Utah Royals Break State Record For Attendance At Women’s Sporting Event
Mar 21, 2024, 3:59 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Royals set a new mark for the most people to attend a women’s sporting event in the Beehive State.
The record-breaking event took place during the Royals‘ 2024 season-opening match against the Chicago Red Stars.
Utah hosted Chicago at America First Field in Sandy, Utah on Saturday, March 16.
20,370 was the number announced as the official attendance for the NWSL match. The mark set a new record for the highest-attended women’s sporting event in state history.
The highest attended women's sporting event in the state of Utah belongs to Royalty 👑 pic.twitter.com/EXGqYi0g8z
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 20, 2024
Unfortunately for the crowd and the Royals, Utah fell to the Red Stars by a score of 2-0.
It was the franchise’s first game as an expansion franchise and in its second iteration as an NWSL organization.
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With the loss, the Royals opened the year with an 0-0-1 record.
Next Match for Utah Royals FC
Utah’s next match is at home against the North Carolina Courage on Friday, March 22. The game will start a 7:30 p.m. (MT). The match will be broadcast on KMYU, NWSL+, KSL Sports Zone, and sports.ksl.com.
Your local home of Royalty 👑
Full deets on how to catch us on your Utah broadcast & radio 👇
— Utah Royals FC (@UtahRoyalsFC) March 21, 2024
About Utah Royals FC
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The Royals announced the club’s return to Utah and the National Women’s Soccer League for the 2024 season in March 2023.
Originally founded in November 2017, the Royals played in Utah from 2018-20. The franchise was moved to Kansas City in 2020 and plays in Missouri under the “Currents” nickname.
The Royals were first established in Sandy, Utah as an NWSL expansion club. The team played as the Royals for three seasons and held its home matches at America First Field, formerly known as Rio Tinto Stadium, which was also the home of Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake.
In December 2020, the NWSL announced that the Royals would cease to operate in Utah and the club’s players were transferred to Kansas City.
In January 2022, a new Real Salt Lake ownership group, led by David Blitzer and Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, took hold of the option to bring an NWSL club back to the state.
Kyle Ireland is a Sports Producer and Locals in the NFL Insider for sports.ksl.com. Listen to Ireland on Yards After College: An NFL Podcast. Follow him on X (@kyleireland), Threads (@kyleirelandksl), and Instagram (@kyleirelandksl).
