‘It’s a great time to be a Ute baseball player’: Utah’s on-campus stadium is coming together

For years, Utah’s baseball program has yearned for an on-campus stadium of its own after playing in downtown Salt Lake City’s Smith’s Ballpark for the last 25-plus years.

“This is a team that just didn’t really have a home, certainly on campus,” Utah athletics director Mark Harlan said.

The University of Utah announced plans for a stadium on Guardsman Way in April 2023, and now in September of 2025, construction is nearing its conclusion.

Finally, Utah’s baseball program will have a home of its own, starting in the 2026 season.

Construction of Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark is on track to finish in January of next year, well in time for Utah’s home opener on March 6.

The $39 million ballpark, which was primarily funded through private gifts. Included as givers of those gifts were America First Credit Union and Charlie Monfort, a graduate of the university who had an ownership stake in Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies (his brother still owns the team).

The stadium will seat 3,000 people, including 1,200 chairbacks and a grass berm area in the outfield. A priority for the athletic department was getting the synthetic turf — chosen so the Utes can easily practice and play even with Utah’s winter weather — installed as soon as possible. As construction went on in the periphery on Wednesday afternoon, Utah was holding its first full-team practice.

“The best is the reaction of the guys behind me working out right now, especially the upperclassmen,” Harlan said. “Pretty emotional to watch those guys out there and have the opportunity.

“They’ve been on me, this program, for eight years to get this done, and I guess good things take a little bit longer than you want them to.”

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The ballpark will do more than just host Ute games — it will be the center of the entire baseball program. Previously, the team was spread out between practicing on Guardsman Way or the indoor football practice facility, lifting weights at the HPER area on campus and playing at Smith’s Ballpark.

That’s all under one roof now.

Utah will hold all of its practices at the ballpark, which includes a state-of-the-art locker room, a film room, a weight room, coaches’ offices, a recruiting lounge, hot and cold tubs and an athletic training and recovery space.

There’s also an indoor facility with five batting cages and a bullpen, divided by motorized netting, so the space can turn into a large practice area if needed.

There’s also a lounge area that will be a space for the team to hang out and do homework.

“I’m really excited for our team to have such an improved area to just get better every day at what they love so much, which is playing baseball,” Harlan said.

When fans walk up the stairs and into the stadium, they’ll immediately be greeted by a spectacular view of the field with the mountains in the background — a similar view to what the Utes enjoyed at Smith’s Ballpark.

That sets the tone for the fan experience, which will also include concessions and a food truck plaza in right field.

Harlan said based on last year’s attendance numbers at Smith’s Ballpark, Utah would have sold out 11 games in the new ballpark — and that number doesn’t account for the draw of a new park.

On the second level of the stadium, there will be a VIP club for sponsors and donors, featuring large, retractable windows. There will also be a press box, two broadcast booths and plenty of space for cameras throughout the stadium.

Starting this season, every home Utah baseball game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

There won’t be a video board when the ballpark opens, but there is an option to add it down the line. Due to its unique location on the edge of Sunnyside Park and close to the Yalecrest neighborhood, Utah took care to focus the light and sound system on the ballpark and prevent sound and light pollution.

The exterior work of Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark is nearly finished, and over the course of the coming months, everything inside the ballpark will be completed.

The dream of having an on-campus baseball stadium will finally become a reality next year,

“It’s a great time to be a Ute baseball player,” Harlan said. “That’s for sure.”