Dennis Romboy is an editor and reporter for the Deseret News. He has covered a variety of beats over the years, including state and local government, social issues and courts. A Utah native, Romboy earned a degree in journalism from the University of Utah. He enjoys cycling, snowboarding and running.
SALT LAKE CITY — It's Opening Day. The stands at Larry H. Miller Field at Stadium on Salt Lake City's west side are packed. The Utah Bees take the field in their home whites trimmed in black and gold.
The Chicago Cubs' leadoff hitter walks to the plate. There's a buzz in the stadium in anticipation of the first-ever pitch at a Major League Baseball game where Utahns can root, root, root for the home team. The umpire — still a human — shouts "Play ball!"OK, it's a made-up scene. But nearly seven in 10 Utahns would welcome a big league team to the Beehive State, according to a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll.American Fork resident Bryant Jenks, a Los Angeles Dodgers fan who grew up listening to Vin Scully on a transistor radio, would be among them."We have a fan base that's loyal to professional teams and loves baseball," he said.Sold-out attendance at Utah Jazz and Utah Mammoth games bears that out. Also, the Salt Lake Bees AAA baseball drew nearly 400,000 fans at its new ballpark last year.And Jenks could even get behind a Utah MLB team playing his Dodgers. "Being a baseball fan, I would be happy for either to win," he said.By most accounts, Salt Lake City, along with Nashville, has emerged as a frontrunner to land an MLB expansion team sometime after 2029. Big League Utah, a coalition of prominent Utahns led by the Larry H. Miller Company, publicly launched its pursuit of a team three years ago. The poll found 69% of Utah voters strongly or somewhat support the state getting a major league team, while 14% are strongly or somewhat opposed and 17% don't know.People age 45 to 64 expressed the most support among all age groups in the survey, at 73%. Those 65 and older expressed the least, but still 6 in 10 were supportive. More women than men favor getting a team.The survey also asked respondents about the reasons they support or oppose a big league team in Utah. Money figured into some of their answers.Among those who favor a franchise, the top reason cited for their support was economic growth and job creation, according to the survey. Following that was baseball as a quality entertainment option for residents, along with additional tax revenues for Utah, and personal interest in attending an MLB game nearby.Of those who oppose a team coming to the state, taxpayer costs for stadium construction topped the list by far, with lack of personal interest in attending MLB games a distant second an
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