The Utah Royals FC coming back to the Beehive State has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the last couple of years. The fans wanted them back. The franchise under new Real Salt Lake owners David Blitzer and Ryan Smith wanted them back. Even the league wanted the back.
Now, per a new Wall Street Journal report, we know how much it will cost to bring them back.
The expansion fee for the Royals will cost Blitzer and Smith between $2 million and $5 million, per the report. The team is set to return in 2024, a timeline that has been assumed for quite a while.
Two more teams will join the National Women’s Soccer League through this latest expansion, per the report. Those teams will play in the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston. And each of teams will pay an expansion fee of about $50 million.
The reason Blitzer and Smith are paying so much less to bring a team into the league is because the fee had already been negotiated back in 2020 with the Royals were sold and moved to Kansas City. As a condition of the sale, the new owners could bring the women’s team back.
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