Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals majority sale by David Blitzer in advanced stage
David Blitzer is in advanced talks to sell controlling stakes in both MLS’s Real Salt Lake and the NWSL’s Utah Royals, multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions confirmed to
Blitzer will retain a stake in both teams, the sources said, but will sell the controlling stake to the Larry H. Miller family. It is unclear what percentage of the teams Blitzer will retain. The Miller Family are the former owners of the Utah Jazz, but sold 80 percent of their ownership stake to Ryan Smith in 2022. Smith is a minority owner of RSL and an alternative governor for the team in MLS. Sources were not sure if Smith was selling part or all of his stake in this potential transaction.
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A sale would make Blitzer’s tenure as controlling owner of RSL a brief one. He bought the team in 2022 in a sale process led in conjunction with MLS. Former owner Dell Loy Hansen put the team up for sale after revelations of racist behavior were reported by The Athletic in 2020. Blitzer bought the team along with Smith and Arctos Partners, a private equity platform.
The Miller group expressed initial interest in being a potential buyer soon after Hansen put his soccer holdings up for sale, but after in-depth conversations didn’t immediately materialize the franchise was left in limbo and was operated by the league until Blitzer finalized the purchase of the franchise.
Reports at the time indicated Blitzer, Smith and Arctos paid just under $400 million in the deal, which included RSL, Rio Tinto Stadium, the Real Monarchs MLS Next Pro side and the club’s training facility and academy.
After Blitzer and Smith purchased RSL in January 2022, the pair also kept the NWSL expansion rights for the Royals to potentially return to the league. After the fallout surrounding Hansen, the first iteration of the Royals were sold and relocated to Kansas City, where the organization would become the Kansas City Current. A year into their combined tenure as owners, Blitzer and Smith, along with NWSL, announced that the Royals would return to the league starting in 2024.
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Reports indicate Blitzer exercised the NWSL expansion rights at a $2 million price point. NWSL Denver earlier this year paid a $110 million expansion fee and will begin play in 2026.
The MLS board of governors meets in April and could potentially review or approve a sale at that time.
Sportico first reported news that Blitzer was nearing a sale.
Representatives from Real Salt Lake, the Utah Royals, the NWSL and the Larry H Miller Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives of the Blitzer group could not immediately be reached.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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