So, I guess Ryan Smith was on a podcast last week talking about the NHL. He seemed pretty confident with Utah landing a team.
He was asked specifically about fan experience and the Olympics and how he had mentioned the Delta Center had hockey issues with sightlines and whether he would look into a new arena for the Jazz and the unnamed hockey team. This was Ryan's answer:
Quote:
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Oh for sure. If we're rolling those two together, that's no question. And whether that's in the existing spot or a new spot, I think that's part of it. But the good news is is that some of the land struggles you see in other places, I think we're a little more set up for that for whatever reason. That doesn't mean there's a whole bunch of empty land but it's more of the structure of our city and state - there's a little bit more opportunity the way it's kind of grown out. In the current spot, we fit like 14,000, 13,500. It's not nothing, right? It's doable in a good, incredible experience but there's definitely a better experience.
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I transcribed that as best I could. But it's accurate to what he said.
Anyway, there are a few things here that I thought were pretty newsworthy.
1. It does sound like the Jazz and the NHL team will share an arena. I've made this case already but it makes zero sense for Ryan Smith to have his two pro teams directly compete with one another on specific days and if they were in separate arenas, their home games would certainly overlap.
2. He did mention the possibility of playing at the Delta Center but it does not sound like he is sold on that at all as a long-term solution. 13,500 is not a big arena for a NHL team. If, say, the Coyotes relocate, it would be the smallest arena in the NHL (the next smallest would be Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg at 15,321). It feels like they could make it work for a few seasons but that eventually they'd need a multipurpose arena (kinda like how RSL worked out of Rice-Eccles for a couple seasons when they started up).
3. He does mention an existing spot - maybe renovate the Delta Center?
4. But he also mentions a different spot. He also mentions our city and state - is our city a blanket description of the Salt Lake area or Salt Lake specifically?
5. His comments about how 'it's kind of grown out' give me significant pause. Is he talking the Salt Lake area in general? Sure sounds like it. I doubt he's really talking about downtown but maybe? Still, grown out could suggest a suburban arena, which would be pretty devastating as it would remove the Jazz from downtown - their home for the last 45 years.
Anyway, no one really knows what Ryan is thinking or the pushback he might get if he tries to move the Jazz out of downtown. But these comments don't really alleviate my concern he's looking to leave.
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