SEG & Salt Lake City Close to Finalizing $900 million Deal for Arena Renovations and Sports District [UPD 7/9 Plan approved]

[rt]

The NHL was obviously satisfied with the arena situation in Utah in a way they weren’t in the Arizona. Hence…

 

[Coyotedroppings]

Disagree on Delta center being more of an embarrassment than Mullett. It doesn't matter how goofy the arena layout is, 16k total seats for hockey and 10k unobstructed is way better optically than 3,800 TOTAL seats. That's what an NHL team's practice facility should be sized.

Sounds like this deal is going to be a renovation like Key Arena in Seattle was a renovation. Essentially tearing the whole thing down in stages and rebuilding it on the fly. Fine by me.

There may be one, or even some, but I've never personally seen an NHL teams practice facility have that large of a seating capacity.

 

[Coyotedroppings]

Well, for one, you’re undershooting that 3800 TOTAL by 1000 seats. And I agree, that’s obviously not NHL standard. Never disputed that. The difference here is, one is a temporary facility. One is the permanent facility.

If this project at Delta fails to move forward for whatever reason, people around the league will start to say the same thing about Delta that they were saying about Mullett. “Joke”. “Embarrassment”. “Players deserve better”.

Hopefully this will ultimately end up like a Key arena situation like you say. I still have my doubts about the timeframe. They better hope the hockey team and the Jazz both miss the playoffs the next few seasons.

Agreed and I'd add: To hell with the players. Consider the fan experience at this embarrassment of a venue. The players get paid well to play in the NHL, the fans on the other hand pay quite a bit and deserve better.

Mullett was a temp facility for as long as it took Meruelo to build a new facility. In all likelihood, it would've taken even longer to get that done than this timeline given his total inability to get anything done, if even ever.

Delta from the get-go has more better seats than Mullett and an actual timetable for completion. In both avenues, that gives Delta a leg up on Mullett. Giving Delta major props will have to wait until we at least see some renderings of the designed final product.

I'm sure Mullett is a perfectly fine college arena, but once the small gimmick wore off it was an embarrassing NHL arena.

Better seats? What? Wider? More comfy? Something else? The sightlines sure as hell aren't better.

 

[Jakey53]

The NHL was obviously satisfied with the arena situation in Utah in a way they weren’t in the Arizona. Hence…

The NHL had no other choice.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Agreed and I'd add: To hell with the players. Consider the fan experience at this embarrassment of a venue. The players get paid well to play in the NHL, the fans on the other hand pay quite a bit and deserve better.


Better seats? What? Wider? More comfy? Something else? The sightlines sure as hell aren't better.

There's a fixation on Delta's bad seats, but there'll already be 8-10,000 perfectly fine seats, which far outweighs what Mullett brought to the table, and with plans to renovate and add more good seats and fix sightlines in the relatively near future. All of that is world's better than what Meruelo was pushing, which was smaller and had no real timetable to replace as they didn't even have land yet.

 

[Mosby]

Utah still has like 10-12k seats that give a clear view of the ice. That’s like triple Mullett.

 

[Coyotedroppings]

There's a fixation on Delta's bad seats, but there'll already be 8-10,000 perfectly fine seats, which far outweighs what Mullett brought to the table, and with plans to renovate and add more good seats and fix sightlines in the relatively near future. All of that is world's better than what Meruelo was pushing, which was smaller and had no real timetable to replace as they didn't even have land yet.

Your idea of perfectly fine and mine don't mesh. Meruelo and Mullett really have nothing to do with it at this point.

 

[TheLegend]

$3 billion from SEC? Does that include buying the team?

No.

 

[TheLegend]

Mullett was a temp facility for as long as it took Meruelo to build a new facility. In all likelihood, it would've taken even longer to get that done than this timeline given his total inability to get anything done, if even ever.

Delta from the get-go has more better seats than Mullett and an actual timetable for completion. In both avenues, that gives Delta a leg up on Mullett. Giving Delta major props will have to wait until we at least see some renderings of the designed final product.

I'm sure Mullett is a perfectly fine college arena, but once the small gimmick wore off it was an embarrassing NHL arena.

Mullett at the outset was considered a short term temporary solution.

When it became an ”unknown length of time” temporary solution that’s when the league and PA got worried. Next CBA was two years away and this could still have had no end in sight.

Going to Delta Center was just like the Coyotes ending up in Phoenix in 1996. A team without an arena solution and a new market that interest the league.

Only the difference is Salt Lake City has a pending Winter Olympics in the near future and wants to update its facilities. AND they had a potential owner in the early stages of an expansion process. Phoenix had none of that.

 

[Knights2017]

The NHL was obviously satisfied with the arena situation in Utah in a way they weren’t in the Arizona. Hence…

I think they were satisfied with the $1.2 Billion paycheck

 

[Jakey53]

No.

Do you have a link on that $3B? Not denying it, just want to read what that money is being used for.

 

[rt]

I think they were satisfied with the $1.2 Billion paycheck

Who wrote that check?

 

[TheLegend]

Do you have a link on that $3B? Not denying it, just want to read what that money is being used for.

Can’t recall which article gives the $3B figure but most of it will be spent on the area surrounding the arena.

Edit: Found it here….

Deal would keep Utah Jazz and pro hockey in Salt Lake City — or Smith group would face steep penalties

The Utah Jazz and the state’s new professional hockey team would be required to play all of their home games in the Delta Center under a deal being finalized between Ryan Smith and Salt Lake City.

www.sltrib.com

 

[TheLegend]

SLC approves plan unanimously.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1810859706073895161

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Amazing how quickly this came together and got approved. Gotta love Utah politics.

 

[Jormungandr]

Amazing how quickly this came together and got approved. Gotta love Utah politics.

I was under the impression that this was only 1 hurdle?

 

[Stanley Thermos]

I was under the impression that this was only 1 hurdle?

It is. This was an endorsement of the proposal by the city council. Now it will go back to the state for a review and after that is complete, the city council will have a chance to vote to approve the proposal. I have heard that there will likely be some changes made before the final proposal is approved, but that approval still seems likely.

 

[rt]

I hope the project has the desired effect on the downtown area and it becomes a nicer place for families to visit and a point of civic pride for that community.

 

[Jakey53]

I hope the project has the desired effect on the downtown area and it becomes a nicer place for families to visit and a point of civic pride for that community.

Exactly. This is how it works when you have smart people running the show. They put the community ahead of trying to make a name for themselves in social media. They all work together. Arizona is totally opposite.

 

[Mosby]

So nice to not be cockblocked by things like the Goldwater Institute or some schmuck with a petition at every step of the way.

 

[SjMilhouse]

Exactly. This is how it works when you have smart people running the show. They put the community ahead of trying to make a name for themselves in social media. They all work together. Arizona is totally opposite.

The 1 party super majority across basically all areas that matter for this situation certainly helps. City and County Mayor want both teams to stay downtown. Smith has leverage because he can get a better deal and more land moving the teams to Sandy or Draper but everyone from Cox down want to keep the team downtown as it is a key part of their vision for Utahs future that starts with SLC.

Edit: Plus the way Utah is set up, I don't really think there is any way for residents to block this. Ballot measures go to the State Congress who can basically just say "yeah....no we're just going to throw this in the trash. Thanks for your feedback though"

 

[Jakey53]

So nice to not be cockblocked by things like the Goldwater Institute or some schmuck with a petition at every step of the way.

Bingo. I don't think our Governor and most of the Mayor's around metro Phoenix knows what a puck is, let alone what kind of economic impact and community pride is attached to it. Totally clueless.

 

[Jakey53]

The 1 party super majority across basically all areas that matter for this situation certainly helps. City and County Mayor want both teams to stay downtown. Smith has leverage because he can get a better deal and more land moving the teams to Sandy or Draper but everyone from Cox down want to keep the team downtown as it is a key part of their vision for Utahs future that starts with SLC.

Edit: Plus the way Utah is set up, I don't really think there is any way for residents to block this. Ballot measures go to the State Congress who can basically just say "yeah....no we're just going to throw this in the trash. Thanks for your feedback though"

You elect officials to do just that, it's their job, but not here is ass backwards Arizona. Mind you, if we had the same situation here, the politicians would still find a way to screw it up. You can't fix dumb.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Ryan Smith got the money for this!