Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SOUTH JORDAN — The Salt Lake Bees' new Daybreak stadium will seat a little more than initially estimated when ground broke on the project last year.
Miller Sports and Entertainment, the team's owner, unveiled new renderings and stadium details Thursday as construction continues on the new ballpark set to open next year. The team is also now accepting deposits for 2025 season tickets.
The ballpark — Daybreak Field at America First Square — will contain 6,500 fixed seats and space for an additional 1,500 fans on a grassy berm in the stadium's outfield.
While much smaller than the 15,400-seat Smith's Ballpark the Bees are departing, the projected 8,000-fan capacity is 500 more than Miller Sports and Entertainment — a division within the Larry H. Miller Company — announced in October.
Daybreak Field will differ from Smith's Ballpark in other ways, too. The stadium's main entrance will be through a plaza beyond the ballpark's center field as opposed to behind home plate. The VIP and player entrance will be behind home plate at the new stadium. There will also be some field-level seats, where some spectators are even with the field surface.
But there will be some similarities. KSL TV reported earlier this month that the stadium home plate will remain on the west side of the lot so that the seats face the Wasatch Mountains like Smith's Ballpark. There will also be party decks at the top of the first base and third base lines.
Meanwhile, Miller Sports and Entertainment say the stadium will include a new Bees Team Store, "locally inspired food-from-scratch kitchens" and Grab-N-Go markets. It will also include alcohol-free family zones as was promised in October.
The stadium is part of a nearly 300-acre "Downtown Daybreak" within the 4,100-acre community. The planned mixed-use entertainment district will also include a Larry H. Miller Megaplex entertainment center, restaurants and retail businesses. The plaza outside the stadium will host concerts and games in the summer, as well as ice skating and holiday lights in the winter, according to Miller Sports and Entertainment.
The company announced that America First Credit Union won the naming rights to the plaza in October.
Between baseball and other activities, Miller Sports and Entertainment projects that the center will host over 200 events every year with the potential to bring more than 1.5 million visits to the area.
"(It's) very exciting as the ballpark and plaza take shape into becoming a new community hub with baseball, shops, restaurants and entertainment in South Jordan," said Michelle Smith, the company's president, in a statement Thursday.
The Bees announced they would move from Smith's Ballpark to a new stadium last year. The new stadium is located between Mountain View Corridor and Grandville Avenue from east to west, and between Big Sur Drive and Lake Avenue from north to south.
A new TRAX station is planned for outside of the stadium, while there will be access to the stadium via Mountain View Corridor, too. Team officials say residents of the Daybreak community can also walk or bike to the ballpark because of its location.
The Oakland Athletics briefly considered Daybreak Field for the team's temporary home before it plans to move to Las Vegas in 2028; however, the team opted for Sacramento, California, instead. Had the A's moved to Utah, the Bees would have stayed at Smith's Ballpark for at least three more seasons.
Instead, the Bees' final game at Smith's Ballpark is slated for Sept. 22 against Oklahoma City. Salt Lake City, the stadium owner, is still working on a new use for the stadium land once the team moves out.
In addition to owning the Bees, Miller Sports and Entertainment is also leading the charge to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to Utah. Its leaders say a future stadium would be located on the west side of Salt Lake City.
