Salt Lake NHL and MLB News Thread

[Schmoe]

Originally Posted by JaseTheAce

I have a theory...

So what I think is happening is the Miller group is making a play to poach the A's. Bring them to SLC, show that there's a market for baseball, wait until the Vegas plans fizzle out, buy the A's or a stake in the A's and have them play at the new ballpark at the power district.

So will they become the A'zz?

[RC14]

I realize it's a minor concern, but I'm becoming worried they will choose another dumb name for this future MLB team.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by RC14

I realize it's a minor concern, but I'm becoming worried they will choose another dumb name for this future MLB team.

Regardless of the name, I am disappointed they're going with 'Utah' instead of 'Salt Lake'.

I know that sounds silly but I absolutely believe there's more negative connotation tied to Utah than there is Salt Lake City. Plus, I think Salt Lake sounds cooler for a baseball team.

[RC14]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Regardless of the name, I am disappointed they're going with 'Utah' instead of 'Salt Lake'.

I know that sounds silly but I absolutely believe there's more negative connotation tied to Utah than there is Salt Lake City. Plus, I think Salt Lake sounds cooler for a baseball team.

Is that for sure? I didn't realize they had decided to go with Utah. I agree that is very disappointing. I think baseball teams should be named after cities.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by RC14

Is that for sure? I didn't realize they had decided to go with Utah. I agree that is very disappointing. I think baseball teams should be named after cities.

The only thing I've seen is a clip of Dale Murphy saying it will be Utah, but nothing official as far as I know.

[Comrade]

Ryan Smith has submitted an application for a NHL expansion team.

He plans to build a new arena.

Says they can begin play next year if needed.

My guess is this means the Jazz are on their way out of downtown.

[Atlas]

This was inevitable. Dude wants his own little entertainment district and he wants it closer to his house in Utah County. The state is happy to oblige because they are desperate to make it look like moving the prison was a good idea all along. The state will offer him a 99 year ground lease on 50+ acres with no taxes for 30 years or something.

The best SLC could do is counter with a similar offer at its 11 acres at Station Center, which of course would be a better site for an arena but it's not as big.

A third possibility is the Power District, but who knows if that is realistic or not? At least MLB will be there, hopefully.

[mattreedah]

Originally Posted by Atlas

This was inevitable. Dude wants his own little entertainment district and he wants it closer to his house in Utah County. The state is happy to oblige because they are desperate to make it look like moving the prison was a good idea all along. The state will offer him a 99 year ground lease on 50+ acres with no taxes for 30 years or something.

The best SLC could do is counter with a similar offer at its 11 acres at Station Center, which of course would be a better site for an arena but it's not as big.

A third possibility is the Power District, but who knows if that is realistic or not? At least MLB will be there, hopefully.

The station center option would be phenomenal. It would be a blessing that nothing has gotten done there so far.

[wrendog]

Here's my guess: Jazz end up staying downtown, MLB stadium built in Power District and NHL arena built at The Point. Ryan Smith will get a lot of money and perks from the government as his arena will be used in the 2034 Olympics.

[airhero]

Originally Posted by wrendog

Here's my guess: Jazz end up staying downtown, MLB stadium built in Power District and NHL arena built at The Point. Ryan Smith will get a lot of money and perks from the government as his arena will be used in the 2034 Olympics.

This is probably best case scenario so I hope it works out this way. Cities with both NBA and NHL teams generally host them in the same arena, but there are exceptions. I wouldn't be concerned since the Jazz already have their own arena, but with the rumblings of Ryan Smith wanting to relocate the Jazz...if he gets the NHL arena at the point, there may be a good chance the Jazz end up there as well.

[JaseTheAce]

Originally Posted by wrendog

Here's my guess: Jazz end up staying downtown, MLB stadium built in Power District and NHL arena built at The Point. Ryan Smith will get a lot of money and perks from the government as his arena will be used in the 2034 Olympics.

Building two separate arenas would be a phenomenal waste of money and real estate. Smith seems to either be dead set on Draper or angling for public money for a new arena. Since the Olympics are coming, he might be able to get some public money. Even then, it's anybody's guess where an arena is built but I'd venture to guess that a publicly funded arena would be in/near downtown and close to hotels for the Olympics.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by JaseTheAce

Building two separate arenas would be a phenomenal waste of money and real estate. Smith seems to either be dead set on Draper or angling for public money for a new arena. Since the Olympics are coming, he might be able to get some public money. Even then, it's anybody's guess where an arena is built but I'd venture to guess that a publicly funded arena would be in/near downtown and close to hotels for the Olympics.

There's no way around the fact that a new NHL would HAVE to be built, so it's not a "waste of money". The NHL team will not play permanently in the DC. The jazz are perfectly fine using the DC and a new arena can just be NHL.

Hopefully it all works out and everything is close to downtown, but I'm thinking my scenario seems pretty reasonable

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by airhero

This is probably best case scenario so I hope it works out this way. Cities with both NBA and NHL teams generally host them in the same arena, but there are exceptions. I wouldn't be concerned since the Jazz already have their own arena, but with the rumblings of Ryan Smith wanting to relocate the Jazz...if he gets the NHL arena at the point, there may be a good chance the Jazz end up there as well.

I wouldn't say it's the best case as that would be a downtown arena for both.

There's a lot of mixed messaging going on because Smith is on record saying he would want the Jazz and the Future NHL team playing in the same arena. From a practical sense, it makes sense. With two arenas, the chances of the NHL team and the Jazz overlapping is pretty high unless the NHL grants Smith a schedule exception where it stipulates the NHL can't schedule home games on nights the Jazz are playing at home (that seems unlikely). If they're playing in the same arena, no agreement would be needed as it wouldn't be possible to have home games scheduled on the same night for both teams. But if they're not? Does Smith really want his two pro teams competing directly against one another each night?

Mayor Mendenhall does seem pretty rosy about Smith going after a team - so, maybe she knows something we don't.

[RC14]

Originally Posted by Atlas

This was inevitable. Dude wants his own little entertainment district and he wants it closer to his house in Utah County.

Maybe Salt Lake should just build him a home in the city so he can live closer to work. Problem solved.

[JaseTheAce]

Another thought I had. SLC is too small to support MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS all at the same time. It would be by far the smallest market to have four of the five major leagues and NHL and NBA tickets aren't cheap. MLB probably will require Sunday games and there really aren't a lot of major corporations available for sponsorship dollars. That's not counting the affect UofU and BYU have on the sports marketplace too.

Another issue is that SLC doesn't have any neighboring markets to draw from. Cincinnati might be a similar sized market but it's surrounded by other markets. The Reds draw from most of Ohio south of Columbus, most of Kentucky, Indiana, and parts of WV. SLC, Ogden and Provo are it for Utah. There aren't a lot of fans in Wendover. If SLC gets a MLB team and an NHL team, I could see RSL moving. I just don't see a world where Utah can support that many pro sports teams.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by JaseTheAce

Another thought I had. SLC is too small to support MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS all at the same time. It would be by far the smallest market to have four of the five major leagues and NHL and NBA tickets aren't cheap. MLB probably will require Sunday games and there really aren't a lot of major corporations available for sponsorship dollars. That's not counting the affect UofU and BYU have on the sports marketplace too.

Another issue is that SLC doesn't have any neighboring markets to draw from. Cincinnati might be a similar sized market but it's surrounded by other markets. The Reds draw from most of Ohio south of Columbus, most of Kentucky, Indiana, and parts of WV. SLC, Ogden and Provo are it for Utah. There aren't a lot of fans in Wendover. If SLC gets a MLB team and an NHL team, I could see RSL moving. I just don't see a world where Utah can support that many pro sports teams.

You have some decent points. We shall see!

[airhero]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I wouldn't say it's the best case as that would be a downtown arena for both.

There's a lot of mixed messaging going on because Smith is on record saying he would want the Jazz and the Future NHL team playing in the same arena. From a practical sense, it makes sense. With two arenas, the chances of the NHL team and the Jazz overlapping is pretty high unless the NHL grants Smith a schedule exception where it stipulates the NHL can't schedule home games on nights the Jazz are playing at home (that seems unlikely). If they're playing in the same arena, no agreement would be needed as it wouldn't be possible to have home games scheduled on the same night for both teams. But if they're not? Does Smith really want his two pro teams competing directly against one another each night?

Mayor Mendenhall does seem pretty rosy about Smith going after a team - so, maybe she knows something we don't.

I see landing all three teams in Salt Lake itself as a nonexistent possibility at this point, which is why I referred to two teams in SLC as the best case scenario. I hadn't given much thought to the competition between the NBA and NHL, considering they would have the same owner who would want to minimize that. Personally I haven't heard any rumblings that Ryan Smith is even considering building the NHL arena in SLC, so I think it only increases the chance the Jazz move out of the city.

[JaseTheAce]

Originally Posted by airhero

I see landing all three teams in Salt Lake itself as a nonexistent possibility at this point, which is why I referred to two teams in SLC as the best case scenario. I hadn't given much thought to the competition between the NBA and NHL, considering they would have the same owner who would want to minimize that. Personally I haven't heard any rumblings that Ryan Smith is even considering building the NHL arena in SLC, so I think it only increases the chance the Jazz move out of the city.

Both NHL and the Jazz will play at the same arena. That way you won't need two sets of arena staffs. The same org can handle tickets, sponsorships, sales, hospitality, video production, etc. The only thing keeping the Jazz in SLC is if the city/state mandates that they have to stay in SLC to receive state or city $ and the arena is part of the Olympic plan. However, the state legislature would nothing more than to move some stuff closer to Provo and out of the liberal bastion of SLC.

[airhero]

Originally Posted by JaseTheAce

Another thought I had. SLC is too small to support MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS all at the same time. It would be by far the smallest market to have four of the five major leagues and NHL and NBA tickets aren't cheap. MLB probably will require Sunday games and there really aren't a lot of major corporations available for sponsorship dollars. That's not counting the affect UofU and BYU have on the sports marketplace too.

Another issue is that SLC doesn't have any neighboring markets to draw from. Cincinnati might be a similar sized market but it's surrounded by other markets. The Reds draw from most of Ohio south of Columbus, most of Kentucky, Indiana, and parts of WV. SLC, Ogden and Provo are it for Utah. There aren't a lot of fans in Wendover. If SLC gets a MLB team and an NHL team, I could see RSL moving. I just don't see a world where Utah can support that many pro sports teams.

Frankly, SLC is not too small. SLC's closest analog is Denver, which has had all five major sports in their city since 1996. At that time, I'd wager their media market was about the same size as ours is now (The state of Colorado had a similar population to Utah now, with a lower percentage of their population living in the Denver area). We're not going to get all 5. The NFL isn't coming here, but if NHL and NBA can be supported, so can MLB. Baseball season has little overlap with NHL/NBA. Further taking into account Salt Lake's population growth and its booming, resilient economy, support would just not be an issue.

One overlooked aspect of Utah is that it has a high retention of its residents compared to other states, meaning people who are born here tend to stay and are homegrown fans of Utah teams. I reckon that makes the fanbase in Utah more loyal and valuable. Just a theory though. Would be interested to see if data supports this.

We shall see what happens but I believe the biggest issue facing the acquisition of NHL and MLB is getting both venues built, not a potential lack of support for the teams.

[airhero]

Originally Posted by JaseTheAce

Both NHL and the Jazz will play at the same arena. That way you won't need two sets of arena staffs. The same org can handle tickets, sponsorships, sales, hospitality, video production, etc. The only thing keeping the Jazz in SLC is if the city/state mandates that they have to stay in SLC to receive state or city $ and the arena is part of the Olympic plan. However, the state legislature would nothing more than to move some stuff closer to Provo and out of the liberal bastion of SLC.

Yeah that's true. Considering the same person owns both teams he could get the costs down by operating out of one arena. I'm struggling to see how it would make sense to have two arenas.