Utah
Olympics President Thomas Bach visits with young athletes at venues across the state
For International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, there’s little doubt he meant it when he said the best part about coming back to Utah was seeing the young athletes training at the state’s 2002 Winter Games facilities, many with hopes of competing here where the Olympics and Paralympics return in 2034.
During his two-day visit that ended Saturday, the leader of the Switzerland-based IOC made sure he had plenty of opportunities.
At the Utah Olympic Park near Park City on a hot Saturday afternoon, Bach marched up a steep, pebble-covered hillside to the massive 80-foot-by-180-foot inflatable airbag used by snowboarders to practice their big air moves in the summer, ignoring plans to briefly view it from a balcony.
Those fancy twists and turns ski jumpers practice at the nearby aerated pool? Bach didn’t want to watch poolside. Trailed by an entourage of staffers and journalists, he climbed up on the outer slippery, squishy jumps so he could be as close as possible to the action.
Same with skeleton, the headfirst sliding sport that shares a track with bobsled and luge. After hearing starts were being practiced on a concrete side track, he insisted on heading across the park to be there as the helmeted sliders jumped on their wheeled sleds.
At the Utah Olympic Oval earlier in the afternoon, Bach chatted with a group of young figure skaters in sparkling outfits, then joined them on the ice for a photo in his sneakers. He also spent time talking with some young speedskaters who’d been doing sprints around the oval’s running track, passing out heart-shaped enameled lapel pins with the five Olympic rings.
“You see a very happy man in front of you,” Bach told reporters, later explaining his favorite part of any travel is meeting with young athletes. His final term as IOC president will end next year and this could be his last trip to the United States in that role. His visit started with an address to the United Nations in New York City and will end in Los Angeles, host of the 2028 Summer Games.
Utah’s Olympic organizers encouraged to ‘think big’
Bach’s first trip to Utah since 2002 was also about the next steps for Utah’s successful Olympic bidders. The IOC voted to give Utah the 2034 Winter Games on July 24 in Paris, but bidders have been trying to bring another Olympics and Paralympics to the state for more than a decade.
The bar is already being set high for Utah’s second Winter Games, with comparisons to Paris’ successful 2024 Summer Games.
“You have it all,” Bach declared at a celebratory breakfast in the Grand America Hotel garden Saturday, citing the state’s strong public and private support for the Olympics. “You can be for the Winter Games what Paris was for the Summer Games. Paris, with the Summer Games, was the first Olympic Games organized according to our Olympic agenda reforms.”
Those reforms, put in place under Bach, focus on encouraging sustainability and gender parity along with a more youth-oriented and urban Games. “All these ingredients, you have also here in Salt Lake and in Utah. So make use of them,” he said, urging the audience of more than 150 community, business and elected leaders to “think big.”
What’s next for Olympic organizers
The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games that’s behind the bid has until Christmas Eve to make the transition to an organizing committee. There have been behind-the-scenes conversations during Bach’s visit about what that might look like, including with state lawmakers.
“That should now happen soon,” Bach told reporters, calling it “the first and very important step’ to form the committee that will be responsible for putting on what will add up to a $4 billion price tag, set to be paid for privately, largely through the sale of sponsorships, broadcast rights and tickets.
But with the next Summer Games also being held in the United States, Utah organizers won’t be able to sell domestic sponsorships for 2034 until after 2029. Bach said he’s been reassured that the state’s donor base is strong enough to ensure there’s enough money to cover organizing costs for the next five years. Private contributions paid for the bid process.
“Very much so. I’ve received very encouraging news here from the private sector. There is already a great engagement to do this kind of bridge financing,” Bach said. “I have no doubt after all the meetings we’ve had. Also, the public sector is very much behind the Games. So don’t worry.”
He was also asked about the last-minute addition to Utah’s host contract that allows the IOC to take back the 2034 Games if “the supreme authority of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) in the fight against doping is not fully respected or if the application of the World Anti-Doping Code is hindered or undermined” by the United States.
The new language, sparked by a U.S. government investigation into allegations involving how failed doping tests by Chinese swimmers were handled, was added as “a matter of honesty. We had to advise Salt Lake that there is this risk because of a decision that may be taken by WADA. It isn’t our decision,” Bach said in some of his first public comments about the matter.
Utah “had nothing to do with this,” the IOC president said. “It’s not up to them to comply.” He said the action by the IOC is also “a matter of even greater confidence because we would not have allocated the Games to Salt Lake 10 years ahead if we would not have had full confidence that this matter will be resolved between WADA and USADA (the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency).”
It’s the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee that’s stepped up to help mend the rift between the international and U.S. anti-doping agencies at the heart of the controversy. USOPC Chair Gene Sykes, who is also an IOC member, told the Deseret News the head of USADA attended a dinner hosted for Bach in Colorado Springs this week.
“I have as much confidence as I’ve ever had that this is not going to have a bearing on Utah,” Sykes said.
“We’re in great hands,” Fraser Bullock, the bid committee’s president and CEO, said. “It’s not our issue.”
Bullock, who served as the chief operating officer of the 2002 Games, said the biggest challenge Utah’s Olympic organizers now face is maximizing the opportunity of hosting again.
“We have the venues. We have great people. We are very confident in our ability to host the Games,” he said. “But how can we level up and do something even more impactful for our communities, create unity in our communities, create unity in our state, inspire our entire country and eventually the whole world?”
Bach meets with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
On Friday, Bach met with several leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Church Administration Building, including President Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as well as emeritus General Authority Elder Donald L. Hallstrom.
“No one will be more supportive of these Olympics than we will,” President Holland said. “We’re thrilled to contribute in any way we can. We want you to feel that there’s no more hospitable place in the United States — or on this planet — than you have here.”
Church leaders presented Bach with a four-generation chart of his ancestors and a leather-bound copy of the Book of Mormon. Bach gave President Holland a set of Olympic rings. Joining Bach at Temple Square were IOC Director General Christophe de Kepper and Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi.
Also at the meeting were Bullock and the bid committee chair, Catherine Raney Norman; Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall; Don Stirling of the Miller Group; and 2024 Summer Games silver medalist Kenneth Rooks.
SANDY — Vibes were as high as the temperature in some cases as thousands gathered at Real Salt Lake’s home stadium to cheer on the United States’ 2-0 win over Australia in the second match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Fernando Sanchez took it all in, between belts of his drum standing in front of more than 4,000 people at the Sandy stadium.
“I was born and raised in Mexico City,” said Sanchez, who hosts a podcast called the “Fercho Show” from his current home in Utah. “But I’m from the U.S. now.”
Four years after scoring just two goals in three group games before a 3-1 exit to the Netherlands in the Round of 16, the United States is flying under Mauricio Pochettino, exciting fans across the country — from the sellout crowd at 69,000-seat Lumen Field in Seattle to watch parties around the world, including Friday in Sandy.
“The vibe is amazing,” Sanchez told KSL.com. “You can see all of the people who came out, everybody is happy because this World Cup means so much for Utah, for everybody. It’s the best of the best from each country fighting on the field. That’s what it feels like, and it’s so good to be part of this game.”
Less than 24 hours after some 9,200 fans showed up at America First Field for Mexico’s 1-0 win over South Korea, Real Salt Lake employees braced to host as many as 6,000 American fans who submitted an RSVP to spend a portion of the Juneteenth holiday in 94-degree weather.
In-game hydration breaks became as much of a necessity for fans as the players in Seattle, with hundreds flooding the open hydration stations, concessions area, and a few food trucks at each “quarter break” installed by FIFA for the first time at a men’s World Cup.
While final attendance dropped to around 4,500 fans in Sandy, the spirits remained high as Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in a 4-1 win over Paraguay in the World Cup opener, forced the opening goal off Australia’s Cameron Burgess.
Alex Freeman, the son of former Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman who at 21 is the youngest player on the roster, doubled the advantage in the 43rd minute off a set piece that was initially ruled offside.
But after a lengthy video review where fans refused to sit down, pandemonium ensued as the U.S. fans in Sandy recognized their national team was moments away from clinching passage out of the group in the first men’s World Cup on home soil since 1994.
It’s the first time the United States men’s national team has won consecutive games at a World Cup tournament since 1930.
Yet it’s not just the wins, but how the Yanks are winning that has Americans excited about a sport that has made significant strides domestically in three decades since the founding of Major League Soccer.
The U.S. is winning with an exciting brand of attacking soccer led by Balogun, who grew up in England but chose to represent the country of his birth over his parents’ native Nigeria in 2023, and Christian Pulisic, the AC Milan winger with 33 goals in 87 international appearances from Pennsylvania who did not play Friday due to a calf injury.
“There’s a lot of American pride,” said St. George youth soccer player Tate Hurst, who showed up to the watch party with a half-dozen club teammates at Fire SC during Western Presidents Cup regional this weekend. “The American dream.”
Sunburn, heat and hydration aside, the moment created a memory for thousands of soccer fans and casuals alike. That included RSL season ticket holders, waiting until the end of the month-long international break for the club’s MLS season to resume in July.
But for one afternoon — and perhaps another, as the club plans to host a similar watch party next Thursday when the United States hosts Türkiye in Los Angeles (8 p.m. MT, FS1) — each soccer fan was pulling for the same team.
Except, perhaps, for the dozen or so Australia fans in the corner of the east lawn who represented their own Socceroos for the entire 90 minutes.
“Soccer brings everybody together,” one RSL staff member said over the public-address system as fans headed for the parking lot while James Brown’s “Living in America” blasted over the sound system after the full-time whistle. “That’s what today was all about.”
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah athletics is making a notable change to the Huntsman Center gameday setup, but the move is about more than where the team sits.
The Runnin’ Utes are moving the team bench from the east side of the Jon M. Huntsman Center to the west side, returning the bench to the side it occupied during the Rick Majerus era. The change will also move the MUSS and band from the west side to the east side.
The shift is part of a larger effort by Utah Athletics to improve the student-section experience, create a more consistent setup inside the Huntsman Center and better connect the arena to the university’s growing College Town Magic initiative.
Enhancing The MUSS And Fan Experience
Nowlin said the primary motivation behind the change is improving the MUSS and the overall fan experience.
“The reason we’re doing this is we want to enhance the MUSS,” Utah’s Deputy Athletics Director & Chief Revenue Officer, Patrick Nowlin said. “As an ongoing effort, we’ve been working on for the past two years, how do we enhance the fan experience?”
One issue Utah identified was that the MUSS had been located in different areas for different events. Moving the student section and band to the east side gives the department a more consistent location to build around.
“We wanted to create a better fan experience,” Nowlin said. “We wanted to be able to have one spot that we can build on, which means we can brand. We can enhance everything about it.”
The move also ties directly into College Town Magic. Nowlin said the area around the Huntsman Center will include more than 2,900 total beds, including more than 1,400 new beds, giving students a direct path from nearby housing to the student-section entrance.
“There’s over 2,900 new beds that are right there, which will be right at the branded entrance, right where the student section is,” Nowlin said. “They don’t have to go far at all. So it’s just a walk straight down from the dorm, right in the door.”
And according to Utah’s Patrick Nowlin, the move is not limited to men’s basketball.
“It’s not just men’s basketball. It’s all Huntsman Center events,” Nowlin said.
A Nod To Utah Basketball History
While the move is primarily about fan experience, there is also a clear basketball-history component.
The west-side bench location is where Utah sat during the Majerus era, when the Runnin’ Utes were one of the top programs in the country and the Huntsman Center had a different level of edge. Alex Jensen was part of that era as a player, and now, as Utah’s head coach, the move reconnects the current program with one of its most successful periods.
Nowlin said the historical connection was part of the conversation, even if it was not solely Jensen’s decision.
“Yeah, it’s a nod to history,” Nowlin said. “I think Alex, him being here, he’s a steward of the program. There’s a lot of history to having it on that side.”
Still, Nowlin made clear the change was not simply pushed through by Jensen.
“It wasn’t a push from him,” Nowlin said. “It was a concerted effort from everybody to where, how do we create an area that the MUSS can have, but also how do we lean into our history, but still move forward in a way that we can honor that, but create an unbelievable environment.”
That is the heart of the move. Utah is trying to bring back a piece of its basketball identity while also reworking the building for the future.
How Fans Will Be Impacted
The change will affect some season-ticket holders, donors and fans seated near the current bench, MUSS and band areas, but Utah tried to limit the disruption.
Nowlin said the department spent months working through the seating impact and expects fewer than 200 accounts to be directly affected. Those accounts are in sections T, U and V.
“This wasn’t something that just came about,” Nowlin said. “We’ve been working on this for a few months now, and we wanted to find a way that we could minimize the accounts that were directly impacted, but still create the fan experience change we were after.”
Utah’s plan is to work individually with affected fans and mirror their seat location as closely as possible on the other end of the court.
“If you’re on one end and now you’re going on the other end, we will work with you to get you in the seat that is similar to where you were and allow you to have the same experience you’ve had, just on the other end of the court,” Nowlin said.
Utah will also hold a virtual seat-selection process from July 7-17, allowing fans who want to move to choose from available options.
“We’re going to take care of everybody, but we’re also going to allow people the choice and the freedom to be able to make the changes they want to make,” Nowlin said. “We want to create every opportunity we can to give our fans opportunities to choose their own experience.”
Not Part Of The Huntsman Renovation
The bench and MUSS move is not directly tied to the larger Huntsman Center renovation discussions. Nowlin said the change is instead connected to College Town Magic and Utah’s effort to improve the student and fan experience inside the building.
“It does not have to do with the renovation, but it does have to do with College Town Magic,” Nowlin said.
The move could create some new seating and premium opportunities, particularly around courtside and floor seating. Nowlin said Utah is still evaluating those possibilities.
“By doing this, this will create additional opportunities for us on courtside and floor,” Nowlin said. “We’re also looking to how do we enhance our premium experience across the board. So this is a step in a process that will continue.”
The Bottom Line
Utah’s bench move is not just a nostalgic callback to the Rick Majerus era, and it is not just a seating chart adjustment. It is part of a broader effort to reshape the Huntsman Center experience.
The team bench is moving back to the west side, where Utah sat during some of the program’s most successful years. The MUSS and band are moving to the east side, where Utah believes it can build a stronger, more consistent student-section identity tied to College Town Magic.
For Utah Athletics, it is another step toward rethinking how the Huntsman Center looks, sounds and feels on game day. For Jensen, the move reconnects the program to its winning past.
The symbolism will matter to longtime Utah basketball fans. The logistics will matter to students, band members and season-ticket holders. But the larger goal is simple: make the building feel more intentional, more connected and more like home again.
Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.
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SALT LAKE CITY – The San Juan County assessor has resigned partway through his second term, following a recommendation that he be removed from office.
Rick Meyer’s resignation became effective on Monday, according to San Juan County Commissioner Lori Maughan. A copy of Meyer’s resignation letter was not immediately available.
This comes after the Utah State Tax Commission determined that Meyer had failed to follow the law and was “unfit to perform his duties.” In a letter last week to San Juan County commissioners, the tax commission recommended “the immediate removal of the San Juan County assessor from office to protect the public interest and restore the integrity of the property tax system in San Juan County.”
Among other things, Meyer was accused of failing to tax agricultural buildings, misclassifying property, and giving property tax exemptions to certain parcels, including vacant land, when he shouldn’t have.
The recommendation to remove Meyer from office was the first under a recent state law giving the Utah State Tax Commission more power to take corrective action against county assessors who aren’t doing their jobs properly. Assessors play a major role in the property tax process by determining the value of property throughout their counties.
Yet, it was unclear whether the San Juan County Commission could have actually removed Meyer from office had he not stepped down.
With Meyer’s resignation, the San Juan County Assessor’s Office has just one employee left. Deputy assessor Nathan Pitts will run the office until the San Juan County Republican Party recommends a replacement and the County Commission appoints one.
“It’s me holding down the fort here,” Pitts told KSL on Thursday, noting that he has spoken with the Utah Association of Counties and the state tax commission about plans for this interim period. “Everybody’s on board to assist and try to make it the best as we can, (but) I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me.”
Pitts said he does not plan to run for county assessor to replace his old boss.
“That is not my intention at all,” he said. “I’m quite content as a deputy assessor.”
Meyer was first elected as San Juan County assessor in 2020 and won reelection in 2024. His current term was set to conclude in 2029.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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