FARMINGTON—The Western Sports Park officially opened in September but it’s already boosting the county’s economy as large sporting events come to the facility. Kent Andersen, Director of Community & Economic Development presented several items for approval before the County Commission at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Typically these will fall into your consent agenda, but this one’s a little bit more exciting for us,” he said. “LOVB (League One Volleyball) is a professional women’s team for Salt Lake. We feel like this is the greatest opportunity you can have in the Sports Park, particularly women's volleyball.”

It was great partnering with this group to come hold a preseason event, a special event for season ticket holders, said Andersen. “So we’re excited to start developing that partnership.”

Andersen also asked the commission for an approval of an incentive agreement with USA Wrestling. “They will host seven events in Davis County in 2025 and 2026.”

“Wrestling has known about us for a very long time,” said Commission Chair Lorene Kamalu. 

“Yes, this is one of our big partnerships,” Andersen said. “He’s been doing a lot of events in our facilities and so it’s great to continue to find ways to partner with him.” 

He also proposed approval of an incentive agreement with the Davis Conference Center for the 2026 Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs Annual Convention. “This is kind of funny,” he said. “In the event world sometimes you have to be way out in front of these. So for this event we were actually applying in 2021 to get this event.”

So it’s exciting, Andersen said. “It will be Nov. 10 through the 14th of this coming year. It requires a minimum of 250 hotel beds. So these are the kinds of things we get excited about.”

Utah Tourism Director Jessica Merrill also asked the commission for approval of a resolution supporting America250 Utah and recognizing and approving of the Utah250 Community Committee. 

“This is a nationwide effort that all states are a part of,” she said. “So Utah is a part of this. The state has put significant efforts toward having people from the state level work with all the different government and city entities to be part of this celebration to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States.”

Communities, cities and counties have been strongly encouraged to do resolutions supporting these events and celebrations in the communities, then having some type of event that is part of celebrating from each community’s perspective, Merrill said. “For Davis County we have been looking at the Warriors Over the Wasatch Air Show that will be coming back in 2026 at the end of June – just in time – right before the official 250th birthday. So we’ve been working with them to partner on that event as Davis County’s official celebration for America250 and for Utah.”

Merrill said they are looking forward to it. “The state is also capitalizing on that event as well. So it’s going to be a really big event having this celebration on top of what that event already brings us.”

Funds for the Western Sports Park come from tourism dollars not out of the general fund.