AURORA, Colo. — Ready for some football? Great, but we're not talking Broncos.
On Friday, the Women's National Football Conference launched it's 2019 season with a team from Mile High - the Denver Bandits.
"This year it's exploding incredibly," Trish Donahue, the team’s quarterback said.
Players for the Denver Bandits signed their contracts at Gibby's Sports Bar, one of the team's sponsors. Adidas is also backing the team this season.
“I’ve never got the chance to play padded football, so it's huge,” Donahue said. “I always played flag football or touch football. To play football and to play actual football as a woman, it's huge. It's big. It's great."
The Women's National Football Conference is a new league organized by former women NFL coaches and players from the USA football team. The WNFC is hoping to be the premier professional level league for women in football.
The League is limiting the number of teams within the US to become more of a professional platform for the sport.
The idea is to increase the quality of teams, not the quantity.
"I was able to play a little bit of flag football that was coed but nothing just for women,” Khat Atkinson, a defensive lineman said. “So this is a really great opportunity to get together and play."
The Bandits say this team is one way to start breaking down barriers for women in sports. The team’s mission is to empower women to lead a community by expressing their passion for unity, diversity and inclusion through sports.
Players say this is a big deal for women athletes.
“It's a love you just can't really describe,” Atkinson said. “It's just that feeling that when you go in there, you get to be together on a team and have one goal. Go, women's football! It’s about time.”