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Originally Posted by delts145
For me, one exciting aspect of the NHL moving to downtown SLC is the prospect of it being one of those scenarios that raises all development boats. Having 40 to 60 additional major crowds descending on downtown each year will have a definite impact on business and not just bars and restaurants. I would be willing to bet that the opportunities to attract investors willing to throw their hats into the ring for projects like the West Quarter, The Domain Tower on W. Temple, and the Hines Theater Tower will increase even in these difficult times. I wouldn't be surprised if Property Reserve shortened its startup time frame on several projects such as the major Elks Center redevelopment on South Temple, the Cascade and Utah Woolen Mills Towers, or Social Hall Avenue residential. Perhaps, we'll even begin to see movement on those massive South Temple surface parking lots. At the very least development taking the parking subterranean in preparation for the Olympics. Given the fast pace of what Smith wants to take place with the Delta Center and its surroundings, we probably won't have to wait too long to see movement on multiple projects that we didn't expect any progress on for another two or more years. These are great times to be a development fan for Salt Lake City.
Just another thought. How many Fortune 500 sports nerd CEOs or board decision-makers were hesitant to relocate their national or regional headquarters to Salt Lake only for lack of more Major League Teams? Given all of Salt Lake's heralded advantages that is probably one of the few stumbling blocks remaining. Also, as with COVID, the current social unrest is only going to heat up over the Summer pushing a lot of decision-makers and 1 percenters to relocate to the relatively highly educated peaceful system of the Wasatch Front.
I was just noticing the other day in the University 500 Rankings that both Utah and BYU are ranked in the top 50. Utah in the 40's and BYU #20 now.
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I’ve looked into this topic and it’s hard to find any data that says pro sports adds any real meaningful economic activity. This is one of the big data points used against public subsidies for stadiums.
You can find a lot of articles like this stating that the impact is less than most people think.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/publ...orts-stadiums/