Estimated read time: 4-5 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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 — Jeff Robbins recalled a conversation he had with TKO Group executives shortly after the World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship merged in September to form the company.
They told Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission, that they've never seen a state, or possibly even a country position itself for sports growth quite like Utah. That isn't by accident.
"Our thought process was always: If we position the state of Utah, if we create a platform, more great things will come," he told attendees of the 2024 Utah Economic Outlook and Public Policy Summit hosted by the Salt Lake Chamber and University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Friday afternoon.
NBA circles viewed the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City as a success, while Beehive State is already expected to finalize its 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics bid this summer. These could help magnify the interest that other major sports leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have in Utah.
It may also get other major sporting event organizers to look at Utah.
The PGA Tour will return to Utah this summer after a 61-year hiatus. Robbins said he also spoke with International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA, officials and an unnamed "major country" this week over the state hosting at least one training center for the 2026 World Cup, as another example of new sporting opportunities on the horizon.
"We believe we'll get more great events," he said. "If you look at the future, the Olympics happens for a short time period, and I think the state — (what) our partnerships and collaborations have done — come together to create lasting legacies. ... The goal is you leverage all these (Olympic) venues for things in the future well beyond the Games."
Locking down the Olympics
No significant new updates were made during the event regarding the Olympics, MLB or NHL bids. Utah is hosting delegates of the France 2030 Olympics this weekend as the two plan to exchange ideas on hosting future global events.
Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, remains optimistic that the state's Olympic bid will finalized this July. He adds that he believes the event can spark unity, and that it will spur a decade-long effort to bolster infrastructure, which can be utilized beyond the actual event. Both happened with the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
"The Games can be a catalyst for good," Bullock said, sporting the same 2034 hat he wore when the International Olympic Committee named Salt Lake City its "preferred host" back in November. "We want to use these intervening 10 years to catalyze different initiatives."
MLB or NHL?
While this could include infrastructure that improves air quality, others say it could help with efforts to bring in MLB or NHL teams.
The 2002 Olympics — and possibly the 2034 Olympics — are even referenced as examples of Utah being at the "center of the sports world" in a proposed legislative resolution that supports the bid to bring MLB to Utah.
"Ten years ago, we were not on (MLB's) radar. Today, we're very much on their radar," said Steve Starks, CEO of the Larry H. Miller Company. "Depending on who you talk to, we may be the leading candidate given where we sit geographically, given that we're the fastest-growing state and culture."
Miller Company leaders formed a coalition last year that seeks to bring an MLB team to Rocky Mountain Power's forthcoming Power District. Building Salt Lake reported Friday that the company recently closed on a 12-acre property next to land owned by RMP, though it's unclear if it's for a future stadium.
While the stadium would not be at the heart of downtown like the Delta Center, Starks contends that a future stadium in the area will serve as a "supplement" to downtown. He views it as the perfect location for a stadium and it could benefit Salt Lake City's west side and perhaps make Utah's capital a "river city" by activating the Jordan River.
"It is an enormous opportunity as a state," he said. "This doesn't take from downtown. ... This is a complement, it's a community and it's certainly not meant to be a replacement for downtown."
It's ultimately up to MLB to expand, which the league is expected to begin exploring in more earnest as early as this year.
The future of the NHL in Utah is a little less clear. Olson acknowledged Jazz governor Ryan Smith's public interest in bringing a hockey team to the Beehive State and the conversations he has had with the league. Like Starks and Robbins, Olson agrees that being in this spot likely doesn't happen without the 2002 Olympics.
That's why he believes the 2034 Olympics will continue to spur more sports growth that could include MLB and NHL and possibly even more.
"It just keeps building," he said. "It's going to just continue to build and build and build. It's just an incredible story for a state like Utah."
