Just over halfway through their Return to Royalty season, the Utah Royals have unveiled a brand new, multimillion-dollar sports medicine and performance facility in a JWS exclusive.
At over 11,000 square feet, the NWSL-specific property boasts top-of-the-line weight and training rooms, including a dedicated hydrotherapy room complete with a sauna, which will include hot and cold tubs, plus a spacious locker room and players’ lounge, and weight and training room equipped with top-of-the-line equipment. The expansive new digs also have on-site childcare and lactation rooms.
As a part of Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman, Utah, the new facility places the Royals on the same 42-acre campus as the other four Utah Soccer teams, including MLS’s Real Salt Lake. The campus features five natural-grass outdoor fields, two full-size indoor fields, as well as the 5,000-seat capacity Zions Bank Stadium.
When the space officially opens in a few weeks, it will be dedicated as the SharkNinja Performance Center after the global appliance company inked a multi-year naming rights deal.
The Royals’ new home is the latest in a small but growing collection of training facilities created specifically for women’s teams — and the NWSL is leading the way. Three other NWSL clubs — Racing Louisville and Houston Dash — also have dedicated team homes in complexes shared with men’s clubs, while the Orlando Pride the Kansas City Current both work out of their own exclusive facilities.