On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams discuss some of the biggest sports business stories of the week, including the sale of the Utah Royals and Real Salt Lake—Utah’s two top-division soccer teams—to one of the state’s most prominent business families.
Described last week by Utah’s governor as the “matriarch of the state,” Gail Miller and her family have a deal in place to buy control of the MLS and NWSL clubs from David Blitzer at a valuation of roughly $600 million. It marks a relatively short time in control for Blitzer, who bought RSL in 2022 and revived the Royals shortly afterwards. It’s also a return to sports for the Millers, who owned the Utah Jazz up until 2020.
The hosts talk about the deal, and some related thoughts. Why are multiple MLS owners selling before next year’s World Cup? What does the Millers’ return mean for the club? Will Blitzer retain his title as the only person to be invested across all five major U.S. men’s leagues? And why did Ryan Smith, the current owner of the Jazz and one of Utah’s most vocal advocates, pass on his opportunity to purchase the soccer clubs?
They stay in Utah for the next topic. Former Jazz executive and Real Salt Lake investor Dave Checketts is starting a sports-focused private equity fund alongside the Cynosure Group. The new fund is hoping to raise $1.2 billion. The hosts talk about a tough environment for fundraising, and the struggles that new sports-focused PE funds have had raising capital. They also talk about the amount of competition in the market, which wasn’t true just five years ago.
They close by talking about Donald Trump‘s ongoing feud with Harvard University. The back-and-forth, which started over what the Trump administration described as unsafe campus activism, has spread to include threats about the university’s tax-exempt status, and the revocation of its ability to enroll international students. That last item, if it happens, would have huge consequences for the Harvard athletic department. About 21% of the students on Crimson athletic rosters are from overseas, according to Sportico research.
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