Built to Last
Salt City United started in 2009. Before we had a name, we were already going to matches together — people out of punk, hardcore, and anti-racist skinhead culture who saw what supporter groups looked like in Britain and wanted to bring something like that to Salt Lake. Not a copy. Something rooted here.
In our first year we followed RSL all the way to the MLS Cup. We were in the front row of the supporter section when they lifted it. That's where this crew started, and the people who were there that night are mostly still here.
The crew kept growing. We established our own section within Section 9, and over the years the black spread — core members, friends and family, people who just wanted to see what this was about. Now you look at Section 9 and the whole end wears black, stands for the full ninety, and chants the entire match. That didn't happen by accident.
SCU runs deeper than football. Our roots are in punk, hardcore, and anti-racist skinhead culture — a tradition built on loyalty, showing up for your people, and not tolerating the ones who'd tear that apart. That's not a policy. It's just what we are.
"This isn't a fan club. It's a crew that happens to love Real Salt Lake."
— Salt City United
Sixteen Years in The Riot
Founded — and Already at the Cup
We make it official. That same year we follow RSL all the way to the MLS Cup and watch them lift it from the front row of the supporter section. Salt City United. It has a name now.
Earning the Reputation
Drums join the kit. Original chants take hold. The first hand-painted tifos go up in the south end. SCU gets louder, and the club takes notice — not always in the ways we'd prefer. Bans are issued. Rules get written specifically because of us. We don't stop.
Recognition
After years of a contentious relationship with the front office, Real Salt Lake officially recognises SCU as part of the supporters collective. We didn't need their recognition to keep going. But we'd earned it.
Tifos & Roots
SCU puts up some of the biggest tifo displays in the western conference. Watch parties grow. The crew puts roots down in Salt Lake beyond the stadium — not by design, just the same people showing up for each other year after year.
The Riot Unites
RSL's supporter groups formally unite under The Riot banner. SCU comes in on our own terms. We helped build this culture and we weren't about to fold ourselves into something unrecognisable to do it.
Taking a Stand
August 2020. RSL players boycott a match against LAFC in solidarity with protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Owner Dell Loy Hansen calls it a disrespect. Then The Athletic publishes allegations of racist behavior going back years. SCU cancels its season tickets. Supporters across The Riot do the same. For a crew rooted in anti-racist culture, there was no other call to make. Hansen is forced out. MLS takes over the sale after he misses deadlines. Sixteen months of limbo. The sale finally closes in January 2022. We come back.
No Stadium. Same Section.
Covid shuts the doors. The games go on without us in the stands. SCU stays connected — watch parties, check-ins, the same people looking out for each other. When the gates open again, we're the first ones back.
New Blood, Same Standards
The south end fills again. A new generation comes into the crew alongside the founding core. The standards don't lower. All black. Every game. No excuses. The crew grows but doesn't get soft.
Still Here
RSL enters a World Cup year. The spotlight on American soccer has never been bigger. We're in the south end the same way we always have been. All black. Every match. No exceptions.
Beyond the 90 Minutes
Matchday Atmosphere
Drums, coordinated chants, flags — SCU drives the south end from kickoff to final whistle. We don't wait for the stadium to get loud. We make it loud.
Tifo Production
Every display we raise is built by hand — designed, painted, and put up by the same people standing in that section every single game. Hours of work for ninety minutes of impact. We do it anyway.
Away Days
Away matches are no excuse to go quiet. SCU organises watch parties across Salt Lake so we're suffering and celebrating together whether we're in the stadium or not.
The City
SCU is rooted in Salt Lake. We show up for local nonprofits, fundraisers, and the community beyond the stadium — because this crew has always been about more than football.
All Black, Every Game
Black is our uniform. Head to toe, every match, no excuses. It's what unifies us in the south end and tells the rest of The Riot exactly who we are.
Chant Leadership
We carry the chants. We keep the energy going when the score is bad and the stadium goes quiet. That's the job, and we've been doing it since 2009.
Forever in the South End
This crew is family. Some of that family is gone, and we feel it every match — in the empty space where they stood, in the goals we celebrated together, in the reason this group means as much as it does. They gave something to this crew that lives in all of us.
We love them. We carry them in. Rest in power.
Jake
Forever with us
Dal
Forever with us
Lenny
Forever with us
Come See What It Looks Like
The south end is open. Come stand near us, feel the atmosphere, and see what sixteen years of showing up looks like. Being around SCU and being part of SCU are two different things — but they both start the same way.
Find Us on Matchday