Utah Royals FC was an American women's 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 ...
club based in the
Salt Lake City
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 ...
suburb of
Sandy, Utah
Sandy is a city in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, located in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The population of Sandy was 87,461 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth-largest city in Utah. The population is currently estimated ...
. Established on November 16, 2017, as an
expansion club, the Royals played in the
National Women's Soccer League
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
(NWSL) from 2018 to 2020.
On December 7, 2020, the NWSL announced that the Royals would cease operations and their player-related assets transferred to the expansion Kansas City NWSL team, now known as the
Kansas City Current
Kansas City Current is an American professional women's soccer team based in Kansas City, Kansas. It began play as an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2021.
History Establishment
Kansas City last had an NWSL t ...
.
However, the new owners of Utah Soccer LLC (after
Dell Loy Hansen
Dell Loy Hansen (born ) is an American businessman and sports team owner. He is the founder and CEO of Wasatch Group, a real estate investment firm, and was the owner of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer.
Career
Hansen was born in Salin ...
) would hold the option of bringing back the club in 2023.
History
Establishment
On November 16, 2017,
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 2 ...
of
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 ...
announced that it had acquired a franchise in the
National Women's Soccer League
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
. On November 20, 2017, the league announced that
FC Kansas City of the
National Women's Soccer League
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
would fold their club, and the team's player contracts, draft picks, and other rights would be transferred to the new Salt Lake City club. , Utah's six
Division 1 women's soccer teams outnumber the men's and the state has the highest rate of girl high school soccer players recruited by Division 1 colleges.
Attendance at Division 1 women's soccer games in Utah is among the highest in the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
.
The decision to bring a NWSL team to Utah was based on the established interest in men's soccer in the state as well as
Dell Loy Hansen
Dell Loy Hansen (born ) is an American businessman and sports team owner. He is the founder and CEO of Wasatch Group, a real estate investment firm, and was the owner of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer.
Career
Hansen was born in Salin ...
's gut feeling and longtime interest in a team.
The new Salt Lake City team announced its hiring of former
Seattle Reign FC
OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...
coach
Laura Harvey
Laura Harvey (born 15 May 1980) is an English football manager and former player who currently manages OL Reign of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She holds USSF "A" and UEFA "A" coaching licenses.
Harvey previously managed ...
as its inaugural head coach on November 27, 2017.
Inaugural season
Gunnhildur Yrsa Jónsdóttir
Gunnhildur Yrsa Jónsdóttir (born 28 September 1988) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Stjarnan of the Besta deild kvenna and the Iceland national team.
Early life
Born in Garðabær, Iceland, Gunnhildur ...
scored the first goal in franchise history on March 24, 2018 in the third minute of the club's inaugural match against
Orlando Pride
The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to th ...
in Orlando. 18,500 tickets were sold ahead of their first home match (with only club seats and standing-only tickets remaining). Official attendance the day of the match, in which they played the Chicago Red Stars, was reported as 19,203.
Colors and badge
The team was officially launched on December 1, 2017 with the announcements of its name, branding, season tickets, and social media.
The badge features a gold Lioness head and “Claret Red”, “Cobalt Blue” and “Victory Gold” colors. Two stylized balls surround the name “UTAH ROYALS FC” in the lower half of the badge which represent the team's connection to the organization's MLS and United Soccer League teams.
Rio Tinto Stadium
America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is an American soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, that serves as home stadium for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, ...
was named as the team's playing ground. By the end of December 2017 over 2,000 season tickets had been sold. By early April 2018, the number of season tickets sold had increased to 5,000.
Sponsorship
In February 2018, the Royals announced a three-year multimillion-dollar deal with Conservice, a utility company based in
Logan, Utah
Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...
. The company's logo is featured on the front of the team's jerseys. Utah announced a multi-year partnership deal with
Young Living Essential Oils on April 2, 2019. The Young Living partnership will include an original video series called ‘Rise up to Royalty’ which profiles URFC players personal lives. This 12-episode series, will run throughout the course of the
2019 season.
Stadium
Utah Royals FC play at
Rio Tinto Stadium
America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is an American soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, that serves as home stadium for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, ...
located 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City in
Sandy, Utah
Sandy is a city in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, located in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. The population of Sandy was 87,461 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth-largest city in Utah. The population is currently estimated ...
, as the men's team,
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 2 ...
, does.
Rio Tinto is a soccer-specific stadium which opened on October 9, 2008. The pitch features
Kentucky Bluegrass
''Poa pratensis'', commonly known as Kentucky bluegrass (or blue grass), smooth meadow-grass, or common meadow-grass, is a perennial species of grass native to practically all of Europe, North Asia and the mountains of Algeria and Morocco. Altho ...
and is 120 × 75 yards.
The stadiums seats 20,213 for soccer matches.
Players and coaches
Current squad
Out on loan
First-team technical staff
Statistics and records
Season-by-season
Head coaches record
Broadcasting
The Utah Royals announced that all matches in 2018, except for their six NWSL ''Game of the Week'' appearances on
Lifetime, would be broadcast locally on
KMYU
KMYU (channel 12) is a television station licensed to St. George, Utah, United States, serving as the MyNetworkTV affiliate for the state of Utah. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Salt Lake City–based CBS affiliate KUTV (cha ...
''My Utah TV'' and streamed on the
KSL app, as an extension of the broadcast rights agreements with
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
and KSL with Real Salt Lake.
KALL
KALL (700 AM) is a sports radio station in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area licensed to North Salt Lake, Utah, though in station identifications and the FCC database, the station is listed as being licensed to "North Salt Lake City". The ...
''ESPN 700'' would carry the majority of Royals games on local radio – as it does for Real Salt Lake and Real Monarchs.
On August 17, 2018, KSL announced that Utah Royals games would no longer be broadcast on television or radio, but they would continue to be streamed on the KSL website and app.
See also
*
List of top-division football clubs in CONCACAF countries
*
*
Real Salt Lake Women
Real Salt Lake Women (previously known as Salt Lake United and ''Sparta Salt Lake'') was an American women's soccer team that was founded in 2008. The team was a founding member of United Women's Soccer league, in the second tier of women’s so ...
References
External links
*
{{US Women's soccer
Soccer clubs in Salt Lake City
Women's soccer clubs in the United States
Association football clubs established in 2017
2017 establishments in Utah
Soccer clubs in Utah
National Women's Soccer League teams