The 5280 Pitch - Denver Summit FC Podcast
The 5280 Pitch - Denver Summit FC Podcast
Kate Hanson
Denver Summit FC Is Back: New Facility & Kansas City Preview (BONUS)
27 minutes Posted Jul 3, 2026 at 1:00 pm.
0:00
27:09
Download MP3
Show notes

Denver Summit FC just opened a NWSL facility that wasn't borrowed, wasn't adapted from a men's team — it was designed, from the studs out, for women. And once you hear what that actually meant in the design, you can't unhear it.

Ten years ago, captain Janine Sonis was a rookie in Houston, parking on the street and handing her kit to an equipment manager she never saw wash it. This week she walked into a building with a cryotherapy chamber, a dry float tank, red-light therapy, and a first-team locker room built to the same standard as the Broncos, the Rockies, the Avs, and the Nuggets. Same standard. Not close to. That's the jump. That's the story.

I talked to the people who built it and the people who'll live in it — Populus lead architect Valerie, club President Jen Millay, head coach Nick Cushing, and veterans Sonis and Kaleigh Kurtz — about what "designed for women" really means, and why Kurtz says this place might change how long she plays.

Then the restart. Five weeks off. Kansas City up next — a team in real disarray, but one still carrying two-time MVP Temwa Chawinga. Cushing has beaten Chris Armas before; Kurtz has to deal with Chawinga now. And Lindsey Heaps is close. I break it all down and give you my prediction.

New here? Follow the show and dig into the rest of the coverage.

The 5280 Weekly newsletter and full archive — 5280pitch.com
@5280pitch on Instagram & Threads
Merch — 5280-pitch-shop.fourthwall.com

Denver Summit FC. NWSL. Women's soccer at altitude.