SALT LAKE CITY — A group of friends gathered in a parking lot east of Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday morning, tailgating as if they were about to enjoy a University of Utah football game.
Though jokes, stories and beverages were in no short supply, there was something missing from the party behind this truck that you'd normally see at a pregame gathering.
The football fans' team colors.
That, of course, presented a problem.
The Salt Lake Stallions, the Alliance of American Football team that was about to make its home debut, chose a couple of shades of blue in their color scheme.
Blue, of course, is considered a four-letter word for crimson-clad Ute fans.
The friends, some of whom wore Utah clothing, laughed about the wardrobe dilemma and shared a story about how a high-ranking Ute athletics executive joked that it's going to be hard to get used to the Stallions' large blue banners draped in and around the red-hued campus. (We'll allow the person to go anonymous because we're in a good mood thanks to football in February.)
"There's no blue gear allowed in this stadium," one Ute fan said as they all laughed.
"No," another chimed in. "We're going to have to go buy some."
These new AAF fans admitted they're relieved that the Stallions didn't choose navy and/or royal blue in their color scheme, which includes a Detroit Lions-like blue, deep sky blue and silver. This, not surprisingly, led to a couple of cracks at their southern rival.
"BYU changes their blue every couple of years," one man quipped.
Another jokingly added, "Doesn't BYU have every shade of blue?"
Randy Coy of Orem proudly sported his blue BYU gear inside the stadium. He's on Kalani Sitake's staff, so the defensive/special teams analyst always wants to rep the Y. Coy brought his three football-loving sons to watch the Stallions and plans on bringing them to as many games as possible.
"It's exciting, the first time to have a pro (football) team in this state," Coy said. "It's good to see some of the former players from the various universities around here get a chance to continue their careers."
Unfortunately for Cougar/Stallions fans, the five BYU players on the AAF squad were all listed as inactive on this afternoon. And, yes, it was just a coincidence that Tanner Balderree, Micah Hannemann, Tuni Kanuch, Jordan Leslie and Handsome Tanielu didn't get a chance to play on their old foe's field.
Not that that stopped the rivalry jokes.
"Like usual, BYU players no-show at RES," a Ute fan wrote on Twitter. A BYU fan responded to that, saying he "found this comment to be hilarious."
"Maybe they want to keep their winless streak as players at Rice-Eccles alive?" another fan joked. "Seriously, though, that's a bummer. Hope they get healthy soon."
The fledgling franchise knows it has to find a way to unite fans from the universities — whether they wear red, blue, purple, chartreuse or pink — to go #FullSteedAhead into a successful future. It's why the games-operation staff interspersed highlights from BYU legends Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, Chad Lewis and Taysom Hill with clips from Utah State great Bobby Wagner and former Utah standouts Steve Smith, Alex Smith, John Madsen, Eric Weddle and Devontae Booker in a halftime video presentation.
The Stallions also invited a group of ex-stars from the state's three top-tier football programs to be recognized on the field, including Tom Hackett, Andy Phillips, Ed and Bryan Kehl, Bradon Godfrey, Daniel Coats, Garett Bolles, Emmett White, Reno Mahe, Jason Buck, Scott Mitchell, Frank Dolce and Steve Tate.
Stallions coach Dennis Erickson was greeted by BYU's Sitake, Utah State's Gary Andersen and ex-Utah coach Ron McBride before the first snap.
All of the coaches wore Stallions gear, perhaps symbolic of the need for the state to put their different collegiate allegiances to the side and come together to support professional football in Utah.
The Ute diehards will crack jokes about BYU fans — and vice-versa, no doubt — but they're all excited to cheer for the same pro team similar to how the Jazz are Utah's unifying pro basketball team.
"It's an absolute community, for sure," loyal Ute fan Michael Pahl said.
A BYU fan on Twitter even admitted he'd be all for having Phillips to kick field goals for the Stallions after the team's kicker clanged the football off the upright.
Coy said the team matters more than the colors. Though he's a BYU employee now, he used to be a graduate assistant on Kyle Whittingham's staff, so he's a fan of Utah players regardless of the color of their uniforms.
"It's Salt Lake representing the whole state," he said.
Even so, Pahl, like others, humorously admitted it was weird to have so much blue in red country amongst the 10,000-plus fans, but he thought it was interesting to see people wearing logos and colors from so many different colleges. Having a sprinkling of BYU gear at Rice-Eccles during a non-Holy War game did seem odd to him, though.
Deseret News
Salt Lake Stallions fans cheer during the first quarter of the game against the Arizona Hotshots at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019.
"I'm surprised they didn't get picked out of their seats and deposited somewhere else," the West Jordan man joked.
The Pahls were excited to get to watch former Copper Hills and Utah star defensive lineman Sealver Siliga play again. Linebackers Trevor Reilly and Gionni Paul were among other former Utes that have switched colors — and gained some fans from BYU, USU and elsewhere around the state — but will always remain Utah Men through and through.
They all helped this Utah-based team do what their Utah team did oh-so-many times during their college careers at Rice-Eccles Stadium — win.
None of the Stallions fans left feeling blue after watching a riveting 23-15 win over Rick Neuheisel's Arizona Hotshots.
The Stallions are hoping the crowds get bigger, but they sure appreciated the support from those who filled up about a fifth of the stadium in an encouraging first showing.
"I thought it was awesome. Everyone said Salt Lake is going to be excited to have a team, and it was great to have a big fan base out there," Stallions quarterback Josh Woodrum said. "They were loud on third down. I think that gave them some problems. Anytime you're playing at home and the crowd is cheering for you when you do something good, and booing when the other team does something good, or whatever the situation, it always gives you some energy."
Jody Genessy, Deseret News
A blue Stallions flag waves over the red-painted artificial turf at the end of Salt Lake's win at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Alex Pahl was feeling energetic as he walked back to his car with his family after the fun win on a chilly but beautiful February Saturday afternoon.
"It was so freaking awesome. The crowd got into it. It was amazing," the young man said. "It felt so electric in there. It was cool to get that feeling, see all the players."
The Pahls — mom and grandpa also came — left the game with matching Stallions jackets and beanies. They spent almost $600 on Salt Lake merchandise, in fact.
"If we want this to stick around, you absolutely have to come out and support," Michael Pahl said. "If you don't support, it's not going to be here."
They laughed when it was suggested they are now missionaries for the Stallions. They had so much fun in one game, they might spread the good word about this new brand of football until they're — sorry, not sorry — blue in the face.
"I've already been telling everyone to come out," Alex said. "I've been texting friends all game. Anything we can to get everyone out here and really support the home team. It was already such an electric feel in there — just imagine that with more people."
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