Amanda Covington, the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for the Larry H. Miller company and joined Duke Dance earlier this week to discuss the company’s big plans to bring both Major League Baseball and perhaps professional hockey as well to Salt Lake City. One of the big things that jumps out immediately about the proposal the company has submitted is for the building of a full sports complex not just simply a stadium for just baseball to played, the location would be slotted directly in between the Salt Lake International Airport and downtown Salt Lake City which would make it a really easy location for commuting to and from games for potential fans in the future.

Some of the plans for the complex would include the ability to include entertainment and other sports in the complex on a routine basis and some other ideas the company has from a visual standpoint include opening up an end and pointing the stadium outward toward the mountains to allow them to be visible from behind home plate which would make for a breath-taking view. It is also the Larry H. Miller company’s belief that the stadium would also add to the general visual appeal of the city as a whole for tourists and business people visiting the city for any number of reasons and the hope is that the complex would be the type of venue that would catch the eye right off the bat as you enter the city.

Another huge piece to this puzzle is the size of Salt Lake City which has been discussed a vast number of times over the course of the process however a few things on that front include that actual number of people across the Wasatch front if you expand just outside the actual Salt Lake metropolitan area is over 2.7 million which would rank high actually on the base market size for many sports markets in America. The other big thing is Salt Lake has the #1 economy of any major city in the United States of America and also has the youngest average age across all major metropolitan areas in the United States which would be great for the growth of baseball and the future of baseball to have a team in such a youthful area with a lot of money to spend on merchandise and tickets and other such things.

It would be a huge opportunity for the sport that has been wanting not only to expand but also to catch the younger market’s attention for years now and Salt Lake City could easily help them out on both fronts at the same time with the proposal for this complex which as Amanda points out is “shovel ready” and construction could begin at a moments notice if MLB gives them the green light. Things appear to be moving in the right direction and Amanda says that right now this could get done in as soon as 5 years if all goes smoothly like they are hoping and they get the approval from MLB in short order which would be a very exciting development for sports fans across the Valley who may finally be able to end the abusive fan relationship with the Colorado Rockies if they so choose.

Full interview can be found below: