Good news for the on-campus baseball stadium project

[MDUte]

The university is close to finalizing a deal with the city that would allow U of U to cut into the Sunnyside park to construct a full stadium vs the original plan that required a 35 foot “red monster” wall since the city wasn’t budging on selling any of the park land to the U.

Some progress on the Utes baseball stadium lease from amazing reporter @cwilliamsKSL https://t.co/QsiauoO7vC

— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) February 7, 2024

[NashvilleTNUteFan]

This is great news. I’m part of what feels like a very small minority that is glad the U has continued to invest in the baseball program. I’m a big baseball fan and enjoy going to the games, especially with all the high-profile PAC 12 teams that we get to play at home (last year to enjoy that). I’m excited about this new stadium and plan to continue going to as many of the games as I can.

We are not a great baseball program by any means but we are usually at least competitive and fun to watch in my opinion. There was some smoke about getting rid of the baseball program there for a while and I’m glad that no longer appears to be on the table.

[MDUte]

Totally agree! I’m really only a big Utah Football fan. But love seeing investment taking place throughout the athletic department and university. Will be really cool to finally have an on-campus stadium…long overdue!

[UtesRule]

I think it will only help with our efforts at getting MLB here, too. Shows commitment to baseball. At least I’d argue it can’t hurt in the push for MLB.

[MDUte]

I’m probably in the minority here but I really worry about new professional teams coming to SLC because I’m concerned it will have a negative impact on U of U athletic support.

There’s only so many entertainment dollars and time to go around for people and if they have the option of spending their time and money on NHL/MLB, will it become much more difficult to maintain our RES sellout streak for example…especially if we have a down year? Or will MBB attendance which is already down (but seeming to start to slowly come back as the program gets more success) lose momentum and remain mostly empty at the Hunty?

I love SLC and realize MLB/NHL is an exciting prospect of growth and new entertainment to the community. But I love the U of U first and foremost and would say no to both new professional teams if it meant it was going to negatively impact fan support to U of U athletics.

[The Miami Ute]

Unless SLC gets an NFL franchise, I sincerely doubt that any new professional team will impact a successful Utah football team. Same with MLB affecting, say MBB…season tickets for the Runnin’ Utes are absurdly cheap (I pay $150 per season ticket) and besides, MLB’s season (APR though OCT) doesn’t coincide with that of MBB. Hockey might be a different story, because as the Kraken and Knights have shown, it doesn’t take five years to create a winning hockey team and might siphon some entertainment dollars as people jump on the bandwagon..

[MDUte]

I hear ya Miami but all the studies I’ve looked at online show that pro franchises entering a new market never attract net new entertainment spending. But rather, current entertainment spend just gets reallocated. And I realize that’s not just considering sports entertainment but all forms of entertainment (ie eating out at restaurants, movies, bars etc). So perhaps people cut back their time and money on eating out for example and/or MBB tickets to take on a purchase and the time commitment of new MLB season tickets.

I agree that a successful football program should continue to maintain its support. But pro sports tickets aren’t cheap. And what happens if the football team experiences a down year, heaven forbid. It hasn’t happened in a long time and we don’t have the newness of being in the P5 to weather that storm with fan interest. Hopefully not, but again, Pro sports are expensive and in terms of MLB a major commitment of time with so many games.

[Uteanooga]

So they are going to take space from a public park where everyone can use and enjoy the space in order to build a stadium that will be accessible only while watching baseball games that cost $ to attend?

Yikes. Put me down for a “bad decision” vote. Public green space should remain so.

[MDUte]

No, the University owns like 90% of the land and was always going to build the stadium on what is already owned U of U land. But out in left field, there wasn’t enough space to have a full outfield where both right and left field would be the same distance from home plate. The U of U either needs the city to lease a small sliver of the park behind their land to build this out in equal proportions OR the U of U would need to build a 35 foot high left field wall similar to the Boston Redsox “Green Monster” at Fenway park.

In exchange for the city allowing the U of U to lease this small portion of land, the U of U is offering to spend $4.5M to enhance the existing park which will make it far nicer than it currently is. And it sounds like the park could really use this. So from what I’ve read it’s a win-win for the U of U and the city.

[MDUte]

Well it’s a moot point anyway since it seems inevitable that 1 or both NHL/MLB are coming to SLC.

And speak of the devil, we have eyeball emojis signaling something big is brewing on NHL.

👀 https://t.co/xS3BoMBrqk

— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) February 7, 2024

[MDUte]

Maybe??

pic.twitter.com/QXJyBEY62s

— Dahlelama (@dahlelama) February 7, 2024

[MDUte]

Well let's see what happens….#NHLtoUTAH pic.twitter.com/7kY3cZsZXH

— Utah Yeti (NHL to Utah) (@UTYeti) February 8, 2024

[RedRocks]

Tell me you didn’t read the details without telling me you didn’t read the details…