- Sports Business Journal ranked Salt Lake City as 12th-best sports business city in the U.S.
- The Utah Mammoth, Utah Talons and LOVB Salt Lake are the city's newest franchises.
- The publication listed Atlanta as the top sports business city in the country.
The Utah Talons won their second straight Athletes Unlimited Softball League title in late July.
Never heard of the Talons? Didn’t know the state had a professional softball team?
Sports Business Journal noticed. The Talons are one of the reasons that Salt Lake City rocketed up the publication’s 2026 list of Best Sports Business Cities, going from 44th in its 2023 ranking to 12th this year.
Perhaps the biggest reason Utah’s capital made such a big jump is the arrival of the Utah Mammoth in 2024. The NHL club quickly established itself as a mainstay alongside the Utah Jazz.
Also in less than three years, the state added the pro women’s volleyball team LOVB Salt Lake and the U.S. Biathlon Association relocated from Maine to the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Midway.
Sports Business Journal also cited the Winter Games returning to Salt Lake City in 2034 and using mostly venues that were built for the 2002 Olympics. The state is already home to U.S. Ski & Snowboard and USA Climbing.
The publication said the city’s venue portfolio has surged with the addition of the AAA Salt Lake Bees’ $140 million Ballpark at America First Square. The stadium is in South Jordan, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City.
It also pointed to Smith Entertainment Group’s ongoing $525 million Delta Center transformation to accommodate both the Mammoth and the Jazz. The arena project is part of a planned $3 billion sports, entertainment, culture and convention district in a three-block area of downtown Salt Lake City.
Larry H. Miller Company has broken ground on a $3.5 billion mixed-use development on Salt Lake City’s west side that would include a baseball stadium if the city lands a major league team.
All told, more than $6.6 billion in sports-related construction projects are underway or recently completed in the Salt Lake City area.
Finally, Sports Business Journal noted the USA Climbing National Training Center to be built in the Rio Grande District and the 12-year, $5.2 billion Salt Lake City airport expansion project that wraps up this summer.
How Salt Lake City stacks up
Salt Lake City’s No. 12 ranking puts it one spot behind Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia and one spot ahead of Tampa.
The rankings are based on more than 540,000 data points — tracking construction projects, naming rights, attendance, sponsorships and more — combined with input from more than 120 sports business executives. Data was collected through Feb. 28, 2026.
Atlanta topped the list followed by New York, Indianapolis, Charlotte and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Salt Lake City ranked higher than places like Philadelphia, Chicago and Denver. It also outranked cities competing for an MLB expansion team including Portland, Orlando, Nashville and Austin.
Tampa and Salt Lake City side by side on the list is notable because the two cities often come up in news stories about baseball expansion. The Rays’ stadium situation has been unsettled since a hurricane shredded the roof at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg in 2024. After playing at a minor league park last season, the Rays returned to Tropicana this year. The team’s lease expires after the 2028 season.
Plans for a new stadium have seen fits and starts, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred previously said that baseball expansion won’t happen until it gets worked out. Salt Lake City sometimes comes up as a possible relocation site in the midst of the Rays’ stadium woes.
But just last week, the Rays released documents outlining an agreement with Tampa and Hillsborough County for construction and financing of a $2.3 billion ballpark as part of a mixed-use development. The plan is pending city and county approval, with votes expected this week, per MLB.com.
The club intends to move into its new home by Opening Day 2029.