Utah Public SkiArea Coalition Sign the petition
Skier overlooking misty peaks
Illustrative financial plan

The numbersbehind the snow.

These are planning numbers, built to show the idea works on paper. They use a sample northern Wasatch site because no site is chosen yet. A licensed feasibility study comes first and will refine all of it.

$104.19M
Total capital, full build
$83.9M
Phase 1, the opening-day build
$7.62M
Year 1 projected revenue
170K
Stabilized annual visits (about Year 9)
$59
Resident adult day ticket
The plan at a glance

Transparent. Conservative.

Ticket prices are held flat for ten years while costs rise 3% a year. The estimate carries a $17.9M contingency. Full tables are in the PDF.

Built for bad winters
Resilient.

Stress-tested against a 25% drop in visits. A pre-sold season-pass base and a capital reserve keep the resort paying its bond.

−25%
visits in the stress test.
It does not default.
Who pays for what

Where the money comes from.

The full build is $104.19M. Phase 1, the opening-day build, is $83.9M. Here is how the $86.75M funding request covers it. Every line is a request. Nothing is secured.

Paid by the state
One-time state cost
$60M
$38M
State appropriation.
$22M
Access road, depending on the site.
Repaid or raised elsewhere
Paid back by the resort or raised from others
$26.75M
$18M
Bonds, paid back from the resort's own revenue.
$8.75M
Grants, tourism partners, donors and early pass sales.
Total request
$86.75M
All requested. None secured.
Covers Phase 1
$83.9M
The opening-day build. Fully covered if every request is granted.
Phase 2, later
$20.3M
Lifts 4 and 5, paid for by the resort once demand is proven. Brings the full build to $104.19M.
Illustrative planning figures from the Utah Public Ski Area Coalition Financial Summary, Version 15. The $104.19M estimate already includes a $17.9M construction contingency.
The ask in context

A one-time investment.

Not a tax increase. The $60M state investment is a one-time cost paid from existing revenue. In the 2024-25 season alone, skiing generated $342.6M in state and local tax. The state share is less than one season of that, paid once.

Share of one year's state budget
0.19%
Utah's FY2027 budget totals $31.6 billion.
Share of one season's ski tax
17.5%
Of the $342.6M in state and local tax skiing generated in 2024-25.
Not a first for Utah

The state already builds places to play.

Utah funds recreation at this scale regularly. The $60M state share here matches what the Legislature approved for the Bear Lake marina alone.

Parks and recreation, 2021 and 2022
$185M

Approved by the Legislature for 31 state park, trail and recreation projects in two sessions. More than the full $104.19M cost of this project.1

Examples from the $185M
Bear Lake State Park marina
$60M
A new marina, funded in the 2022 session, with construction through 2026.2
Utahraptor and Lost Creek
$36.5M
Two new state parks created in 2021, near Moab and in Morgan County.1
Olympic winter sport venues
$92M

State funding for Utah's Olympic facilities as of 2023, projected to pass $140M by 2028. Utah already invests in places to ski and train.3

Sources: 1 Utah Legislature budget office, Putting the Fun in Funding (Oct 2022). 2 Bear Lake Marina Expansion Project Update to the Legislature (Sept 2024). 3 Deseret News via KSL, state spending on Olympic venues (July 2023).
Dig in

Read the full summary.

Get the full tables, the ten-year model and the stress test. Or ask us anything.

Photos by Clément Delhaye on UnsplashLike this website? Add me on LinkedIn ↗