With the snow-dusted peaks of the Wasatch Front in the background of Utah\u2019s new baseball stadium, Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan turned his head and took a moment to admire the landscape behind him. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s take a moment,\u201d Harlan said, \u201cto appreciate this view.\u201d <\/p>\n
The University of Utah officially opened and unveiled Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark on Wednesday afternoon, marking the end of a three-decade wait for the program to have an on-campus venue. Monfort, a U. alum and owner of the Colorado Rockies, donated $10 million to the project.<\/p>\n
For years, Utah operated as a tenant at Smith\u2019s Ballpark, the former home of the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees. Now the Utes have a new, shiny stadium and facilities to operate out of for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no better backdrop in college baseball than what we\u2019ve got right here at America First,\u201d Utah baseball coach Gary Henderson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful recruiting tool, and it\u2019s a great place for people. It\u2019s gonna be a tremendous place for people to come to watch a ball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Salt Lake Tribune and other media members were given a tour of the $35 million stadium on Guardsman Way, training grounds and offices during a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we saw.<\/p>\n
The locker room and training facility<\/p>\n
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mark Harlan shows Charlie Monfort the University of Utah dugout at the grand opening of the new University of Utah Charlie Monfort Field on Wednesday, Jan 28, 2026. <\/p>\n
When you first walk into Utah\u2019s new baseball stadium, you\u2019re greeted by three mannequins donning three of Utah\u2019s baseball uniforms in red, black and white. <\/p>\n
From there you\u2019ll find a row of Utah-red bats honoring the Ute baseball All-Americans through the years. And, of course, you can\u2019t miss the sign that reminds you just how high up you are in elevation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome to 5,000 feet,\u201d the wall reads.<\/p>\n
As Henderson put it: \u201cPitching coaches beware.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s safe to say the new stadium will be hitter-friendly.<\/p>\n
Inside the ballpark, there\u2019s everything a college baseball player could imagine. A new locker room with red cushy seats, white cubbies and a massive outline of the state of Utah on the ceiling, which has the Utes\u2019 logo inside of it.<\/p>\n
Players have have a similar insignia and their names on each locker as well. <\/p>\n
Alongside the locker room, Ute baseball players also have a new meeting room, a weight room, a lounge area, several bathrooms and indoor batting and pitching cages. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis place is like Disneyland for a kid that grows up loving baseball,\u201d Utes redshirt junior infielder Cameron Gurney said. \u201cIt\u2019s got everything you need.\u201d <\/p>\n
Seating and turf<\/p>\n
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The new University of Utah Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark on Wednesday, Jan 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
old-fashioned<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to complain about the view at America First Ballpark. <\/p>\n
But besides that, what else is there?<\/p>\n
The 1,200 seats are right on top of the action. There\u2019s also an outfield berm where fans can sit in the grass to watch the Utes play, which could max out capacity to potentially 3,000 fans.<\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s athletic director hopes the berm will attract Utah\u2019s student section, the MUSS.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d love to have that berm filled up out there \u2014 that whole area \u2014 with students,” Harlan said. ” We\u2019ll do a lot of food trucks, and the old-fashioned trick of pizzas seems to attract and we\u2019ll continue to have a lot of fun. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already talked to MUSS leadership about really being a part of baseball.\u201d <\/p>\n
There are also multiple concession stands for fans to grab some food or drinks.<\/p>\n
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Charlie Monfort visits with the U of U baseball team at the grand opening of the new University of Utah Charlie Monfort Field on Wednesday, Jan 28, 2026. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was told we\u2019d sell out nine games here last year with our attendance down at Smith\u2019s ballpark,\u201d Harlan said. \u201cI imagine, particularly on good weather weekend type games, this place is going to be packed, but season tickets are going really well.\u201d <\/p>\n
America First Ballpark \u2014 much like Utah\u2019s football field at Rice-Eccles Stadium \u2014 has all-weather FieldTurf with a cursive \u201cUtah\u201d written out near home plate.<\/p>\n
The outfield walls are smaller than Utah\u2019s previous home at Smith\u2019s Ballpark, featuring a 350-foot distance to the left-field corner and a 320-foot distance to the right-field corner. The center field wall sits at 400 feet.<\/p>\n
The stadium also has red and white LED lights to enhance the fan experience during night and evening contests. <\/p>\n
Outside of Utah games, Harlan hopes to use the baseball field for other community events.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next phase is really working with the [Utah] High School Association,\u201d Harlan said. \u201cI want some high school games here. I want some state championship games here. We\u2019re already working to get some regular season games here, especially from high schools that are close by.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also want to get some Little League games here. I want to get some travel games here. I mean, we\u2019ve got turf. We can use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Utah\u2019s opening contest in America First Ballpark will take place at 6 p.m. MDT on March 6 against Grand Canyon University.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving something like this to call home, like I said, is great,\u201d Gurney said. \u201cIt also makes it that much better when you know you get to show up to a place where 34 of your best friends are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the snow-dusted peaks of the Wasatch Front in the background of Utah\u2019s new baseball stadium, Utah Athletic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,22178,22179],"class_list":{"0":"post-544094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-university-of-utah","10":"tag-utes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115978827462579126","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}