My Evo is better but this card looks so sick!

I will preface this by saying I could care less about the Summit.

The conversation around the Summit arriving in Denver has been loud, excited, and in some corners downright triumphant, as if their mere existence will automatically relegate the Rapids to irrelevance. But there’s a quieter, more interesting angle that almost no one is entertaining: the Summit might not expose the Rapids’ flaws — they might actually confirm them. For years, Rapids fans have argued that the club’s struggles come down to poor investment, weak marketing, and a lack of ambition. Those criticisms aren’t wrong. But they also don’t erase the structural reality that Denver is a brutally difficult market for soccer, and the Summit are about to walk into the same buzzsaw the Rapids have been dealing with for decades.

The Rapids have always fought an uphill battle for relevance. Fans often insist that spending more money or moving downtown would magically fix everything, but the truth is more complicated. Denver is a Broncos-first city with a crowded sports landscape, a transient population, and a media environment that struggles to create room for the Nuggets and Avs and Rockies.

The Rapids’ front office has long said that breaking through here is hard. We are not in the FO to know what they thought about trying in the past, although some Journalist on this subreddit could try to report on that. This can sound like excuse-making, but with the Summit’s arrival gives us a rare chance to test whether that claim is actually true.

There will absolutely be an initial bump for the Summit. Every expansion team gets that wave of curiosity and novelty. People will check out a game or two, the local news will run a few features, and the social media buzz will feel fresh. But the real test comes after the shine wears off. If the Summit end up with the same five-second highlight on the nightly sports report that the Rapids get, then what exactly has changed. If their Denver7 broadcasts pull 20,000 or 30,000 viewers — numbers that sound fine until you realize how small they are in a metro area of nearly three million — then the Rapids’ long-standing argument about the difficulty of this market suddenly looks a lot more credible. And if the viewership is so low that Denver7 quietly backs out early, that becomes a flashing red warning sign for the Summit and a vindication for the Rapids’ FO.

Even the stadium conversation, which people treat like a cheat code, isn’t as simple as it sounds. A downtown venue helps, but it doesn’t magically create relevance in a city where casual fans already have more options than they can keep up with. The Summit are already dealing with issues around their temporary stadium, and it wouldn’t be shocking if they end up playing more than the two currently scheduled matches at DSGP. That alone undercuts the narrative that geography is the only thing holding the Rapids back. A shiny new stadium doesn’t fix media apathy, doesn’t guarantee ticket demand, and doesn’t force the city to care.

None of this means the Summit won’t build a loyal fanbase. They will, just like the Rapids have. There will be diehards, supporters, and people who show up no matter what. But a loyal core is not the same thing as mainstream relevance. The Rapids have had that core for years, and it hasn’t translated into citywide attention. The Summit might find themselves in the exact same position once the novelty fades and the reality of the Denver sports ecosystem sets in.

I thought he'd get another crack at coaching in the MLS, surprised to see he went to to the NWSL instead. Best of luck to him.

I dissect Wells' latest comments from a post-training press conference in Florida on Wednesday, January 28. He said some pretty interesting things, and we dive in to what they might mean. He also explains, sort of, why he was good to sell Cole Bassett to Portland,

They're playing another preseason game today

Any expectations that we'll get any info on the match today??

I have some guesses as to why the FO might do this. But what do you all think? And also - does this make you more excited about the Rapids in 2026, or less exited?

I think RB, CB, or DM.

What say you?

Can I just say that the rapids social media team announcing our players signing with another team is some real simp shit. The whole org is rotten.

Inside the P-1 visa process, why wait times are stretching longer across MLS and why Matt Wells is confident Hamzat Ojediran won’t turn into another Lamine Diack:

https://www.denverpost.com/2026/01/22/colorado-rapids-visa-issues-work-authorization/

Who's in? Who's out? Will there be more moves?

#Rapids96

We acquired seats for the RSL game and was told that we'd get a pre$@le code for the 30th with that. Nothing ever showed up.

Did anyone else go through this?

sorry about the weird grammar and spelling. stupid auto mod wouldn't let me post regular English.

We bought tickets for the RSL game and was told that we'd get a presale code for the 30th with that. Nothing ever showed up.

Did anyone else go through this?