Larry H. Miller family buys major league soccer teams

The Larry H. Miller Company is back in the major league sports business.

The Miller family and Miller Sports + Entertainment bought a controlling interest in the Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC soccer teams from David Blitzer in a deal announced Friday that includes the Utah Monarchs, America First Field in Sandy and Zions Bank Training Center and Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

The parties declined to disclose financial terms of the transaction but it is valued at $600 million, according to The Athletic.

“We’re excited for the future of soccer on the men’s and women’s side,” Steve Starks, Miller Company CEO, told Deseret News. “This really fits our strategy of helping build the community. We love sports and the Miller family has had decades of sports leadership experience.”

The Miller family owned the Utah Jazz for 36 years before selling the franchise to Ryan Smith in 2020 for $1.66 billion. Gail Miller until recently maintained a minority stake in the NBA team.

Starks, Blitzer, Miller Company board chairman Steve Miller and the Major League Soccer and Women’s Soccer League commissioners spoke to the Deseret News ahead of a Friday morning press conference announcing the deal.

Long-distance love affair

Blitzer, who owns the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and shares in several European soccer clubs, and Smith bought RSL in a roughly $400 million deal in 2022. Blitzer and Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey, also reestablished the Utah Royals for $2 million in 2023 after the NWSL team went defunct three years earlier. The team just started its second season since returning.

Blitzer will remain the second-largest shareholder in the Utah soccer teams and other investors will stay on as well, while Smith will no longer be a minority owner.

Forbes lists RSL’s worth at $500 million in its 2025 MLS team valuations, ranking 25th among the 29 teams in the league last year. (San Diego became the 30th team this year.)

The Royals are valued at $70 million, according to Sportico’s most recent NWSL valuations.

Noting he lives in the East five hours by plane from Utah, Blitzer said he wanted to find a local partner to run the clubs day to day.

“My team’s ability to be here at an appropriate level for what this market and these teams deserve, to be honest with you, is just not enough” he told the Deseret News. ”So as much as I love it, my thought process turned to who would be the perfect family partner for RSL and the Utah Royals and we started a dialogue … about what’s the art of the possible.”

The deal came together over the course of the past few months. Miller Company executives met with players and coaches of the two teams Wednesday. RSL has consistently made the playoffs, while the Royals have struggled on the field. Both clubs went through some ownership turmoil before Blitzer came in.

Starks and Blitzer said they’re committed to building a great culture and championship-level teams. RSL and the Royals are in “very good shape” from a talent perspective, Blitzer said. “But of course we’re all going to be pushing to be better and for championships.”

RSL’s MLS Cup 2009 victory marked the state of Utah’s only major pro sports championship in nearly 40 years.

Steve Miller will serve as chairman and governor of Real Salt Lake, with Blitzer as the alternate. Miller will also be chairman and governor of the Utah Royals, with Starks as the alternate.

Market watch

The RSL purchase adds two professional franchises to the Miller Company’s sports portfolio, and its first women’s team since selling the Utah Starzz, one of the WNBA’s eight original clubs, in 2002. Starks said the company is eager to more fully tell the story of Utah Royals and help build that club and brand.

Steve Miller called the deal a “match made in heaven.”

“I think what we bring is stability. I think we bring a great understanding of this market,” noting the company’s nearly 50 years in business with experience in ticketing, sponsorship sales and marketing along with its adjacent business platforms that include real estate and entertainment.

“I think the sum total of the package that we bring is going to be — I’m not a huge fan of the word synergistic so maybe find a synonym for that — but I think there’s a lot of adjacencies. … Our expectation, frankly, is that bringing that to the table is exactly what these franchises need.”

The Miller Company owns the minor league Salt Lake Bees, the Triple A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. The company moved the Bees from Salt Lake City to a new ballpark it built in South Jordan, about 20 miles to the southwest. The Bees played their first games at the new Ballpark at America First Square last week.

The baseball stadium anchors a burgeoning entertainment district called Downtown Daybreak, which includes a Miller-owned Megaplex theater, bowling alley, restaurants and concert stage. The Miller Company bought the master-planned Daybreak community in 2021, including more than 1,300 undeveloped acres.

America First Field renovations

The company intends to build up the area around the home of RSL and the Royals in a similar fashion. It owns Jordan Commons just across State Street to the east of the soccer stadium, including 3,000 parking stalls and its corporate office in a 10-story building overlooking the field.

Starks said the stadium is in great condition but will undergo renovation in the next few years, including adding “premium hospitality” such as corporate suites.

“The bones are great but we can enhance the experience for players but certainly for fans and corporate sponsors while keeping tickets affordable,” he said.

The company intends to roll out a master plan to incorporate Jordan Commons into stadium events, including restaurants, entertainment and other amenities to create the game-day experience that is now part of pro sports.

Ryan Smith out of the soccer business

Ryan and Ashley Smith had a first right of refusal to buy Blitzer’s majority shares in the soccer teams last fall but decided not to exercise it. They chose to devote their attention to the Jazz, Utah Hockey Club, whose inaugural season in Salt Lake City was just starting, and the multibillion-dollar downtown revitalization project.

“With so much growth on the horizon for Smith Entertainment Group — from enhancing the success of our major sports franchises with the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club and supporting the reimagination of downtown Salt Lake City to running the nation’s largest youth basketball program and recently launching a youth hockey program — now is the right time to tighten our focus on the NBA, NHL and other areas where we can make the biggest impact on our state, our community and the world of sports,” Ryan Smith said in a statement to the Deseret News.

Smith was pleased to see RSL and the Royals remain under local ownership.

“We are glad that soccer is staying in Utah, and Gail Miller is an ideal local steward to lead Utah’s professional soccer franchises moving forward. We will always be strong supporters of the clubs,” he said.

SEG, Smith said, has been thrilled to be part of the journey growing RSL and bringing professional women’s sports back to Utah with the Royals.

The Millers might be getting into professional soccer at just the right time. The United States will be center stage for the world’s most popular sport with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and as co-hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup and possibly the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

What MLS, NWSL commissioners say

Don Garber, MLS commissioner since 1999, said it’s an interesting time for RSL, noting it was the first expansion team to enter the league under his watch 20 years ago this weekend.

“For teams to be successful, you need deeply committed local owners,” he told the Deseret News, adding they also need great understanding of business and marketing the game. “To me, it’s an unparalleled connection of ownership, of the long history that the Millers have here in so many different businesses.”

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman told the Deseret News that from their first conversations, Starks and Miller emphasized their belief that sports and teams are community assets. To have ownership that has shared values around what can be offered to a community and an investment philosophy centered on that is “really a dream come true for us.”

Local roots and Blitzer’s sports business experience and global footprint in soccer is incredibly valuable, she said. “Both of our leagues are getting the best of both worlds,” Berman said. “We couldn’t be more excited about the future in Utah.”

Baseball still in play

As the Miller Company ventures into pro soccer it will continue its pursuit of a major league baseball expansion franchise for Salt Lake City, which will come with a substantially higher price tag. Big League Utah, a group of prominent business leaders, politicians and former professional athletes, is backing the endeavor.

The company has started work on a $3.5 billion, nearly 100-acre mixed-use development on the city’s west side, which would include a baseball stadium should it land a team. State lawmakers authorized an increase in rental car tax to help pay for the ballpark were the city to be awarded a franchise.

Major League Baseball has no plans to consider expansion until at least 2029.