The Know's Staff Favorites are highlighting the growth of soccer in Colorado, with this article highlighting the home debut of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWS), which saw a record-breaking attendance of 63,000 at the home game of Denver Summit FC at Empower Field. The author reflects on the slow but irrepressible growth of the world's most popular sport, soccer. Her introduction to soccer came when she covered the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the old North American Soccer League in the 1970s, when Brazilian star Pelé played for the New York Cosmos. The NASL folded in 1985 and the U.S. would go eight years without another national soccer league. Despite decades of watching soccer, the author notes that soccer at the youth level has grown significantly, especially among girls.