HERRIMAN, Utah – After opening the doors at Zions Bank Stadium last season, Real Monarchs SLC will next month welcome fellow USL Championship sides Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC and Reno 1868 FC to its home venue and the Zions Bank Real Academy for the Wasatch Winter Cup, the first all-USL Championship preseason tournament in the league’s history.

The three-club event scheduled for February 15-21 will see the teams square off ahead of the 2019 campaign, giving fans a chance to see three squads that are expected to be contenders for the postseason in the Western Conference square off at Real’s state-of-the-art training facility.

 “Now that we have this tremendous facility, we’re incredibly excited to welcome both Reno and Colorado Springs to Herriman for this event,” said Monarchs General Manager Dan Egner. “We’re thankful to [Monarchs Team Administrator] Taymour [Roushdi] for organizing what we think is a big step for this league and soccer in general. We hope to expand this even more next year and open it to even more teams.”

The Wasatch Winter Cup follows in the footsteps of other preseason events hosted by USL Championship clubs, including the Charleston Battery’s Carolina Challenge Cup, Phoenix Rising FC’s Mobile Mini Sun Cup and the Tampa Bay Rowdies’ Suncoast Invitational. While all three of those events welcome clubs from Major League Soccer, the Monarchs are excited to not only test themselves against two rivals from the Championship, but also welcome Colorado Springs and Reno’s players to their facility as they work on their own preseason preparations.

“When you travel for preseason, there are a lot of elements that are difficult to account for,” said Monarchs Team Administrator Taymour Roushdi. “The beauty of building a facility like ours is that we are able to control of those elements. Hopefully this year we can show that we can host this event year in, and year out to maybe pioneer a tournament like this every year. It allows other USL Championship teams to play against one another to fully prepare for the top level of competition in the regular season.

“We have an incredible opportunity to showcase what Zions Bank Real Academy is all about.”

The Monarchs and Reno will open the Wasatch Winter Cup on Friday, Feb. 15, with 1868 FC and the Switchbacks set to meet on Monday, Feb. 18 before Real and Colorado Springs conclude the tournament on Thursday, Feb. 21. All matches are scheduled to be played at Zions Bank Stadium, pending inclement weather. If inclement weather occurs, matches will be played inside the Zions Bank Training Center which features over 200,000 sq. feet of playing surface.

2019 Wasatch Winter Cup
Friday, Feb. 15
Real Monarchs SLC vs. Reno 1868 FC, 7 p.m. MT

Monday, Feb. 18
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC vs. Reno 1868 FC, 10:30 a.m. MT

Thursday, Feb. 21
Real Monarchs SLC vs. Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, 11:30 a.m. MT