At a press conference last week, Utah sports entrepreneur Ryan Smith referenced the NHL’s announcement that it was officially putting a team in Utah as a moment where people always would remember where they were and what they were doing.
We’re not certain that applies to everyone. After all, not all in Utah are sports fans. But we are certain the announcement will be seen as a turning point for downtown Salt Lake City. It will mark a moment of maturity for a metropolitan area that has been growing impressively for two decades, and it will signal a commitment to downtown that few American cities today can rival.
First, a quick history lesson for perspective:
Utah’s first foray into major professional sports — the announcement in 1979 that the NBA’s Jazz franchise would move here from New Orleans — was, in retrospect, a huge financial risk.
The population of Salt Lake County was about 650,000. The entire state had less than 1.5 million people.
The NBA was struggling financially, and the Jazz labored for a few years in the red until the late Larry H. Miller came along and bought first a part of the team, and then the whole thing, in order to save the franchise from moving elsewhere.
Miller had a vision. He also had a belief in the people of Utah — in their love of sports and their pride in their community. That made his purchase less of a gamble and more of an investment that has given the entire state a sense of pride.
Today’s Jazz owners, Ryan and Ashley Smith, have a healthy sense of vision, as well. After being awarded a National Hockey League franchise last week, Ryan Smith said, “I think it’s a big bet on us.”
The Smiths, and the rest of the state, are up for it. In fact, the situation in 1979 pales in comparison with today. The Salt Lake market extends from Ogden to Provo and now boasts a combined statistical area population of 2,775,219. Nielsen ranks the metro area as the 27th largest media market, which makes it larger than Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Columbus and Las Vegas, all current NHL markets. Officials say more than 20,000 people have put down cash deposits for season tickets.
In its first season in Utah, the Jazz averaged only 7,821 fans per game.
And yet some are cautioning that the new franchise left the much larger Phoenix area because of arena and financial issues that ended up costing taxpayers millions. We note that one could have said the same thing about the old New Orleans Jazz. The reason those comparisons don’t work is because the Wasatch Front has a unique sense of community, along with team ownership that often elevates vision above windfall.
Also, this is about much more than just money. It’s about the intangibles that define a growing metropolis and its central business and entertainment district.
The Smiths acknowledge that the modern template for a sports arena involves finding empty land on a city’s outskirts, then building a facility surrounded by new residential, commercial and retail projects. It almost always involves a new arena.
Instead, Ryan Smith said he has decided to reconfigure the inside of the Delta Center to accommodate hockey as well as basketball, and he spoke of new projects surrounding that facility downtown.
Earlier this year, the Utah Legislature passed a bill known as the “Capital City Reinvestment Zone Amendments,” which allows for a 0.5% sales tax increase within Salt Lake City that is meant to transform the city’s core.
During debate on the bill, co-sponsor Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, said the vision needs to be broad. Rather than just thinking of an arena or a team, “let’s think about our vibrant urban core that represents the Utah economy to the rest of the nation and to the world. We’re not building an arena. We’re building a city.”
After releasing an artist’s rendering of a bustling section of downtown filled with new sports and entertainment venues, Ryan Smith posted on X, “Downtown Salt Lake City is the heart of Utah. Our efforts are not about an arena, it’s about revitalizing a downtown that desperately needs investment. Imagine a downtown experience like this with the NBA/NHL at its core.”
Yes, the Wasatch Front now has the population to support two major sports franchises, and more. That is beyond debate. But population alone is not enough to reap success.
The visions of people like the Smiths and the Millers, together with a community of sports fans who love their city and state, are poised to take this opportunity — this “big bet on us” — and make it the type of success for which people always will remember the announcement on April 18, 2024.