America First Field, Sandy, Utah

With breathtaking snowy mountains as the backdrop, America First Field offers a beautiful soccer venue capable of holding 20,000 fans for a match. It’s located in Sandy, Utah, about 15 minutes south of Salt Lake City proper.

Though a new expansion team for 2024, the Utah Royals aren’t the first NWSL team to play in Utah. Previously, a team that went by the same name played at this same stadium from 2018-2020 before that team folded and the players were transferred to the Kansas City (now Current) team for the 2021 season.

It was a rocky start in 2024 for the Utah Royals’s inaugural season, which isn’t unusual for an expansion club as most struggle with new squads, new training staff, and new facilities. Still, after a coaching change and a slew of new player acquisitions, they still performed well in 2025 and we have high hopes for their future seasons.

Thankfully, attendance at Royals games is already encouragingly high; they averaged around 10,000 fans per match for most of their season, which isn’t too shabby league-wide. That may not be surprising as the previous team already had a following, and Salt Lake City has just an NBA team and new NHL team to satisfy pro sports fans.

It’s a fun, unique part of the country to visit, so let’s talk about how you can enjoy a match at America First Field.

Stadium information

America First Field (named after a long-standing credit union in Utah, not after any presidential campaign slogan) was built in 2008 and while it’s a bit of a trek from downtown Salt Lake City, it offers a large venue with acres of space for a fan zone, ample seating all around the pitch, and a ton of food options inside.

Where to sit

For NWSL matches in Utah, tickets aren’t sold for the southern side behind the goal, as seen on the diagram above, or for the uppermost decks. Total capacity in this configuration is closer to 16,000 to 18,000.

We attended a 7 p.m. game in May and only sections 1 to 5 and 33 to 37 had the setting sun directly on them for the first half of the game. The “shady side” of the stadium is sections 15 to 24, on the bottom of the seating chart above. Large awnings with white cloth provide most of the shade and will likely keep rain or snow off the upper rows of seats in the main section in the event of inclement weather.

We noticed that in sections 19 and 20 they offered more comfortable padded seats as part of the Zions Bank Club. On a cold night that padding might come in handy as it tends to be much warmer than cold, hard, plastic seats.

The stadium has a walkway halfway up and there appeared to be ample ADA options at the top of several areas along with space for companion seating, especially at the corners of the stadium.

It’s a big stadium with huge grounds so even though our night felt sparsely attended when we looked around, there were in fact over 10,000 people at the game, so looks can be deceiving.

For locals, sections 28 and 29 behind the goal was a large supporters area, but there were seats in that area instead of a standing-only section.

What to eat and drink

Utah was only our fifth new-to-us stadium visit, but we can already tell it likely has the best food options of any NWSL stadium. Let’s talk about why.

Ample locations

There were, simply put, tons of food options all around the stadium. There’s a large concessions area on the north side with several vendors and spaces for food trucks (sadly, closed our night), and then both the east and west sides of the field had multiple food options behind seating areas. There was pizza, smashburgers, chicken strips, steak sandwiches, Mexican food, as well as standard stadium fare like hot dogs.

This stadium featured both some of the best food as well as the most options league-wide

There were multiple beer and wine areas, but there were also fun one-off things like a cupcake cart on the main walkway, places that focused mostly on desserts, and one all-you-can-eat stadium food option.

Whatever you want to eat, Utah’s stadium seems to have you covered.

Popular nationwide chains

America First had lots of cuisine options, but it also had an actual Domino’s Pizza location that smelled exactly like any neighborhood Domino’s. It’s not often you see big national brands at a park, but somehow they made one work here. And yes, it’s not high-end food, but if you have a kid who loves Domino’s pepperoni pizza, you can’t beat getting a familiar meal at your game.

Local options

Something we hadn’t seen before at a stadium were nationwide brands combined with local options, and even local delicacies.

To explain the best example of this, here’s a quick tangent.

About half of Utah residents follow the Mormon religion, and in the Book of Mormon their early leader Joseph Smith said followers should avoid “hot drinks.” Today’s followers interpret that to mean avoiding coffee, tea, and caffeinated drinks in general, so cold non-caffeinated drinks are fine. Recently, there’s been a trend in Utah where drive-thru places sprang up selling nothing but mixed cold non-alcoholic drinks, sometimes called “dirty sodas.” And they’re always busy.

While we don’t personally see the appeal of a drive-thru soda shop, America First Field has a “Fizz Drinks” location selling cups of Sprite mixed with things like piña colada syrups. For locals used to this hyperlocal trend, it was nice to see the stadium offering an outlet catering to them.

Ice cream galore!

We don’t know why ice cream seems so rare at U.S. soccer stadiums these days, but it’s hard to find actual ice cream, or hot fudge sundaes, or any kind of soft serve. Most stadiums will only offer to sell you Dippin’ Dots, which is a weird shelf-stable frozen “astronaut ice cream” kind of thing sold in bags or small cups that kind of tastes like ice cream but isn’t quite the same.

America First Field had a dedicated ice cream shop option, along with Dole Whip pineapple soft serve, and if you really wanted Dippin’ Dots there was even a cart selling those too.

An overall good experience

Lines were mostly short and fast thanks to all the different outlets available, and our pre-game snack of a tri-tip steak sandwich was one of the our favorite meals on our nationwide tour. We also sampled passable nachos and eventually enjoyed a Dole Whip in the closing half. Prices were average with most entrees going for $10 to $15 and drinks were $5 to $10.

Team merchandise, restrooms, and pre-game activities

America First Field shares their space with the MLS men’s soccer team, Real Salt Lake, and their large brick-and-mortar team store was split about 50/50 with MLS team merch and Utah Royals jerseys, T-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts. When we visited the team store it was pretty packed, and even though the shop had just about everything any fan could ever want, we were slightly surprised to only see ball caps for sale in the hats department, no fuzzy knit caps of any kind.

We mention this because the stadium is close to the mountains, and while it was close to 70ºF/21ºC when our game started, by the end of the second half, the temps dipped below 50ºF/10ºC and a knit hat covering our ears would have made things more comfortable. Perhaps they were sold out? We’ve seen them at plenty of warmer weather team stores so it’s worth noting you should bring a warm jacket for the second half of night games so you’re prepared for the cold snap after sundown.

When it comes to restrooms, America First Field is easily the league champion. There were plenty of options all around the stadium with good facilities and privacy.

America First Field is the league champion of restrooms: zero lines for women during the game, even at halftime when everyone tends to run to the loo.

The stadium has a few flexible extra restroom areas and we noticed along the north side of the pitch there were double the number of women’s facilities compared to men’s, which is great for capacity at a women’s pro sports match. No other stadium we visited offered this many women’s bathrooms, and even on a crowded 10,000-plus fan night, it was the first time we didn’t see lines stretching into common areas from every women’s restroom at the half.

There was a large 2-acre sized fan zone just off the east side of the stadium, with plenty of things to do for kids like play games, get their face painted, or just run around on the ample grounds. There were various sponsor tents and I bet on bigger game nights they could accommodate dozens of food trucks. Honestly, it felt like a central quad at a college campus and it was a nice place to catch a view of the nearby mountains while stretching our legs.

Pre-game, in-game, and post-game vibes

Pre-game vibes were good, as there were groups of supporters walking around singing chants, waving flags and playing music, and given the ample food options and large fan zone, it felt relaxed and easy to get a meal and a drink well before play began.

During the game, the crowd was supportive and upbeat. While the Royals are still getting started as an expansion team, whenever they had a scoring opportunity you could feel the energy of the whole stadium get behind the home team. As previously mentioned, it is a big stadium and though it was over half full the night we went, it didn’t feel that way. We assumed the crowds were low since we caught a rare weeknight game, but hopefully on bigger weekend matches, when the stadium is more full, you feel even more of those great vibes from fans pushing the team onward.

Postgame was fairly relaxed. No one ushered us to the exits immediately, and we hung around for 30 minutes or so to watch players do cooldown runs, catch up with one another, and interact with the audience. If you’re looking for autographs after a match, the best place seemed to be just above player benches, along the western side of the stadium near sections 18 to 21.

Getting there

Flying in

The Salt Lake City airport (SLC) is served by all popular airlines, with a surprising number of direct flights from many cities. The airport sits about 5 miles north of the city, so if you’re staying in a downtown Salt Lake City hotel, it’ll cost you about $20 for an Uber or Lyft trip from the airport.

You’ll probably want to opt for a rental car if you’re flying into SLC, as it is a bit of a trek into downtown Salt Lake City, and the stadium is 15 miles farther south. Having a rental car also means you’re free to explore the Great Salt Lake, numerous short hikes to city overlooks, any local ski areas, and national parks beyond the city.

Driving in

There’s an official parking lot you can reserve a spot at when you buy your game tickets, but we noticed as we drove around the stadium, plenty of enterprising nearby places offered game parking for the same $20 charge we paid ahead of time through the SeatGeek app.

Unfortunately, traffic flow wasn’t great after the game in the official 10th St. lot as there was only one exit. We leisurely made our way back to our car 30 minutes post-match, and there was already a huge line of cars. We waited about 10 to 15 minutes before we even could back out of our parking space to join the line. Once we finally made it onto the street, we ignored our Google Maps directions, which looked to add another 10 to 15 minutes of traffic to get on the closest freeway on-ramp, and instead we drove several blocks north on side streets to get us onto the freeway away from the post-game traffic snarl.

Taking public transit

Salt Lake City has a light-rail system that serves mainly their downtown and nearby universities, but America First Field has a dedicated train stop right at the base of it, which is great for fans.

Unfortunately, when we considered taking a train to the game, Google Maps told us the trip from downtown SLC to the stadium in Sandy was almost an hour each way with all the required stops. The drive was less than 30 minutes over the same 15 miles in Friday post-work traffic, so we opted to go by car instead.

Where to stay

Utah is an amazing place with tons of natural beauty. While there are hotels near the airport, they’re mostly in boring industrial parks and you’ll only want to pick these if you have a late flight in or very early flight out. Hotels in downtown Salt Lake City are likely your best choice as a base to explore the area and there are loads of options. Sandy, Utah, is a bit of a sleepy suburb south of SLC and you probably won’t want to stay near the stadium if you’re mostly sightseeing around Salt Lake City.

What to do in Salt Lake City (besides watch soccer)

Salt Lake City is an interesting place because it was fairly isolated from the rest of the country for hundreds of years, and its own particular religious history is intertwined with the settling and development of the region. The streets of Salt Lake City are incredibly wide with giant intersections that feel a little bit hostile to pedestrians because Mormon leaders decreed a full oxen team should be able to fit on any street and be able to turn around at any intersection.

Don't travel all the way to Utah without seeing at least one of their national parks.

Though the area was long known for strict laws that limited alcohol consumption, after their Winter Olympics of 2002, most of those rules were lifted. In 2024, we found plenty of nightlife, brew pubs, bars and grills, and places to eat and drink downtown.

You can’t mention Utah without talking about its five epic national parks around the state. We are personally huge fans of the Moab area, about three to four hours southeast of Salt Lake City near the Arches and Canyonlands national parks. Out there you can bask in the wonder of giant red canyon walls (often covered in petroglyphs), fossilized dinosaur tracks you can stand in and touch, and massive, awe-inspiring natural rock arches everywhere you look.

Salt Lake City is also home to some of the best skiing in the U.S., so if you’re planning to catch an early or late season game, you might still be able to hit the nearby slopes and enjoy the dry, deep powder the area is famous for.

Honestly, if it is your first time in Utah, we’d strongly suggest spending four to five days on a trip, taking in a Utah Royals game, checking out downtown SLC, but also getting out to the surrounding areas that boast more national parks than any other state besides California and Alaska.