‘Critical to our company’: Vail CEO rejects Prince’s bid for Park City Mountain

Park City Mountain Village Oct. 23, 2023 Photo: Park City Mountain

“No. That’s not something that we’re looking at. And we don’t think that that ultimately is in the right long-term interest of our company.” - Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) made clear in its June 5 earnings report that Park City Mountain is not for sale.

The widely circulated speculation that Park City Mountain might be available for local purchase originated from a media release between the Prince-owned Park Record and KPCW, centered around Prince’s recent purchase of the iconic Town Lift Plaza. While the real estate acquisition was first announced in the Park Record, the NPR-affiliate station KPCW followed shortly after with content from a pre-recorded interview in which Prince covered a wide range of topics, including his yet-to-be-announced acquisition of Town Lift Plaza, his ambition to revive the ONE Wasatch interconnect proposal, and his goal of returning Park City Mountain to local ownership.

In the pre-recorded interview with KPCW, Prince expressed interest in buying Park City Mountain, despite an initial rejection from Vail Resorts. “I reached out and that offer still stands, and it would not be hard,” Prince told KPCW. “Local owners really matter.”

Rob Katz, newly appointed and returning CEO of Vail Resorts, addressed the sale rumors directly during the company’s earnings call. In response to a pointed question from Patrick Scholes of Truist Securities about a “standing offer,” to buy Park City Mountain Katz was unequivocal:

“No. That’s not something that we’re looking at. And we don’t think that that ultimately is in the right long-term interest of our company.”

He emphasized Park City’s strategic importance: “Especially a resort like Park City, of course, is critical to our overall company and our network.”

Katz also acknowledged the need for operational improvement and community trust: “It’s incumbent upon us to continue to listen to the feedback from our guests, from our community partners, and continue to drive improvement… That’s still our job and something we’re very committed to.”

The earnings call highlighted ongoing guest experience issues at Park City Mountain during the 2024–25 season, specifically citing the 13-day ski patrol labor strike. As CFO Angela Korch noted:

“Through the 2024/2025 North American ski season, guest satisfaction scores across our destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas were strong and consistent with prior year, excluding Park City Mountain.”

Katz described the season’s outcome bluntly:

“You know, Park City had a challenging experience, obviously… That said, the Park City experience was obviously unacceptable.”