Utah Blitzz was an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team in based in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

that played in the

USL Pro Select League The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer ...

(later known as the USL Second Division). The club was founded in 2000 but folded following the 2004 season to make way for the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

franchise,

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

, to begin play in 2005. During its short existence the club was very successful, winning two league titles in total while finishing first or second in the Western Conference every season. The club played its home games at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

History

The Utah Blitzz Football Club was founded in 2000 by ANA Sports Management a division of ANA Development a Commercial Real Estate and Property Development Company, joining the third division of professional soccer in the United States, playing in the

(also known as the ''USL D3 Pro League'' and later as the ''USL Second Division''). The team would play its home games out of Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the

, but had plans to build its own

soccer specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

. The club began its first season with

Chris Agnello Chris Agnello (born 1968) an American soccer coach who co-founded and coached the Utah Blitzz of the USL Second Division in 2000. Career Agnello was the 1985 Gatorade Utah Player of the Year. He attended Warner Pacific College, playing on the ...

as head coach and Stacy McNicol as Director of Operations, both of whom would later become co-owners. After the success of the franchise in the first season with the "soccer" fans in Utah, plans were made to bring in some new and more experience players. Due to scheduling conflicts with the University of Utah's Rice Eccles Stadium and the Utes Football Team, the Blitzz were forced to look for a new home pitch. Utah new to professional soccer did not have the facilities to provide a stadium for the team. A deal was made with Brigham Young University for the use of their soccer field and home games for the 2001 season were moved to that facility. Prior to the 2004 season, majority ownership was sold to the

Ken Garff Kendall Day Garff (July 18, 1906 – March 14, 1997) was a Utah businessman who owned several automobile dealerships along the Wasatch Front. Biography Garff was born in Draper, Utah, Draper, Utah. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ o ...

family, with Bob Garff as chairman Ken Garff Automotive Group based in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and his son, Jon Garff, overseeing ownership of the team. Agnello would lead the Blitzz to a USL Pro Select League title in only its second season, with consecutive first-place finishes in the Western Conference from 2001-2004 and ending the club's final season with a second League championship in 2004. On July 12, 2004, the country's first division pro league,

, announced that an expansion franchise had been awarded to Salt Lake City, with the new team to begin play in 2005. Following the championship victory in the 2004 season, the Blitzz ownership decided it would be best to step aside and not compete for attention or fans with the new MLS club. However, due to the success of the Blitzz, many staff and players would find a role in the Real Salt Lake (RSL) organization, including Agnello, who would go on to serve as a first team assistant coach for RSL.

Year-by-year

Honors

* USL Pro Select League (D3 Pro League) **Winners (2): 2001, 2004

Players & staff

Head coaches

2000-2004

References

{{Utah Sports Defunct soccer clubs in Utah Soccer clubs in Salt Lake City USL Second Division teams Soccer clubs in Utah 2004 disestablishments in Utah 2000 establishments in Utah Association football clubs established in 2000 Association football clubs disestablished in 2004