Larry H. Miller family buys Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals from David Blitzer, Ryan Smith

The Miller family is back in major league sports.

Five years after selling the Utah Jazz, the Larry H. Miller Co. has taken control of the Real Salt Lake and the Utah Royals soccer clubs.

New York-based private equity investor David Blitzer will transition into a minority ownership role with the clubs. But the Millers will have final decision-making power, ensuring the team will once again be controlled by a local group.

“Having local ownership is so important,” National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner Jessica Berman said. The Millers’ “connectivity to the community is going to make these clubs become what we all know, and believe, they can be.”

Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith sold his minority interest in RSL and the Royals as part of the deal.

Along with acquiring the two professional teams, the Millers will take control of America First Field and the RSL Academy in Herriman and the minor league Real Monarchs.

The deal was worth $600 million, The Athletic reported Friday morning.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the Miller family and other dignitaries pose for a photo following a press conference to announce that The Miller Family is taking controlling ownership of Real Salt Lake and the Royals at America First Field in Sandy on Friday, April 18, 2025.

“My parents invested and purchased the Jazz over 40 years ago because they loved this community and they wanted to see it stay safe, strong and grow,” LHM Chairman Steve Miller said. “Today, my brothers and I, along with the next generation Miller family members, share that same passion for sports and for the community, and have that same commitment.”

After selling the Jazz in 2020, the Millers did not leave the Utah sports scene completely. The family owns the Salt Lake Bees, the Triple-A baseball affiliate for the Los Angeles Angels. LHM just opened a new stadium for the organization in Daybreak earlier this month. Larry H. Miller Co. is also working to bring a Major League Baseball club to the Power District in Salt Lake City, having already secured funding for a professional stadium in the event MLB awards them a team.

But the acquisition of RSL and the Royals will put the Millers back in control of a major league team.

“We are humbled again by this opportunity to become stewards of these franchises; to build on the strong foundation of the legacy that has been built over these decades,” LHM CEO Steve Starks said.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Steve Starks, the CEO of the Larry H. Miller Company, speaks during a press conference to announce that The Miller Family is taking controlling ownership of Real Salt Lake and the Royals at America First Field in Sandy on Friday, April 18, 2025.

RSL has undergone a number of ownership changes in the last few years. Former owner Dell Loy Hansen sold the team in 2020 in the midst of scandal. Major League Soccer took control of the club while searching for an ownership group.

The Miller family was interested in buying the club then, The Salt Lake Tribune reported, but it was the Blitzer group that ultimately assumed ownership for a reported $400 million.

The late Larry H. Miller owned the Utah Jazz for more than 30 years, dating back to the 1980s. Miller died in 2009, leaving his wife, Gail Miller, and their children to take over the family business and the NBA organization.

The Millers ultimately sold the Jazz to the Smith Entertainment Group in 2020.

“Gail Miller is not just the matriarch of this family. She’s the matriarch of this state,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said. “When the history of sport in Utah is written, half the book is going to be about the Miller family. That’s why I’m so excited about this investment.”