Opinion: Bring women’s professional sports to Denver

Have attitudes about women’s sports changed? After the record-breaking 18.9 million people who watched the NCAA women’s basketball championship game between Iowa and South Carolina last month — a whopping six million more than the 13.08 million people who watched the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals last year – it would seem there’s been a culture shift.

But to what? Do these newfound fans also consider themselves feminists finally ready to invest?

These female athletes are playing for more than one person, one team, or one city. They are playing for something universal to women who know what it’s like to make less money, have less power, and be disrespected despite their obvious skills and successes: equality.

We shouldn’t be surprised what happens when women are given the same resources and opportunities as their male counterparts to be all of who they are. Brava to the University of Colorado lady ballers for its Sweet 16 performance.

The Indiana Fever, and the city of Indianapolis, will no doubt capitalize on the attention that No. 1 WNBA draft pick Caitlin Clark brings with her, and already, some of the more high-profile games across the country have moved to larger arenas and ticket prices continue to increase to more than $500 in some cases.

There is capital to be gained when equality wins. It’s a classic “yes, and” model that Denver would be sorry to miss out on if it doesn’t make moves to bring in both a WNBA team and a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team. Many of those professionals are from the Centennial State and proudly represent the U.S. Women’s National Team, which will be playing at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on June 1 in a friendly against South Korea. Shout out to For Denver FC for working to make the latter happen.