PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers’ president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has joined a group of investors led by Sixers part-owner David Blizter that is bringing the National Women’s Soccer League back to Salt Lake City.
The NWSL made it official on Saturday that the Utah Royals are returning to the league in 2024, four years after the franchise played its last game under previous owner Dell Loy Hansen.
As was the case in the Hansen era, the Royals will come under the same corporate umbrella as Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake. MLS forced Hansen to sell his soccer holding company — which included the Royals, RSL, the Real Monarchs reserve team, and a big youth academy setup — in late 2020 after it and the NWSL investigated allegations of racism and other misconduct.
That other alleged misconduct included sexist behavior toward members of the Royals organization, including players. So Hansen’s ouster was cheered across the women’s game, too. But MLS only handled the sale of its part of the holding company: RSL, the Monarchs, and the academy.
The NWSL sold the Royals franchise to a Kansas City-based group led by Hazleton native Chris Long — coincidentally returning that franchise to the place it had left for Salt Lake City. But the league did not forget about a market that in 2019 was one of only two teams to draw more than 10,000 fans per game.
The U.S. women often have drawn big crowds to RSL’s Rio Tinto Stadium in nearby Sandy, and the state has two big women’s college programs in BYU and the University of Utah.
So when Blitzer and Utah business magnate Ryan Smith bought the MLS franchise and its connected parts, the NWSL struck a deal with them to grant a franchise for a preset $2 million to $5 million expansion fee.
That has proved to be a bargain. Last year, Y. Michele Kang bought the Washington Spirit for $35 million, and forthcoming Bay Area and Boston franchises are expected to pay $50 million expansion fees.
Once Blitzer and Smith settled into RSL, they got questions from fans about reviving the Royals. Both men said in meetings with fans that they wanted to do it, but needed a little time.
Now they are ready.
Morey isn’t the only big name in the effort. Sportico reported that Netflix vice president Amy Reinhard also is involved, and there are other investors too.
The Royals will become part of a Blitzer-led sports consortium that also includes the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, MLB’s Cleveland Guardians, the English Premier League’s Crystal Palace, the German Bundesliga’s Augsburg, and soccer teams in smaller European countries.
The wait for an NWSL team in Philadelphia, meanwhile, continues.
