Miller family buys MLS's Real Salt Lake, NWSL's Utah Royals in $600 million deal
Blitzer, who is involved in ownership groups in the NBA, NFL, NHL as well as numerous professional soccer clubs throughout Europe, was searching for a local majority owner for two other clubs: MLS's Real Salt Lake and NWSL's Utah Royals FC.
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'One of the things that we realized frankly, and maybe more recently, was that the control owner of a franchise should really be local and immensely embedded in their community,' Blitzer told
Less than five years after the Millers sold the Jazz for a reported $1.66 billion, they are back on the ground level — this time in soccer. On Friday, the Miller family and Miller Sports & Entertainment finalized their majority holding acquisition of RSL and the Royals from Blitzer, who is staying on as a minority owner.
Terms of the sale were not made public, but sources familiar with negotiations confirmed to that the sale totaled $600 million for: both clubs, MLS Next Pro's Real Monarchs and the home stadium (America First Field in Sandy) and facility assets (Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman).
Steve Miller, chairman of Miller Sports & Entertainment, said it was never a guarantee that the family was going to return to the world of operating professional sports on a day-to-day basis.
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'We've got a fairly stringent set of criteria that we apply to any opportunity that comes our way. One of the filters we put everything through is, 'Is this opportunity good for the community?'' Miller told 'It was more about opportunity, and it had to be the right opportunity. We never ruled anything out, nor was it a foregone conclusion that we would be back in other sports.'
As reported last month, Ryan Smith, who bought the Jazz from the Millers in 2020, will no longer have ownership stakes in RSL and the Royals. Smith partnered with Blitzer when he bought RSL from former owner Dell Loy Hansen in January 2022 for a reported $400 million. Smith Entertainment Group had the right of first refusal on the majority ownership of both RSL and the Royals, according to a source with knowledge of the sale, but declined that option both to focus on the Jazz and the NHL's Utah Hockey Club, which launched this season, and because the Miller Group had emerged as another Utah-based ownership group that would run the club.
'We are glad that soccer is staying in Utah, and Gail Miller is an ideal local steward to lead Utah's professional soccer franchises moving forward,' Smith said in a statement provided to . 'We will always be strong supporters of the clubs. Smith Entertainment Group has been thrilled to be part of the journey growing Real Salt Lake and bringing professional women's sports back to Utah with the Utah Royals alongside incredible partners like David Blitzer, our amazing players, and our loyal fans. We are proud of the momentum achieved, which furthered SEG's ongoing mission to showcase Utah as one of the most exciting, dynamic destinations for professional sports and entertainment.
'With so much growth on the horizon for Smith Entertainment Group — from enhancing the success of our major sports franchises with the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club and supporting the reimagination of downtown Salt Lake City to running the nation's largest youth basketball program and recently launching a youth hockey program — now is the right time to tighten our focus on the NBA, NHL, and other areas where we can make the biggest impact on our state, our community, and the world of sports.'
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Blitzer helped guide professional soccer throughout choppy waters.
The 2022 sale process was led in conjunction with MLS. Hansen put the team up for sale after revelations of racist behavior were reported by in 2020. Blitzer bought the team along with Smith and Arctos Partners, a private equity platform.
Blitzer and Smith also kept the NWSL expansion rights for the Royals to potentially return to the league, which was valued at $2 million. The Royals were sold and relocated to Kansas City, where the organization would become the Kansas City Current as a result of the investigations into Hansen's behavior. A year into their combined tenure as owners, Blitzer and Smith, along with NWSL, announced that the Royals would return to the league as an expansion team starting in 2024.
Valuations in NWSL are soaring.
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NWSL's new Denver franchise paid a $110 million expansion fee earlier this year and will begin play in 2026. Last year the San Diego Wave sold for $120 million, while Angel City FC sold a controlling stake to Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, at a $250 million valuation. In April 2023, former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg supported a $125 million investment in Bay FC (including a $53 million franchise fee).
'Strong conviction that the valuations would grow over time,' NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman told 'It's been only a couple of years where our valuations have really skyrocketed. I guess I was a little surprised at how quickly it's happened, but it is quite amazing what is possible when you bring together a committed group of owners who are well-resourced and have a shared vision for building the best league in the world. With that, it's been clear in the markets where we play that we've been hungry for the best women's soccer in the world. That has really fed our growth story.'
MLS commissioner Don Garber called Salt Lake City and Utah 'one of the best soccer markets' in the league and said having a local anchor like the Miller family as majority owner of RSL to work with Blitzer will only continue his belief. Valuations in MLS are surging, too, at a time when the next men's World Cup is set to be played in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The latest MLS expansion franchise, San Diego FC, paid a $500 million expansion fee to join the league.
'It just speaks to how bullish we've been about the sport,' Garber told 'I still think our best days are still ahead.'
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The Miller family believes the same for RSL and the Royals. Steve Starks, chief executive officer of Miller Sports & Entertainment, said one of the main topics at a dinner with Blitzer in Salt Lake City Thursday night was how to morph each club into a quality contender in each respective league.
'We're really excited about the tailwinds behind both Major League Soccer and the NWSL and where (soccer is) going around the world and specifically here in America,' Starks said. 'And we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't compete at the highest level.'
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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