ESPN Names Salt Lake City as “Frontrunners” For Pro Sports Team!
Salt Lake City: A Baseball Frontier
Utah sports fans may want to start brushing up on their baseball!
According to a new report from ESPN, Salt Lake City has emerged as the favorite to land Major League Baseball’s eventual Western expansion franchise.
Building a Strong Case for MLB
This isn’t just another “Salt Lake would be a great city for baseball” conversation. Utah has already checked some of the biggest boxes that the MLB will be looking for.
The Big League Utah effort has the Larry H. Miller Company behind it, a stadium site already identified in Salt Lake City’s Power District, and significant funding lined up. ESPN describes Salt Lake’s potential bid as the most advanced among the cities currently in contention and essentially the closest thing MLB has to a turnkey expansion option.
A Proven Sports Market
Then there’s something Utah sports fans already know: this state shows up for its teams.
The Utah Jazz have built one of the most loyal fanbases in professional sports, even through some pretty rough seasons. And when the NHL arrived in Utah, fans immediately embraced the Utah Mammoth. Through their first two seasons, the Mammoth sold out their first 85 consecutive home games.
Salt Lake City itself continues to grow and establish itself as a legitimate major-league sports market. Downtown sports, arts and entertainment venues drew 4.7 million attendees in 2025, up more than 16% from the year before.
Looking Ahead: The Path to Expansion
There’s still a long way to go. MLB hasn’t officially begun the expansion process, and ESPN reports new teams might not actually take the field until around 2032. Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he’d like MLB’s two expansion cities decided before his planned retirement in January 2029.
But if you’re a baseball fan in Utah, this is starting to feel a whole lot more real.
NBA? Check. NHL? Check.
MLB could very well be next.
