Back in 1979, Utah joined the ranks of professional sports’ hosts when the upstart New Orleans Jazz moved to the Beehive State just a few years after the team entered the NBA as an expansion franchise.
Just over a quarter of a century later, Real Salt Lake joined Major League Soccer, calling Rice-Eccles Stadium its home pitch until the purpose-built Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy opened for business in 2008. A year later, the scrappy RSL club won its first (and so far, only) league championship, knocking off the Los Angeles Galaxy to snag the 2009 MLS Cup.
Both franchises have proven out that even in a Utah market that was once widely deemed too small to support even a single pro-level team, Utahns are ready, willing and able to actively support their local teams and, as it turns out, are some of the most devoted and engaged fans in the country.
The hope is that with those proven successes, Utah could expand and host a Major League Baseball team and even a National Hockey League team.