SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) – The Salt Lake Bees, Utah’s Triple-A baseball team, will officially be leaving Salt Lake City and will be headed toward a new baseball stadium that will be built in the Daybreak neighborhood of South Jordan.
According to the Larry H. Miller Company, construction on the new stadium will begin this year, and the stadium will open in 2025. The Bees will play its first season in the new stadium when it opens. The Bees’ current lease with Smith’s Ballpark is set to expire following the 2024 baseball season.
Details on the exact location, design, and surrounding amenities will reportedly be released later in 2023, however, Larry H. Miller Company said the stadium will be built between Mountain View Corridor and the Daybreak TRAX line.
The stadium will be privately funded through the Larry H. Miller Company, who additionally owns the Salt Lake Bees.
“The Bees look forward to commemorating the next two seasons at Smith’s Ballpark before the current lease expires in Fall 2024,” the team said in a statement on Twitter. “The team is grateful for the long-term legacy of baseball in Salt Lake City and for the incredible fans and surrounding community that support the team.”
In 2021, the Larry H. Miller Company acquired more than 1,300 undeveloped acres in Daybreak. ABC4 reported in September of the possible move, as reports of the move began to surface.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said the City has ideas for the future of Smith’s Ballpark, and is committed to transitioning the space from a place that is only visited 70 nights a year to a place that servers Salt Lakers year around.
Mendenhall announced the Ballpark Next project, inviting the community to reimagine and invest in the Ballpark neighborhood and the 13 acres where the ballpark currently stands. Up to $30,000 will be awarded to winners who propose concept proposals about what to do with the site moving forward.
The Larry H. Miller company said it was grateful for Mayor Mendenhall and her team as they evaluated the potential outcomes of the decision. According to the Utah-based company, it will continue to partner with community leaders to “enrich and reimagine” the neighborhood surrounding Smith’s Ballpark.