Community coalition pushes for MLB team in Fairpark neighborhood
Dec 20, 2023, 12:23 PM | Updated: 12:25 pm
SANDY — On Wednesday morning, Big League Utah announced the next major steps toward the hopeful future of America’s pastime.
To bring Major League Baseball to the Beehive State, the broad community coalition announced their preferred site to see an MLB team baseball. The effort comes as BLU announces the creation of an honorary and community advisory board.
BLU wants to see a major league team take the field and hit home runs out of Salt Lake City’s Power District, an ongoing project in the Fairpark neighborhood.
The coalition said that while they have been leaning into that area for quite some time, positive analysis and factors have encouraged leaders that it is the right place to play baseball.
“We know that the Power District is a shovel-ready site,” said Amanda Covington, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Larry H. Miller Company.
Nestled between the Salt Lake International Airport and downtown Salt Lake City, Covington said the area already has transportation infrastructure around it.
“For these individuals to really say, ‘This is the place to build an MLB stadium,’ is really powerful,” Covington said.
Early concept work of the proposed MLB stadium in Fairpark. (Courtesy: Big League Utah)
The honorary advisory board includes Gail Miller, co-founder and owner of the Larry H. Miller Company, as well as state and local leaders, including Gov. Spencer Cox and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
The community advisory board includes a variety of notable stakeholders and active community members. The boards hope to lend expertise and support for an MLB team in Utah, particularly with a stadium in the Power District.
“Let’s meet regularly – at least quarterly. Once this ramps up, we’ll probably meet more often,” Covington said.
She said this could be a multi-year effort, but they do go back to what the commissioner has said.
“We want two teams. One in the East. One in the West. Salt Lake City wants to be positioned as the team in the West,” Covington said.
Covington said if successful in getting an MLB franchise, the Larry H. Miller company and family said they would create a team foundation that would focus on the west side community and other areas that would be affected by an MLB stadium.
