I have had the pleasure of attending numerous UCLA and Missouri home games, as well as, a game at Arizona State, the USC versus Notre Dame rivalry in South Bend, the Holiday Bowl, and the Rose Bowl game itself.  

A recent journey to Salt Lake City and Rice-Eccles Stadium to watch UCLA face off against Utah led to a completely unexpected opinion to be formed. That being that the University of Utah may have one of the best stadium experiences and atmospheres in the entire nation.

For starters, the stadium is located on one of the highest points in Salt Lake City, allowing fans to look over the lights of the city and see the mountains and the sunset in the background. It is truly breathtaking, like you are among the gods on Mount Olympus. 

To add onto that, the Olympic Torch from the 2002 Winter Olympics is located right outside the stadium. This is a site to behold, because unlike the torch at the Los Angeles Coliseum, fans are able to interact and walk right past it while entering the stadium. 

Once in the stadium, you are greeted with a jam packed stadium, full of everyone dressed in all black for their “dark mode” game and countless hand-made flag poles with University of Utah flags attached being swung around.

 The unity in what everyone is wearing is not the only thing that fans of the Utes do together, when their fight song plays, there is not a single person who is either sitting or singing along in the entire stadium. 

While all of this builds to the aura of the stadium and the game, it is how loud the fans get that truly makes it one of a kind. When the opposing team is on third down, the stadium begins to pound their feet on the ground, the benches, anything they can, and the sound of the rumble can be heard throughout the stadium. 

This is not hyperbole, it is like a surround sound system of people stomping their feet like they are running in a pack ready to storm the field. Keep in mind this is paired with everyone screaming and shouting as loud as they can, every chance they had to rattle their opponents.

It would also be wrong not to mention that during the game, Utah honored the lives of Aaron Lowe and Ty Jordan. And in the tribute videos played throughout the game for the two it showed how much that this fan base was connected with the team. The two groups were family, they were not disconnected, and that is something that is very rare to say in sports today. The love and the passion that these fans had for this team was unlike any other. 

Utah is known for being an extremely tough place to play because the elevation of Salt Lake City is approximately 4,300 feet, however it is the fans and the atmosphere at Rice-Eccles that truly makes the difference. So if you ever get the opportunity to experience for yourself, take the leap of faith, because it truly is one of a kind.