NWSL kits are designed years in advance, but you wouldn’t suspect that based on the kit the Utah Royals unveiled Thursday.
The new kit is a perfect match for the team’s first full season under new owners, The Larry H. Miller Company, which purchased the team and Real Salt Lake last April.
“The Swarm” kit features a swarm of bees surrounding the Royals’ lioness logo, a nod to the Beehive State.
The black kit’s design was already in the works before the Miller family, which also owns the Salt Lake Bees, purchased the team.
“It was so great being able to jump into it. So, we got to jump in and see what they already created,” Miller Sports + Entertainment president Michelle Smith told the Deseret News Thursday at the Royals’ kit launch celebration.
In fact, the Millers immediately jumped into the design process for the 2028 kit, according to Smith.
“We were already starting to do that and had to get that done, gosh, a few months ago because we just did the final proof. I can’t give everything away, but it’s super cool,” she said.
Reaction to ‘The Swarm’
When the Millers first bought the teams, Royals and Real marketing director Tyler Gibbons went to Michelle Smith and showed her the upcoming kits.
“I have to give him so much credit for the work he did on this kit,” Smith said of Gibbons.
When Smith first saw “The Swarm” kit, she thought, “That’s legit.”
Smith loved the all-black design and said she thought it would “connect with so many more women.”
“I think it was also really fun for the team to be able to have the power of this black uniform,” she said. “Then as we started looking close, and I saw the creation of those bees forming as a swarm into the lioness, that is so powerful.”
The players love the new kit, too, for both its appearance and its meaning.
“It has a strong statement, which is really cool, and I think it means a lot that obviously there’s meaning behind it. But also as like an intimidation factor, I think it’s a really cool jersey to have,” captain Paige Monaghan said Thursday.
Defender Kate Del Fava, who was drafted by the first iteration of the Utah Royals, added her praise for the all-black look, saying “on the pitch it’s going to look incredible.”
Telling a story through the kit
NWSL teams release a new kit every year.
While important, a new kit’s design is about more than creating a stylish piece of fashion on and off the pitch. For the Royals and Real Salt Lake, it’s an opportunity to tell a story, team president John Kimball told media Thursday.
“Our intention is to always try to tell something about our community or tie it back to something that has to do with our state, and so the beehive was a simple one,” he said.
The team gave the beehive idea to Nike and by working together, “just came out with this amazing kit,” Kimball said.
The team’s 2025 kit was a tribute to the Great Salt Lake, aiming to raise awareness of preservation efforts to save the lake.
“I think it’s a really cool idea that we honestly haven’t ever really tapped into. But we are the Beehive State, so it makes total sense. And I think it fits really well with the rest of the branding around the team,” Del Fava said.
The Royals will wear “The Swarm” kit through 2028, and like Smith said, the kit to replace it in 2029 has already been proofed.
“We’ve got a bunch of really cool kits coming, so I’m really excited about this launch because — I mean, this is something I’m going to wear on a consistent basis because I just think it’s wicked cool. I don’t know if there’s another jersey in the league that even compares to it at this point," Kimball said.
The meaning behind ‘The Swarm’
The idea of “The Swarm” goes beyond incorporating the state’s nickname. It’s a representation of the Utah spirit of unity and hard work and the idea that, as the club said, “no single bee defines the hive.”
Smith wanted the swarm to be more than an element on the kit.
“We need to make this a call to action. This can be a campaign. This is what we can talk about and continue to build with the fandom, and the team just took it and ran and have created all the storylines and the way to connect and we’re excited,” she said.
The team started building its swarm fandom Thursday, something Smith said has been “a huge priority” since the Millers bought the team.
Every guest in attendance at the kit launch left with a stack of 50 ticket vouchers, not to keep for themselves, but to give out in the community.
“The swarm isn’t just a one-and-done. We will keep wearing this kit through 2028,” Smith said. “So every year, we can keep introducing ways to engage with the swarm, to be a part of the swarm, and so we’re really excited about what that provides us in the long term.”
For Monaghan, “The Swarm” represents the sense of belonging she’s felt since coming to Utah three years ago.
“When I got here, I felt at home, which was so important to me,” she said. “I mean, I think the last time I had a similar feeling of that was when I decided where I was going to go to college.”
That feeling has lasted three years later.
“I feel like I could say Utah is my home now, which is so comfortable and so great, and that’s where you can thrive and flourish.”