The Utah Mammoth sold out every home game in its inaugural season. MLB expansion talks have Salt Lake City as the frontrunner in the West. BYU and Utah are both competing for Big 12 titles. And in Cedar City, a gymnastics program from a city of 40,000 is headed to the Pac-12. The Wasatch Front isn't becoming a sports market. It already is one. The question now is how big it intends to get.

From the Arizona desert to a sold-out Delta Center, the Utah Mammoth have made one of the fastest transformations in NHL history. Mountain & Main breaks down how this franchise found its identity — and its playoff berth — in just two seasons.

The College National Finals Rodeo will take place this June in Casper, Wyoming. Based on where things stand right now, expect Utah colleges to have more than a few horses in that race.

Established in 1921, the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove is the longest continually running rodeo in Utah — a fact that says something important about this state. While other parts of the country were urbanizing and leaving their agricultural roots behind, the communities along the Wasatch Front kept their arenas standing and their rodeos running. Pleasant Grove has held its rodeo every June, without interruption, for more than a century.

The Dance Is Over — Now the Real Work Begins

AJ Dybantsa gave BYU everything he had Thursday night in Portland — 35 points, 10 rebounds, and a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line. It wasn't enough. The 11-seeded Texas Longhorns walked out of the Moda Center with a 79-71 upset, and the Cougars' season is over.

Two numbers explain the loss: Texas out-rebounded BYU 40-31 and doubled them up from three-point range. But the real story now isn't what went wrong — it's what comes next. Xavion Staton, Dawson Baker's potential return, the transfer portal, and the question every Cougar fan is asking: what does BYU basketball look like without AJ Dybantsa?

Read the full breakdown at Utah Sports Ink.

BYU basketball enters the 2026 NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed facing No. 11 Texas Thursday at Moda Center in Portland. Despite being dismissed by national analysts, KenPom gives BYU a 60% win probability. Utah Sports Ink columnist Terry Tebbs makes the statistical case for a Cougar victory — examining Kennard Davis's three-point resurgence, the Mboup-Diomande defensive transformation, and why AJ Dybantsa's growth as a point forward is the story no one is telling.

The BYU Cougars arrived at the Big 12 Tournament in the middle of a conversation — were they a legitimate NCAA Tournament threat or an exciting but flawed team riding one generational talent? Three days later, they left that conversation behind entirely. What emerged from the T-Mobile Center wasn't just a tournament run. It was a declaration. BYU basketball, in 2026, is built differently than anything this program has put on the floor before, and the college basketball world would be wise to take notice before filling out its brackets.

In the often-overlooked landscape of 2A high school basketball, a quiet revolution unfolded this season at Rowland Hall. Leading it was Jrue Miller, a 17-year-old sophomore guard who, just weeks before the season opener, had never played a minute of varsity basketball. By season’s end, he had finished second in the entire state of Utah in scoring at 24.7 points per game and led the Winged Lions to a 19–8 record.

SKIJORING – The sport is built around a "competitive trinity": horse, rider, and skier. Teams regularly hit 40 miles per hour, with the skier managing the tension of the rope, threading gates, and launching off kickers — all while a 1,200-pound Quarter Horse accelerates away in front of them. The physics are unforgiving, the margin for error measured in inches.

When Mountain View travels to Timpanogos on Friday night, January 23, both teams will be playing with urgency. In 4A-Region 8, the Provo Bulldogs have established themselves as the team to beat, sitting alone atop the standings at 4-0. For the Bruins and Timberwolves, a loss likely ends any realistic shot at a region title.

All eyes are on Region 3 where a pivotal matchup looms between the No. 4-ranked American Fork Cavemen and the No. 13 Corner Canyon Chargers (Desert News rankings as of Jan. 11). This clash, spotlighted as the Utah Sports Ink Game of the Week, could solidify American Fork's grip on the top spot in the region following their impressive victory over Lone Peak on Tuesday, January 13.

Ice Age at Rice-Eccles: Why the Utah Mammoth Taking It Outdoors Is the majestic Spectacle We Need

Friday night’s showdown between Timpview and Orem is the kind of matchup that defines January basketball along the Wasatch Front — a measuring stick game with region implications, state-title intrigue, and elite talent on display.

Fifteen Utah high school boys varsity teams competed across nine divisions in one of the nation’s premier holiday tournaments, facing elite programs from across the country. By the time the weeklong event wrapped up in Las Vegas (Dec. 16–23), Utah schools had posted an impressive 40–16 combined record, with multiple division championships and a clear message sent beyond state lines.

While most Utah high school basketball programs are enjoying a brief pause for Christmas under the UHSAA moratorium, a strong contingent of teams has packed their bags and headed south for one of the nation’s premier holiday showcases — the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.

The Whittingham era ends – and BYU’s moment begins.