Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Rice-Eccles Stadium will be the center of the 2034 Winter Olympics if all goes to plan under the state's bid for the Winter Games.
"Rice-Eccles Stadium will be the home of opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, and we believe for the Paralympic games, as well," said Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, in a recent interview with KSL.com.
The International Olympic Committee is expected to make an official announcement sometime at the end of July, but Salt Lake City was already named the preferred host for the 2034 Winter Olympics by the committee in November.
It's as good of a bet as any that Salt Lake City will be hosting the Olympics for the second time, and the University of Utah will, again, play a big role in hosting the games.
But unlike the last time the Winter Games made its way to the state, Rice-Eccles Stadium and the University of Utah campus is already well-equipped to host the thousands of athletes and spectators that will make Salt Lake City and the campus home for several weeks.
"They continue to put in great infrastructure, and so we will utilize what they have," Bullock said. "If we think there's anything that needs to be supplemented, we'll determine that probably a couple of years out, and we will do that on a temporary basis, even including temporary cell towers if needed or things like that."
Ahead of the 2002 Winter Olympics, approximately $8 million was invested into Rice-Eccles Stadium, Bullock said, to ensure it was ready to host the opening and closing ceremonies. But that's not the case this time around.
Utah's recent $80 million expansion of the south end zone of the stadium makes it a "fantastic facility," Bullock said. Not only does it provide more seating, but it opened up new hospitality experiences that were extremely attractive to the state's Olympic committee when putting together a bid.
"Well, fortunately, the University of Utah has done a fantastic job with Rice-Eccles Stadium," Bullock said. "And even though it was a superb venue for ceremonies in '02, it's so much better now. Particularly with the south end zone, that really helps us with hospitality and generating significantly more revenue, which is very important to us, because we stand alone in terms of needing to at least break even, and we've got to find ways to generate revenue.
"And in that case, with that south end zone, it's going to be very attractive for many, many clients."
No permanent upgrades are planned or needed from the committee's vantage point, though Bullock admitted they'll likely add some temporary seating and other "temporary enhancement" — such as removing the field and later restoring it — to "create a beautiful setting for our ceremonies."
"There's nothing permanent that we will put in," Bullock said. "It's already a fantastic facility. ... Everything we need to do is temporary, but it will be significant temporary enhancement for us to be able to put on our show."
But that doesn't mean the university is done pursuing upgrades to the stadium over the next decade, either.
Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told KSL.com in a recent wide-ranging interview that "we do a lot surveys" when it comes to different aspects of the athletic department, including facility and fan experience improvements.
And though Rice-Eccles Stadium just underwent a major expansion project, there's more that can be done to help the fan experience, he admitted.
"I do recognize that there are areas that we just have to get better," Harlan said. "Rice-Eccles is an elite stadium, it's an incredible atmosphere, but we don't want to sit back on that. Our game presentations, our external team knows I'm passionate about having exciting atmosphere. I think we've taken steps, but I think we can do more.
"We have a stadium that probably down the line as we look at it, we need more room to get through different areas of the stadium — all of those kinds of things," he added. "Eyeballing the video boards in the north, we've got to figure out some solutions there; these are all things. I've challenged everybody that our concession system needs to be more advanced, all of these types of things. Wifi, we've got to catch up to everybody there, and I think we're making a lot of progress right now in those things, so these are all things that are important blocking and tackling things that we are working with the university to continue to find solutions."
The Huntsman Center, too, is not immune to necessary — and in some cases overdue — upgrades.
"The Huntsman Center, incredible building, we're blessed to play in such a historic building, but there are things that we have to look at in the future, so these are all things that are out there for us; they don't happen overnight," Harlan said. "But we want people's experiences to be at the highest level, and I appreciate our external directors who really work on this stuff every day."
It's all part of Harlan's plan to ensure that his department actively listens to the fans to help improve their diverse experiences when they attend events. Not everything suggested or recommended to him or his department will see the light of day, but it's another data point in making the fan experience the best it can be.
"I like to say that everybody that works here, no matter their role, is responsible for people's experiences when it comes to events," Harlan said.
Understanding how to make everyday events successful — and actively working to improve upon them — has given the University of Utah all the more runway to handle bigger events. From the NBA All-Star Game to NCAA Tournament opportunities to the potential to make the campus the hub of the 2034 Winter Games, none are possible without the constant desire to improve.
It's that push to improve that caught the attention of Bullock and Utah's Olympic committee.
"The U., top to bottom, has been a superb partner in every sense of the word, and we appreciate the fact that they're willing to loan to us some of their most important facilities," Bullock said. "And when it comes to putting on a games, the community has to come together to make this work; it's not just one group of organizing committee, it's everybody. And in this case, we absolutely have that in place with the University of Utah."
Utah's new baseball stadium
For years, Utah baseball hoped to have a place to call their own.
There's a practice field on Guardsman Way and indoor facility space — mostly shared with the football team and indoor recreation sports in the community — but nothing solely dedicated for the baseball team. Even Smith's Ballpark, where Utah played games, was the home of the Salt Lake Bees and not on campus.
That plan changed, however, in April 2023 when the university announced plans to build a 1,200-seat baseball stadium on campus on Guardsman Way. The stadium will also include indoor batting and pitching cages, in addition to other training areas for the players.
More importantly, it's a dedicated space solely available to the baseball team.
"A lot of the student-athletes in baseball love to compete in Smith's Ballpark, and they say it's a great place, they enjoy that, but I think having your own home ... it's going to be a really great place to have a lounge, they'll have their space," Harlan said. "They won't have to go from up here in HPER locker room areas and always moving around."
The planned $35-million project has already received $34 million in funding, Harlan said, and is well on its way to breaking ground in May. The local architecture firms — Populace and VCBO — and Layton Construction, Harlan said, have been working "night and day" to ensure the university sticks to its planned timeline of a potentially two years before its finished.
"We are preparing to be out for two years if we have to be, so we're working on different options there that will come forward with when we wrap that up, but really excited about where we're going," Harlan said. "Big 12 is really good baseball, so it's going to be really great to have a new stadium.
"We feel like it's going to be an incredible opportunity for our program, not only for the stadium for our fans to come and watch the Utes on campus, but also to have a true home for the guys to work out, with a locker room facility and all of that right across the street from the Eccles Football Facility, which brings with it a lot of synergies that'll be helpful."
