Utah Delta Center Claiming "Unobstructed" Seats

[HolyGhost]

Not disagreeing with you, but seems like a high percentage of sports stadiums are con jobs

goes beyond just getting an arena built. He wants control over a small part of the city and all be entitled to ALL taxes that small part makes. It is a strange demand

This isn’t all on Smith.

Smith originally wanted an expansion franchise and first met with Bettman nearly two years ago to begin discussions.

It only got messy when the voters in Tempe shot down the Coyotes proposal for TED and the timeline for a new arena in Arizona became murky at best.

As it turns out it may have been the best move the NHL could have done given all the factors involved.

it his demands from the city and state that have my concerns raised. It is a very long list

 

[the big nobody]

Moving to a temporary rink is nothing new. Usually it works out.

Ottawa, San Jose, Carolina, Florida, Dallas, and Tampa are other teams I can remember which were in a temporary setup when they first got their team.

I'd even say Phoenix was not the place that got this franchise in trouble. It was known to be a temporary venue, and they were doing well enough there with the knowledge that they would eventually move. The trouble really started when they decided glendale was the next step

Some of these are examples of how not to do a temporary rink. Carolina played in Greensboro to <50% capacity; if I recall correctly even Peter Karmanos admitted it was a mistake, and that they should've stayed in Hartford for those two seasons. Tampa played one season at the old Expo Hall and even in the early 90s that building proved wholly unsuitable even as a temporary rink. Reunion Arena, on the other hand, was not unsuitable for hockey and wasn't intended as a temporary rink while a new arena was under construction, even though the American Airlines Center wound up replacing it less than ten years later.

 

[Reality Czech]

goes beyond just getting an arena built. He wants control over a small part of the city and all be entitled to ALL taxes that small part makes. It is a strange demand


it his demands from the city and state that have my concerns raised. It is a very long list

That is interesting. I haven't been following the situation so closely, but that does sound sketchy.

 

[Osakahaus]

Honestly I dont think 3/4 photos are that bad. Its gonna be a mess of a first few years until the renovations happen. Hopefully Utah is an exciting team, because I wanna see them do well.

 

[SjMilhouse]

goes beyond just getting an arena built. He wants control over a small part of the city and all be entitled to ALL taxes that small part makes. It is a strange demand


it his demands from the city and state that have my concerns raised. It is a very long list

Source on the demands? I live here and have followed this fairly closely but have never seen the full details of the ask.

For clarity sake, he submitted an application with a proposal. The City still has to negotiate and agree to whatever he is proposing so, like any negotiation, you ask for far more than you expect to get and work from there.

It's not like the city is just going to say "Here is $1b dollars, have fun". If they do, that's on Wilson and Mendenhall and whoever else has to approve this. He's also investing his own money as far as I know.

And while any taxes going toward a billionaires stadium/profitability is bad, it's 0.5% which works out to an additional $5 for every $1000 spent over 30 years.

Not trying to be a huge Smith defender although I'm ecstatic he got Utah a team so I am a little biased (and have an appt to get season tickets next week), but people in Utah are acting like the State just handed him a billion dollars for fun.

Edit: I'm also biased because when I moved here, downtown SLC was a snooze fest. Covid sadly helped the same way a forest fire leads to new growth and it's gotten so much better in the last 3 years but still has a long way to go and I'm in favor of any major investment/development that gives the people who live here more fun stuff to do or places to eat that aren't another Swig, Zao, or *insert generic fast casual boring restaurant*

 

[Osakahaus]

This isn’t all on Smith.

Smith originally wanted an expansion franchise and first met with Bettman nearly two years ago to begin discussions.

It only got messy when the voters in Tempe shot down the Coyotes proposal for TED and the timeline for a new arena in Arizona became murky at best.

As it turns out it may have been the best move the NHL could have done given all the factors involved.

really this all happened because of how messy Meruelo had gotten with the Coyotes. Honestly the happiest solution would've had Arizona regain the goodwill of the citizens and they get Tempe, and Utah isnt happening. I really hope Utah can stick a landing but the franchise that was the Jets that was the Coyotes that are now the Utah "whatevers" has had endless turmoil and zero resolutions at all. Maybe they get a ton of benefits with a deep playoff run. Remember, the Avalanche got a lot of good things after they landed at the dump of McNichols arena.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

really this all happened because of how messy Meruelo had gotten with the Coyotes. Honestly the happiest solution would've had Arizona regain the goodwill of the citizens and they get Tempe, and Utah isnt happening. I really hope Utah can stick a landing but the franchise that was the Jets that was the Coyotes that are now the Utah "whatevers" has had endless turmoil and zero resolutions at all. Maybe they get a ton of benefits with a deep playoff run. Remember, the Avalanche got a lot of good things after they landed at the dump of McNichols arena.

McNichols is still in operation as Ball Arena

 

[a mangy Meowth]

McNichols is still in operation as Ball Arena

lol no. It was demolished in Jan 2000. people just talk out of their asses

 

[Bear of Bad News]

lol no. It was demolished in Jan 2000. people just talk out of their asses

It's now a parking lot for whatever they're calling Mile High Stadium these days.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

It's now a parking lot for whatever they're calling Mile High Stadium these days.

Many people make it a point, almost even a lifestyle, to defiantly call it Mile High Stadium to this day

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Many people make it a point, almost even a lifestyle, to defiantly call it Mile High Stadium to this day

I think I called it Invesco Field when they made that change, but now that it's E****** Field I've decided that it's just too many changes.

Not that they care what I think.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Am I crazy? Utah released the ticket prices for the upcoming season and they are claiming there are 10,000 unobstructed seats. Here are some pictures that they claim are unobstructed. Are these unobstructed? In my opinion you can't see the near boards and that makes them obstructed.
View attachment 879888

View attachment 879885

Get over it dude! You're lucky you can even have a chance to spend hundreds on these seats!

 

[GrumpyKoala]

2 minutes for obstruction!


I don't know who designed that bowl but he not doing my bathroom remodeling.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I mean, I do understand they plan on building a new arena in SLC.

 

[tucker3434]

They probably have some stupid formula where if you can see 85% of the ice it’s considered unobstructed or something. As long as potential buys get a chance to see this before they click buy and the team follows through on the renovated/new arena sometime soon, I don’t care.

 

[red devil]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808557624952004611

 

[BigGoalBrad]

Would the Marriot Center at BYU fit the rink any better? I know it’s 20k+.

 

[StreetHawk]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808557624952004611

$900 mill, that's very close to what it cost to renovate the Seattle Arena and that had the extra costs of keeping that roof. At this cost, I understand why AZ had offered to tear down Footprint and rebuild a new one if both Suns/Coyotes would agree to share (which from a business POV, I get why the suns didn't want to go from 100% down to a 50/50 split with the Coyotes).

That's basically the cost of a new arena these days. If the Delta Center is in a good location with infrastructure all set up for transit, if a renovation works, that's best for all sides.

Just wonder how many off-seasons this will take to get fully completed as that is structural work, not just cosmetic.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

You get what you pay for

 

[westc2]

Yeah that's awful. Clearly not a stadium built for hockey. Gonna need some major renovations or they're gonna have to majorly discount those upper bowl seats.

 

[red devil]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1809341154703577447

 

[Cnile]

The Utah OV
( obstructed views)

 

[red devil]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1810877689655611594

 

[Chips]

I mean you never see behind the near boards anyway, so technically there's no "unobstructed" views in any arena if you want to get really technical. These might shave a hair more off from the view but doesn't seem like a big issue to me.

Definitely not an ideal hockey arena, but at least they're not in Mullet anymore.

This, and people will pay money to see an outdoor game from seats a mile away anyway, so it’s probably not that big a deal to most.


The main thing that matters is arena location


An moreso just that the team is good. People will put up with less than ideal seats and such if the team becomes exciting.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

The Utah OV
( obstructed views)

NAME LIKELY WON'T BE THAT