Utah continues to grow its reputation as the state of sport, and the country is finally noticing.
A recent article from The Athletic published this week called Utah “a sports boomtown” with its multiple professional teams and as the future home of a second Winter Olympics in 2034.
While the majority of the article explored Utah’s efforts to land an MLB team, Miller Sports + Entertainment president Michelle Smith believes the NWSL’s Utah Royals “fit in right at the top” in the state’s “sports boomtown” reputation, she told the Deseret News Thursday at the team’s kit launch event.
Smith has been a vocal champion for the Royals, even raising her hand in a meeting and saying, “Hey, I really think we need to keep the Royals” when there was an opportunity for another buyer to purchase the team.
Smith saw value in the Royals, especially within the community, as well as the power that came from both the Royals and Real Salt Lake working together to elevate each other, she said.
For Smith, it’s important for the Utah Royals to use its platform as a women’s professional team to make an impact on the community whether it’s through players building a love of sports in youth or giving back to the community with service projects at every home match.
“I am so excited that Utah gets to be the stewards of women’s professional sports and not just soccer, but softball and volleyball,” she said.
The tumultuous history of the Utah Royals
Utah Royals FC first came to Utah when Dell Loy Hansen purchased the club in November 2017 and relocated it from Kansas City ahead of the 2018 season.
It was the professional home for U.S. women’s national team stars Christen Press, Kelley O’Hara and Becky Sauerbrunn. But over the course of three seasons, the Royals never reached the playoffs.
In December 2020, Hansen sold the team to an ownership group led by Chris and Angie Long, which moved the club back to Kansas City following the 2020 season.
The Royals would return to Utah a few years later, but this time as an expansion club bought by Real Salt Lake owner David Blitzer and Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith as a minority owner.
Unlike the original iteration of the club, the new Royals didn’t inherit any personnel and had to start from scratch.
The 2024 Utah Royals featured a new sporting director, head coach and an entirely new roster assembled through the NWSL entry draft, free agency and one lone player through the expansion draft: captain Paige Monaghan (the other expansion draftee, Elyse Bennett, was traded days later).
The Royals struggled on the pitch in their inaugural season, leading to a coaching change midway through the season.
Then-assistant coach Jimmy Coenraets was named interim head coach after the firing of Amy Rodriguez. Coenraets was later named head coach a week and a half before the season finale.
A new era for the Utah Royals
A month into the 2025 season, the Royals and Real Salt Lake underwent an ownership change when the Larry H. Miller Company purchased majority control of the teams with Blitzer staying on as a minority owner.
Defender Kate Del Fava was drafted by the Royals in 2020 and is the only player on the team who has played for both iterations of the club.
On Thursday, Del Fava said the current Utah Royals “really doesn’t” feel like the same organization she began her career with.
“It feels totally different this time around,” she said. “This time around, it just really feels like it’s one club, it’s one Utah, it’s one community. And it feels like the women’s side is just as invested in as the men’s side and it’s taken just as seriously, and they’re just as proud to have us here representing the state.”
The support of the team’s current ownership was evident Thursday when Michelle Smith became emotional during her remarks.
“I think any time you have a part of ownership get up and get choked up talking about the team, that really motivates the girls,” Del Fava said.
Monaghan also spoke highly of the Millers at this season’s Royals media day.
“I think when you strive for perfection and you arrive at greatness, that’s a pretty great place to be, so, I think, obviously, they’ve (the Millers) done that in the community. They did that a while ago with Utah Jazz, obviously, the Bees and now us,” she said. “So to be a part of that is what you want in elite sports. So I think it starts in the top and funnels down. So selfishly, I’m so excited that I get to reap that benefit.”
Monaghan pointed to the infrastructure the Royals have built, comparing it to her college days at Butler University.
She said while she was in college, she liked getting extra individual reps with her coaches, but with only “two coaches, they didn’t have time to do that,” which left Monaghan to do them on her own.
That’s not the case with the Utah Royals, according to Monaghan.
“Now, we have this infrastructure where I can do everything I can to be the best I can be, and I have the resources to do that,” she said.
Monaghan’s and Del Fava’s sentiments about the Miller ownership group are part of Michelle Smith’s hopes for the club’s future.
“I hope that we create an environment and a culture for these women athletes to feel like they’re valued and they’re seen and they’re respected and they have an incredible career and can look back and say, ‘I couldn’t have played for a better team. ... I couldn’t have played for a better club and a better ownership,’ and that will continue to build into their DNA as they continue to carry on in wherever their journey takes them.”
What’s Michelle Smith’s other hope for the Royals to accomplish on the pitch?
“Obviously, my greatest hope is that we can get a title, for sure. There’s nothing more fun than to experience the success on the field, especially at that level,” she said.