SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 19, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — State lawmakers are stepping up to the plate in support of an effort to bring a Major League Baseball team to Utah.
Calling Utah “an amazing state for sports” and quoting from classic baseball movies “Field of Dreams” and “The Sandlot,” a Senate resolution lends the Legislature‘s support to Big League Utah, a coalition of local leaders working to position Salt Lake City as an attractive site for MLB expansion.
The resolution, SCR3, is sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, a lifelong baseball fan and former minor league baseball announcer.
“I think baseball is the greatest game in the world. Utah is the greatest state in the country,” Fillmore told the Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee on Thursday. “And it is time that these two things are able to come together.”
Fillmore was joined at the Utah Capitol by two-time NL MVP and Alpine resident Dale Murphy, as well as Gail Miller, co-founder and owner of the Larry H. Miller Co. and part of Big League Utah.
“I believe Utah is the perfect expansion market as Major League Baseball considers expanding to 32 teams,” Murphy told the committee.
“We believe that Utah has all the right ingredients for Major League Baseball,” added Miller, who last April announced plans to court an MLB expansion team.
Big League Utah has selected the 100-acre Rocky Mountain Power property near the Utah State Fairpark on Salt Lake City’s west side as the preferred location for an MLB ballpark.
“It’s ideal as a front door between Salt Lake City and the airport,” Miller told the committee. “This land is adjacent to the [Utah] State Fairpark and the Jordan River, and provides ideal accessibility from TRAX and I-80. And it’s located between I-15 and I-215, so it’s really a crossroads for baseball.”
City leaders see the ballpark as a potential catalyst for community building and economic development on Salt Lake City’s west side.
Fillmore promises as much while quoting from “Field of Dreams” in his resolution:
“This field, this game — it’s a part of our past. … It reminds us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh, people will come. … People will most definitely come.”
The resolution also cites Utah’s durable economy and it’s nation-leading population growth as reasons for the MLB to expand in Salt Lake City.
“[The] coalition of support to ensure the success of Major League Baseball in Utah is second-to-none, and includes many pillars of the Utah community, local business giants, numerous elected officials, and many notable names tied to Utah in sports and entertainment,” the resolution says.
In addition to signifying the Legislature’s support of Big League Utah and bringing an MLB team to Salt Lake City, the resolution also notes “that the only appropriate response to the suggestion that another city or state is better prepared than Salt Lake City and the state of Utah for Major League [Baseball] expansion is: ‘You’re killin’ me, Smalls!'”
