Soccer is about to have a moment or two in the United States

Real Salt Lake practiced on the pitch at America First Field on Friday morning as the new owners of the team watched from the sideline.

Gail Miller — the “matriarch of this state,” according to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox — and her sons Greg, Steve and Brilliant had an up-close view of the team they just bought a controlling interest in for reportedly $600 million.

“They don’t need to do this, yet they’re doing it. And they’re doing it because they care about this place, they care about us, they care about Utah, they care about investing in the community,” Cox said minutes earlier during an event at the stadium announcing the deal.

In addition to RSL, the Miller family and Miller Sports + Entertainment acquired Utah Royals FC, the Utah Monarchs, America First Field in Sandy and Zions Bank Training Center and Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman from David Blitzer, who will stay on as a minority owner. Blitzer owns the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL’s New Jersey Devil as well as shares in several European soccer clubs and other American pro teams.

Utah helps grow the sport

Dave Checketts didn’t need to do it either when he brought professional soccer to the state in 2005. In fact, this past Wednesday marked 20 years since RSL played its first home game in Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah before the Sandy venue was built.

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, who has held the post since 1999, said he wasn’t sure pro soccer could succeed in Utah when Checketts, a Utahn native who had executive roles with the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks, first approached him.

“One of things we didn’t quite understand is this community has a lot of people who spend a lot of time overseas and they’re connected to the game in ways that perhaps at that time 20 years ago maybe not so many other communities were,” he said, sitting in the stadium Checketts built in Sandy in 2008. “Dave was right and look where we are now.”

Many of those going abroad are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who return home converted to soccer and speaking foreign languages.

But even though RSL ownership has changed a few times over the years, the team has built a passionate fan base as the sport has grown not only in Utah but across the country.

Soccer has arrived

Garber said he’s often asked by those in more established pro sports leagues when soccer will arrive in America.

“This is an example of a sport that has made it in our country,” he said, looking over the crowd gathered for the Miller Company announcement, noting he has attended many similar events around the league. “This is the largest event like this that Major League Soccer has ever had.”

It wasn’t lost on Garber or his counterpart in the National Women’s Soccer League, Jessica Berman, that the men’s and women’s leagues were taking the stage together for a joint press announcement for the first time. Berman called it an “iconic moment in history, knowing we are leading the charge in growing soccer in the country at the professional level.”

Garber said the leagues and the clubs have a role in “making this a powerful soccer nation.”

Miller Sports + Entertainment appears to have ventured into the game just as it’s about to have a global moment or two in the the United States in the next few years. The U.S. will co-host the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2031, while the 2028 Olympics will be in Los Angeles. The U.S. will also host the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

“It’s just an enormous opportunity to welcome the world to America and soccer is about to have a great moment in our country,” said Steve Starks, Miller Company CEO.

Soccer, Garber said, needs to recognize and capitalize on those moments to make sure they’re not Taylor Swift concerts that come and go.

“To me, those north stars now are just pulling the entire ecosystem up with the energy of what will come into North America ... It’s not as if we need those events but those events are here because of what soccer in America has become today,” he said. ”We’re here when the World Cup leaves and we need to be sure that we’re connecting all those dots and opportunities."

World Cup momentum

Blitzer said the 1994 World Cup in the United States launched soccer into the American consciousness. And having the 2026 event in the U.S. is “going to be, in my opinion, transformational on what has been incredible growth to date. I think that is huge.”

The men’s 2026 World Cup sites are already set but Blitzer said he could see Salt Lake City being a training location for teams. The city, though, could be in line to host women’s 2031 World Cup games when those sites are determined.

Utah, he said, is an amazing place for sport, pointing to the 2002 Winter Olympics and the coming 2034 Winter Olympics.

“To have these teams here while these events, these global events, not even national events happening, is going to create more fans, is going to create more players in the youth system … they’re going to have more players that they look up to and they become the next generation of players that kids look up to, so it’s like a cycle," Blitzer said.

“I just think the excitement around the sport and the excitement around this state and this city and what it has to offer are incredibly complementary and will drive the growth in this market.”