[News] Utah Jazz owners formally ask NHL to begin expansion process to bring a team to Utah

[Strange Brew]

We’ve been to SLC for a few hockey tournaments. There are some homegrown hockey fans there as the foss points out. Denver is really the best comparison but it certainly is quite a bit bigger. With a more diverse corporate base too.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by thefoss1957

The ECHL Utah Grizzlies play at the 12,600 seat Maverick Center in West Valley City, a west side suburb of SLC. I have been to hockey games at the Delta Center back before the E Center (now Maverick Center) was built, and the Grizz were IHL, and the Mav Center for the ECHL version of the Grizz. Mav center is cozy with great sight lines, the DC was about 8000 seats bigger, and not as intimate an experience. You can hear everything, from most seats at the Mav. There is some appetite for hockey in Utah. The ECHL Grizz draw around 5500 per game in non-covid years, I would think NHL level competition would improve on that. Also, more Utah High Schools have added Hockey over the past decade, the sport is growing here.



It is also wrong to call SLC a one team town, MLS' Salt Lake Real draws 18000 to 20000, and if some of that fan base can be captured for top level hockey, it can be a profitable experiment. Unlike Phoenix, SLC's population is, mostly, permanent and home grown.


I live about 180 miles East of SLC, near the Colorado border, and have, for the past 38 years. We usually make the trip through the 2 mountain passes for two weekends of minor league hockey per year, despite minimal marketing, I would think that heavier NHL level marketing would draw from a larger geographic area, including Southern Wyoming and Western Colorado on a more intense basis.

Good to know.

I also think a team in SLC would give the Avalanche a geographic rival, though somewhat contrived to start with. MLS's Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids compete for the Rocky Mountain Cup, for instance.

[MRCboicgy]

Originally Posted by Locke

Huh....You have LDS friends? I figured they'd burn you at the stake as a heathen.

They love me. Quite a few gay ones exist too

[thefoss1957]

Originally Posted by Locke

Huh....You have LDS friends? I figured they'd burn you at the stake as a heathen.

Funny story about moving to Utah from Chicago, after I graduated from college in Iowa.

We moved in November of 1986, and within a week, I got an LDS "calling", though, as a non-member, I had no clue what a "calling" was. Anyway, they asked me to go down to a "steak" center (imagine my disappointment when I found that they called their bigger church/meeting complexes STAKE centers). They wanted me to referee church sponsored basketball games. So, as "training" I saw a short film that taught that an LDS referee was a shining example for church members, in fair play. Well, that was a big help to a High School wrestler and college soccer player, who, while familiar with basketball, had only ever played at rec league levels.

Anyways, to the Gym I went, and there, prepared to referee my first game, mindful that I had to watch my language at the minimum. The two teams prayed for eachother's safety and well being, along with some BS about "good fellowship", and I tossed the ball up for an opening tip. The game instantly devolved into a f'n massacre! Again, I was a wrestler who was used to Chicago style "jungle" ball where "no blood, no call" was the norm. After around 18 first half foul calls, and tempers flaring, I had seen enough. Swearing at them, I threatened to pull out a second ball, and just have these knuckleheads have a 20 minute free throw contest at opposite ends of the court. I reminded them, that me, a heathen, didn't realize that pre-game prayer was, in fact, giving the players their "last rites", and this didn't seem very "fellowship-like" to me. Chastened, the rest of the game went much more smoothly, and, these church jokers were impressed enough with my arbitrating skills, that I got to referee the All-Stake finals for the region, the next couple of years.

My point is that these LDS types usually save their venom for each-other, for going to the "wrong" wards, rather than heathen outsiders.

[browna]

My guess is an arena will be built if SLC gets the Winter Olympics for 2034.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by MRCboicgy

They love me. Quite a few gay ones exist too

I didnt think they tolerated that.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by browna

My guess is an arena will be built if SLC gets the Winter Olympics for 2034.

An expansion timetable works better than a relocation, although Delta Center would be okay as a temporary venue.

[troutman]

This tool shows the population within a certain radius of a city:

https://www.freemaptools.com/find-population.htm

Within 60 km:

Hartford = 2.8 Million
SLC = 2.2 Million
Austin = 2.0 Million
Milwaukee = 2.0 Million
KC = 2.1 Million
Houston = 6.1 Million
Portland = 2.4 Million
Cleveland = 2.7 Million
San Diego = 5.0 Million (some of that in Mexico)
Memphis = 1.3 Million

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by thefoss1957

The ECHL Utah Grizzlies play at the 12,600 seat Maverick Center in West Valley City, a west side suburb of SLC. I have been to hockey games at the Delta Center back before the E Center (now Maverick Center) was built, and the Grizz were IHL, and the Mav Center for the ECHL version of the Grizz. Mav center is cozy with great sight lines, the DC was about 8000 seats bigger, and not as intimate an experience. You can hear everything, from most seats at the Mav. There is some appetite for hockey in Utah. The ECHL Grizz draw around 5500 per game in non-covid years, I would think NHL level competition would improve on that. Also, more Utah High Schools have added Hockey over the past decade, the sport is growing here.



It is also wrong to call SLC a one team town, MLS' Salt Lake Real draws 18000 to 20000, and if some of that fan base can be captured for top level hockey, it can be a profitable experiment. Unlike Phoenix, SLC's population is, mostly, permanent and home grown.


I live about 180 miles East of SLC, near the Colorado border, and have, for the past 38 years. We usually make the trip through the 2 mountain passes for two weekends of minor league hockey per year, despite minimal marketing, I would think that heavier NHL level marketing would draw from a larger geographic area, including Southern Wyoming and Western Colorado on a more intense basis.

I lived in Utah in my early childhood and loved going to the Grizzlies games. SLC draws fans from Wyoming and Idaho. Would also be a perfect rivalry against Vegas and Colorado.

My only issue with additional teams is 32 is enough and shouldn’t be further expanded. Would rather some teams relocate, namely Arizona if they can’t get their crap together.

[Redliner]

The Utah Saints actually isn’t a terrible name.

[Locke]

The Utah Trumpeteers!

[slcrocket]

Originally Posted by thefoss1957

Funny story about moving to Utah from Chicago, after I graduated from college in Iowa.

We moved in November of 1986, and within a week, I got an LDS "calling", though, as a non-member, I had no clue what a "calling" was. Anyway, they asked me to go down to a "steak" center (imagine my disappointment when I found that they called their bigger church/meeting complexes STAKE centers). They wanted me to referee church sponsored basketball games. So, as "training" I saw a short film that taught that an LDS referee was a shining example for church members, in fair play. Well, that was a big help to a High School wrestler and college soccer player, who, while familiar with basketball, had only ever played at rec league levels.

Anyways, to the Gym I went, and there, prepared to referee my first game, mindful that I had to watch my language at the minimum. The two teams prayed for eachother's safety and well being, along with some BS about "good fellowship", and I tossed the ball up for an opening tip. The game instantly devolved into a f'n massacre! Again, I was a wrestler who was used to Chicago style "jungle" ball where "no blood, no call" was the norm. After around 18 first half foul calls, and tempers flaring, I had seen enough. Swearing at them, I threatened to pull out a second ball, and just have these knuckleheads have a 20 minute free throw contest at opposite ends of the court. I reminded them, that me, a heathen, didn't realize that pre-game prayer was, in fact, giving the players their "last rites", and this didn't seem very "fellowship-like" to me. Chastened, the rest of the game went much more smoothly, and, these church jokers were impressed enough with my arbitrating skills, that I got to referee the All-Stake finals for the region, the next couple of years.

My point is that these LDS types usually save their venom for each-other, for going to the "wrong" wards, rather than heathen outsiders.

As a former Salt Lake resident, former church ball player and current LDS, that all sounds extremely familiar.

I think it would be great to get a team in SLC; I think with how much Salt Lake has grown in the past fifteen years, they could definitely support it and the money & corporate sponsorship are there. I would hope that it would spur some developmental hockey stuff as I don't think it's super prevalent there, even though the weather is obviously conducive.

Still, I would prefer relocation to expansion.

[getbak]

The Latter Day Skates

[Locke]

Originally Posted by getbak

The Latter Day Skates

The Tax Exemptions.

[Sr. Mints]

Pretty sure I already hate them.
Unless they go with a bi-colour logo look. I have a soft spot for two-colour teams.

[troutman]

Will you be able to get a beer?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by troutman

Will you be able to get a beer?

Depends where the arena sits.

I winder if they would be the secondary team for a bunch of southern Albertans. Maybe draft players from Raymond and Magrath.

[thefoss1957]

With an ID, yes beer sales happen at Utah professional sporting events, although sales are stopped at the start of the 3rd period for hockey, and 4th quarter for basketball.

[Canada 02]

According to the TSN insiders, the next expansion fee could be $2 billion. For that mutch, the owners will listen

[Strange Brew]

$2 billion seems hard to believe but who knows. But still need taxpayers to build an arena.