier this summer. "It should be a really special time for our league, and I hope a launchpad for the next phase of our development."
Ticket prices are skyrocketing across the WNBA, with commissioner Cathy Engelbert addressing the surge after several New York Liberty fans wore T-shirts in protest of the increase.
Donning orange shirts emblazoned with the phrase "We've been priced out," New York fans came together to express their frustrations at a recent game.
The WNBA fans' custom shirts referred to season ticket price jumps of more than 250%, saying the Liberty is asking upwards of $30,000 for 2026 renewals.
Some New York season ticket holders noted that their 2026 renewal more than triples the cost they paid for the team's 2024 championship-winning campaign.
The exponential increase isn't just occurring in the New York market, however — it points to an overall rise in ticket prices across the WNBA.
The WNBA's recent ticket surge has seen seats across the league jumping by an average cost increase of 43% in the last year alone.
"In order to fund all these investments that owners are making, and obviously paying the players more which we will do in this next CBA cycle…that's the reality," Engelbert said on Thursday's episode of In Case You Missed It with Khristina Williams. "That's our responsibility as a league and team owners."
Calling the price hikes a result of "simple economics" and "high demand," Engelbert acknowledged the effect on fans, though did not address potential solutions.
"I realize there's some concern out there, certainly that we don't price out our kind of core fan base," she noted.
Portland's original WNBA team name is back, with the 2026 expansion side announcing the return of the the Portland Fire moniker on Tuesday — the name held by the city's first WNBA squad from 2000 to 2002.
With details including a "Rose on Fire" emblem— a nod to Portland's "Rose City" nickname — the city-specific nods in the new logo seek to capture Portland's identity.
"[It's] an important heritage," team interim president Clare Hamill told The Athletic this week. "The opportunity to bring the Portland Fire back, reborn, was 100 percent — creatively and for the brand and for fans — the way to go."
While the team is still searching for its head coach and general manager, excitement is growing, with fans anteing up to the tune of over 10,000 season-ticket deposits since the WNBA awarded the franchise last fall.
"Portland has long stood at the forefront of women's sports, and with nearly 11,000 season ticket deposits to-date, this community has made it clear they're ready to embrace the return of women's professional basketball," said Lisa Bhathal Merage, a co-founder of RAJ Sports — the ownership group of both the WNBA team and the NWSL's Thorns. "We're proud to reignite the Portland Fire."
In addition to the Portland Fire, the Toronto Tempo will hit WNBA courts next season, with three more expansion teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia set to tip off in 2028, 2029, and 2030, respectively.
With the 2025 WNBA season tipping off in just three weeks, opportunities to see the league's stars in action are becoming more expensive, as top players fuel rising ticket prices in the secondary market.
According to market analysis firm Victory Live, the league's average 2025 ticket price is already up 43% year-over-year, rising from $122 in 2024 to $173 this season.
Much of the climbing 2025 WNBA ticket prices come from teams fielding young superstars.
The Indiana Fever remain huge interest drivers thanks to a revamped roster centered around 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, with demand to catch the Fever on the road rising to a league-leading $282 average ticket price — nearly $100 more than the $185 per game the second-place Chicago Sky's and third-place Las Vegas Aces' away-game slates are commanding.
Looking at individual games, Indiana also scores big, accounting for nine of the highest-cost regular-season matchups — eight on the road, and one at home.
The 2023 champion Aces' May 17th season opener at the 2024 title-winning New York Liberty's Barclays Center is the lone Top-10 game to not feature the Fever, clocking in on the price list at No. 7.
Similar to her 2024 compatriot, 2025 WNBA Draft overall No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers is helping to drive top demand for her new team, the Dallas Wings.
Bolstered by Bueckers, the Wings hold the highest average home ticket price at $241 and saw their away tickets claim the WNBA's largest increase of 89%.
Accordingly, the most expensive single-game ticket to find is Dallas’s August 1st home matchup against Indiana, with fans shelling out an average $384 to see Clark and Bueckers face off at the 7,000-seat College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
Less than two months after winning the bid to become the 16th NWSL team, 2026 expansion franchise Denver has already sold over 10,000 season ticket deposits, setting a new league record.
This week's sales record comes after Denver became the fastest expansion franchise in NWSL history to surpass 5,000 season ticket deposits, with 5,280 snapped up in the first three days following the league awarding a team to the Mile High City.
"This milestone showcases that our community is passionate about women’s professional soccer and what we are building in Denver and across the front range," said the club's controlling owner Rob Cohen in a statement on Monday.
Denver continues plans for top-tier facilities
The incoming NWSL club has been busy outside the box office, too, as Denver dropped plans for a new 14,500-seat, purpose-built stadium last month.
With the team's permanent competition digs aiming to open for the 2028 season, the club is also constructing both a purpose-built, 12,000-seat temporary stadium for the squad's 2026 and 2027 season.
That stadium, as well as the team's permanent state-of-the-art training and performance facility, will be located approximately 14 miles southeast of Denver in nearby Centennial, Colorado.
"There is still a great deal of work to be done," said Cohen. "We are excited to continue collaborating with our community to create a club that is representative and inclusive of all of Colorado."
How to secure NWSL Denver season tickets
With inventory flying off of Denver's proverbial shelves, those interested in snagging season tickets to the NWSL's 16th franchise can do so by submitting a deposit online.
For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.
Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before.
On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.
According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets.
In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.
"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."
As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.
The South Carolina women’s basketball team has perhaps never been more popular.
Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley announced on X that the team had sold more 10,100 season tickets for the 2023-24 campaign, surpassing last year’s total.
“Let’s gooo!” Staley wrote on X.
As of Friday morning, Staley said, South Carolina had sold 10,144 season tickets, already up from last year’s number of 10,084.
The Gamecocks play Rutgers in an exhibition game at home Oct. 22, before challenging Notre Dame in a neutral site game in Paris on Nov. 6. They then host Maryland on Nov. 12.
South Carolina won a program record 36 games last season and entered the Final Four without having suffered a loss. They fell to Iowa, 77-73, in the NCAA semifinal.
The team enters the season with high expectations, even without star players Aliyah Boston and Zia Cook, who left for the WNBA.
“We can’t erase what took place for the last four years,” Staley told reporters. “But we can start anew and give this team its own identity. … They’re in a good place.”
Point guard Raven Johnson is expected to step into a leadership role after averaging 18.6 minutes per game as a backup last season.
“It’s got to be a team effort,” Johnson said. “If I’m buying in, everybody’s got to buy in.”