America First Field

America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is a soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, United States. It is the home of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, and seats 20,213 for soccer, but can be expanded to over 25,000 for concerts.

The stadium hosted the 2009 MLS All-Star Game, the second leg of the 2011 CONCACAF Champions League Finals, and the final of the 2013 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. It was also a host stadium during the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and a host for final stages of the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship.

Rio Tinto's sponsorship of the stadium was set to expire in December 2020 but retained its branding through 2021. Real Salt Lake sought a ten-year commitment from its next stadium naming rights partner. In September 2022, RSL announced a naming rights agreement with America First Credit Union with the stadium renamed America First Field.

History

Parties from several cities, including Rochester, New York and St. Louis, Missouri, expressed interest in purchasing the franchise and moving it. Other stadium sites in the area were also proposed, including the Utah State Fairgrounds in Salt Lake City, and the tiny town of Vineyard, just west of Provo. Finally, on the very day Checketts had set as a deadline to have a stadium plan in place or decide to sell the team, and after months of up and down discussions with local municipalities, county, and state officials and a change in the funding structure, a tacit agreement between Checketts, Sandy City, and Salt Lake County was put in place, and Real Salt Lake announced that they would move forward with the construction of Real Salt Lake Stadium, which would ultimately be named Rio Tinto Stadium.

The groundbreaking, coinciding with the Xango Cup, Real's match against international power Real Madrid, took place that afternoon featuring elected leaders, team officials, as well as the entire rosters of both Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid. On August 15, the deal was officially approved by the Salt Lake County Council.

The stadium plan encountered difficulties however after the Debt Review Committee of Salt Lake County voted against the stadium proposal 4–0 on January 26, 2007, citing what they saw as Real Salt Lake's financial inviability as the reasoning behind the lack of support. County Mayor Corroon concurred with the DRC and the stadium plan was effectively killed on January 29, 2007. In response Real Salt Lake's owner announced the team would be sold and likely move out of the Salt Lake area after the 2007 season.

The Sandy Stadium proposal was not completely dead, however: a new stadium proposal was made on February 2, that would divert 15 percent, roughly $2 million a year, of the county's hotel taxes to the stadium project beginning in July until 2017. Such a deal would have to have been made by February 9, or the deal would have been completely off. The bill was passed by the State Senate.

After Governor Huntsman made a move that would allow the team to remain in Salt Lake County: the Utah House approved House bill 1SHB38, by a 48–24 margin, effectively approving $35 million towards the development of Real Salt Lake's new home. The governor was expected to sign the bill, and ultimately did so.

Sandy City, along with the state of Utah and representatives of the team, finally came to an agreement regarding the placement of the Real stadium. The deal was shot down about a week prior to the agreement by the Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon saying it was too risky. However, Utah's governor, Jon Huntsman Jr. said that soccer was here to stay. The $110 million stadium was built in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Rossetti's California office was the architecture firm responsible for the design of the new stadium. The stadium's opening date was set for October 9, 2008, when Real Salt Lake hosted the New York Red Bulls.

On September 28, 2008, it was announced that the naming rights to the stadium were sold to international mining company Rio Tinto, owners of local mining operation Kennecott Utah Copper. A 15-year deal was set into place, worth between $1.5 million and $2 million per year.

On April 18, 2025, Miller Sports + Entertainment, led by former Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller, acquired the stadium as part of a $600 million deal for Real Salt Lake.

Use

Club soccer

As home to the Utah Royals, America First Field also boasts hosting the second highest attendance in the NWSL, third highest of any professional women's team in America.

In 2021, America First Field also hosted home matches for Vancouver Whitecaps FC as COVID-19 cross-border restrictions imposed by the Canadian government prevented the team from playing matches in Canada. In January 2022, the stadium and Real Salt Lake were sold to David Blitzer and Ryan Smith.

International soccer

Since the stadium opened its doors, it has become a very popular place for the United States men's national soccer team to play matches against regional opponents. The first match held by the team at the stadium took place on September 9, 2009, against El Salvador, in a fourth-round qualifier for the 2010 FIFA World Cup; the game ended in a 2–1 victory for the home side in front of 19,000 spectators. The team returned to the stadium on June 18, 2013, in a fourth-round qualifier game for the 2014 FIFA World Cup against Honduras; the home side once again won at the stadium, this time a 1–0 victory in front of 20,250 people.

The stadium was used as a host stadium during the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and hosted two back-to-back games for Group C on July 13, 2013. In the first game, the United States defeated Cuba by a score of 4–1, while in the second, Costa Rica pulled out a 1–0 win against Belize; both games took place in front of a crowd of 17,597 spectators.

The United States women's national soccer team has also played three matches against international opponents at the stadium. The first game was played on March 31, 2010, as a friendly match against Mexico; in the first winter game ever played by the US team, the home side ended up winning the match 1–0, thanks to a second half goal by Abby Wambach. The second game took place as another friendly match on June 30, 2012, against Canada; once again, the home side ended up winning the game, 2–1, in front of 16,800 spectators. The third game was a friendly match on September 13, 2014, against Mexico; the home side ended up winning 8–0.

Additionally, the stadium hosted the 4 knockout stage matches of the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship. These included a 2–0 Honduras victory over the United States and a 2–0 Mexico victory over Canada in the semifinals, then a 2–0 United States victory over Canada in the third place game and a 2–0 Mexico victory over Honduras in the final.

Rugby

America First Field has been used on several occasions for rugby matches. The USA Eagles defeated Uruguay 43–9 in front of 5,060 fans in 2008. The first college rugby match in the stadium took place between college sides BYU and Utah in March 2010, and was also used as the site of the 2011 USA Rugby Championship, in which UC-Berkeley defeated BYU 21–14 in front of 11,000 fans. The following year BYU faced Arkansas State University in the final, defeating them. In May 2014, the Varsity Cup Collegiate Rugby National Championship final match saw BYU defeat UC-Berkeley 43–33 in front of 10,172 fans.

Utah Warriors played an exhibition game against Glendale Raptors at America First Field on March 30, 2018, ahead of their inaugural Major League Rugby season in front of 9,186 fans. In September 2023 the stadium hosted the United States men's national team and French team Stade Toulousain, one of the most successful clubs in Europe, a game which "the Eagles" won 24–21. On June 28, 2024 America First Field hosted a record crowd for a Utah Warriors match with 10,900 fans in attendance.

Concerts

Attendance records (soccer)

Real Salt Lake games

Utah Royals games

International games

Men's

Women's

Sponsorship

On September 20, 2008, it was announced that the naming rights to the stadium would be awarded to international mining company Rio Tinto, the owners of the local Kennecott Utah Copper mining company and its Bingham Canyon Mine on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley. A 10-year naming deal was signed, valued at around $1.5 million to $2 million a year.

See also

* List of soccer stadiums in the United States
* Lists of stadiums

References

External links

Stadium website

Rio Tinto Stadium
at StadiumDB.com

MLS article on groundbreaking
, August 12, 2006

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Major League Soccer stadiums
Real Salt Lake
Rugby union stadiums in Salt Lake City
Sports venues in Salt Lake County, Utah
Soccer venues in Utah
Sports venues completed in 2008
USL Championship stadiums
2008 establishments in Utah
Buildings and structures in Sandy, Utah
David Blitzer
Rio Tinto (corporation)
Former National Women's Soccer League stadiums