Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — There was supposed to be a football game Friday evening in Salt Lake City.
No, it wasn’t one of the myriad spring games as college practices wrapped up along the Wasatch Front in April. It wasn’t a flag football game or an intramural contest at the University of Utah.
It was real, live professional football, courtesy of the Alliance of American Football and the Salt Lake Stallions, whose season was stunningly and remarkably cut short two weeks early when lead investor and chairman Tom Dundon suspended league operations last Tuesday. In its wake, they’ve left a dozen former players who have signed with NFL teams, more team staff and personnel who are unemployed, and a lawsuit led by one team executive alleging violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
But for a few Stallions' fans spread from Utah County to North Salt Lake, Friday’s now-canceled season finale against the San Antonio Commanders was a reason to celebrate.
So they gathered, about two dozen of them, in a parking lot across the street from Rice-Eccles Stadium on Guardsman Way. They gathered to grill hot dogs, to pop the top off a few cold beverages, and to bolster friendships.
Maybe it was more of a funeral, or a wake, or a memorial service commemorating the life of a friend gone too soon.
But it was certainly cathartic.
Jarrett Miller was “pretty bummed” when he found out the league was folding. Known as “the Stallions guy” among his friends, he said his first reaction when the team shut down was anger, then disappointment, and for a while, an overwhelming sadness.
“I was bummed mainly because I knew so many people were going to ask me questions,” he told KSL.com. “We started with me, my girlfriend, and my friend Sean. Then we had five fans the next game with us, then nine people who came with us the game after that. They all wanted to come back.
“It went from the most awesome momentum to a dead stop. That just hurt.”
So were many of those same fans, gathered to remember the demise of the Salt Lake Stallions — a team that joins the Pioneers, Argonauts, Catzz, Rattlers, Warriors, Blaze, Thunder and a litany of other departed names now represented as “former” Salt Lake-area professional football teams.
And they gathered to celebrate what, for many of them, was some of the most fun they’ve had over two months.
Related Story
Former Salt Lake Stallions exec suing defunct Alliance of American Football for lost pay
A former Salt Lake Stallions executive is suing the Alliance of American Football, alleging the now-defunct league let him go without proper notice.“I thought it would really take off,” said Nick Nielson, a Utah County resident who went to the team’s first road game in Arizona and the Stallions’ final home contest against the San Diego Fleet. “We were here for the team. We loved supporting them. I think it was more sad than anything.
“We were really hoping the team would stick around.”
Stallions fans were eclectic, if not overly numerous. Averaging 9,125 announced attendance per game in the 45,000-seat Rice-Eccles Stadium according to the Deseret News, the fanbase wasn’t beholden to one college team. Cougars, Utes, Aggies, Wildcats — even schools outside the state came together under one banner — the banner of pro football in Utah. They all thought that this time — maybe for the last time — the Alliance of American Football would work.
The team didn’t last. But the community it created did.
“Fans are loyal,” Nielson said. “They might be small in number, but we are pretty loyal. We would love to continue this league or bring another team here. I know we (would have) filled the stadium at some point.”
The team attracted just shy of 12,000 likes on Facebook, a little more than 32,000 followers on Twitter, and more than 43,000 followers on Instagram. The official Facebook group, sponsored by the Alliance, reached 4,000 people at its height — though many have naturally left the group since the team shuttered operations.
But for Nielson, a season-ticket holder who made the commute from Santaquin four times during the team’s supposed-to-be-five game regular season, the chance to tailgate one last time was important to him.
There would be no game Friday. No bright lights. No forward passes from quarterback Josh Woodrum. No bone-rattling hits from linebackers Trevor Reilly or Greer Martini. No league-leading sacks from defensive end Karter Schult, who recently signed with the Minnesota Vikings.
But there would be a grill, and there would be a party.
“A lot of people talked about it (in the Facebook group),” Nielson told KSL.com as he flipped hot dogs in the tailgate lot, offering them to anyone who would come and spend a few minutes to hang out. “I just made the event and invited people to RSVP.”
And then, two hours after flipping the last hot dog, Nielson packed up his grill, bid farewell to his new friends, and pulled out of the parking lot on Guardsman Way to make the drive back to Santaquin.
A few feet away, Miller held a giant Stallions flag, and when asked what he was going to do with it, he held his drink high in the air, smiled and said, “I’m going to walk home, six blocks, waving this thing the whole way.”
And just like that, the Salt Lake Stallions — Utah’s latest iteration of professional football — scattered into the Friday night wind.
