Prince doubles down on call for Park City Mountain sale, says local ownership would boost success

Dusting of snow on top of Park City Mountain Canyons Village Sept 17, 2024. Photo: Michele Roepke // TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — Tech billionaire and Park City resident Matthew Prince has unveiled new details about what he thinks Park City Mountain could look like under local ownership, outlining a vision that includes a $500 million investment, employee profit sharing, expanded snowmaking, upgraded lifts, and even community ownership of the resort.

Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, has repeatedly expressed interest in purchasing Park City Mountain from Vail Resorts, though company leadership has consistently said the resort is not for sale.

In a recent interview with The Colorado Sun, Prince said he believes he will succeed in buying the resort within the next 5 years, calling the sale “inevitable in the next 25 years.” “I am now increasingly convinced it’s going to happen a lot faster than that, because they’re in real trouble,” he said.

In the interview, Prince expanded on what he says would happen if an acquisition ever became possible, arguing that Park City Mountain should operate with stronger ties to the local community and long-term reinvestment in the resort.

“The town should own part of the resort,” Prince told The Colorado Sun. “I could give a shit about about making any more money. I want to take the community that’s been incredibly supportive to me from the moment I was born, and give back to it.”

According to Prince, his proposal would include creating a profit-sharing program for employees. He said profits generated by the resort would be reinvested into operations and infrastructure rather than distributed to outside shareholders.

Prince told the publication he would commit roughly $500 million toward improvements at the resort, including lift replacements, expanded snowmaking capabilities, and other infrastructure upgrades.

The comments come amid continued discussion about the relationship between Park City Mountain and Vail Resorts following last winter’s ski patrol strike and broader community concerns about resort operations, parking policies, and development proposals.

Prince told The Colorado Sun that he believes trust between the community and Vail Resorts has deteriorated and that local ownership could help restore that relationship.

His vision also extends beyond Park City Mountain itself. Prince said he supports renewed efforts to physically connect Wasatch Front ski resorts through a regional gondola and lift network, reviving concepts similar to the long-discussed One Wasatch proposal.

Such a system could eventually link Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort, Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude, creating one of the largest interconnected ski networks in North America. The proposal has historically generated both enthusiasm and opposition, with supporters citing transportation and recreation benefits and critics raising environmental concerns.

Prince also suggested that closer coordination between Park City Mountain and Deer Valley could create opportunities for joint ticketing or enhanced access between the neighboring resorts.

While Prince continues to discuss potential ownership scenarios, Vail Resorts leadership has remained firm that Park City Mountain is not on the market.

In a June earnings report, Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz again rejected the possibility of selling the resort, saying the company has no plans to sell the resort.

Still, Prince told The Colorado Sun that he believes market pressures could eventually force changes within the ski company’s corporate ownership landscape.

For now, his proposal remains hypothetical. But the latest details provide the clearest picture yet of how one of Park City’s most prominent residents envisions the future of the nation’s largest ski resort if ownership were ever to change.

This story contains reporting first published by The Colorado Sun and is based on an interview conducted by that publication.