SALT LAKE CITY — If all goes according to plan, a large new sports stadium will be built along the Wasatch Front by spring 2023, and as part of that effort, a new sports franchise will be here, too.

On Tuesday, the Utah Warriors rugby team announced that its ownership group is in the process of securing a site to build a 10,000-seat stadium, but the vision is that it won’t just be used for rugby. In addition to the arrival of a team from another professional league, the intention is that it would serve as a place for high school sports, concerts and other community events as well.

“There’s a need in this community for that smaller but yet more intimate tier one professional venue that provides not only the high school kids but also community leaders, citizens within this community a venue where they can do something unique and fun and interesting but not have to look at a three-quarters empty stadium and not really be able to have that experience because of it,” Warriors CEO and general manager Kimball Kjar, who is part of the ownership group, told the Deseret News.

Kjar and the rest of the ownership group, which includes Adobe executive Wade Sherman among others, are already somewhat far down the path in their plans. They’ve identified a number of sites from Utah County to Davis County, “with most of the focus being on Salt Lake County as of right now,” and partnered with Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction, which has a good portfolio of sport venue construction, including the new Las Vegas Raiders stadium and Golden State Warriors arena.

The Warriors and the to-be-determined other team would be “co-anchor tenants” of the venue, Kjar said, with an announcement of what team that will be expected to come sometime in 2021. Kjar held back on specifics of the new team, but said, “There’s I think some pretty exciting options of possibilities.”

He said the ownership group as well as other investors connected to the to-be-named team will be financing construction of the venue.

In a statement, Greg Hughes, a member of the stadium advisory committee, said, “With the evolving business landscape at the Point of the Mountain around Silicon Slopes and with all of the other communities that are growing along the Wasatch Front, the live-work-play model that the Warriors organization envisions for this stadium and the surrounding development can be a unique and very cost-effective opportunity for our state to bring community-enriching sports and entertainment programming.”

The Utah High School Activities Association is also supportive of the concept, with executive director Rob Cuff saying in a statement, “The UHSAA appreciates the continued investment in premier sporting venues for athletes of all ages by various groups around the state of Utah. By having first-class venues available around the state, our association has more options to provide our student-athletes with a memorable postseason experience.”

Since their inception in 2018, the Warriors have played their home contests at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, which seats 5,000 people and is also home of the Real Monarchs soccer team, an affiliate of Real Salt Lake. Kjar said the Warriors draw about 3,500 fans per contest, but he feels a venue in the 10,000-seat range is right for them, the future pro team and other events.

“Ten thousand is a sizable stadium that we believe over time this community can easily adopt,” he said. “It’s just the right size, not only for where we’re at, but where we’re going to be in 10, maybe 15 years … we’re dealing with the now and the pragmatic and trying to make sure that we can make this thing sustainable. We do believe in looking at the market analysis that 10,000 seats is the right spot.”

For reference, RSL’s Rio Tinto Stadium has a capacity of 20,213, Vivint Arena, home of the Utah Jazz, has a capacity of 18,306, and Smith’s Ballpark, home of the Salt Lake Bees, has a capacity of 14,511.

The 2021 Major League Rugby season will begin on March 20. The league’s 2020 season was stopped in its early stages last March because of the coronavirus pandemic.