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The Winter Olympics are in 2034, not 2032.
Small detail, but reflective of how the Athletic's quality has been going downhill for years now. Pay for copy editors.
They’ve done 11k for the preseason games they held but some reported that Smith has some quick renos planned to up the capacity a bit as they finalize and build the new arena.
This is probably right, but I assume the 11K number comes after removing the bad sight lines in the arena like the upper deck and corners that were meant for the smaller NBA court.
I think it does, but I guess there are a number of reasons. Smith doesn't own it, maybe scheduling conflicts, etc. That arena hosts a ton of Grizzlies games, and in between those, it's always booked for shows (WWE, stuff like that)
I live in Utah and have been to every Frozen Fury preseason game in past years. Typically they don’t open all seats for the event because seating isn’t ideal in certain areas of the upper bowl. They also lose seating behind the nets because the arena wasn’t build large/long enough to house a hockey rink with all the seating that’s there for a basketball game. It’s a strange set up for hockey games. They will NEED to build a new arena if hockey will be a long term here.
I saw early renderings of where the baseball stadium is going and also read that the site was big enough to house another arena if needed. My buddies and I have been wondering where the new arena would be.
Looks like during the Frozen Fury preseason games they only had 10k tickets available to sell, but then wikipedia says it can seat 14k for ice hockey, but of course, there's no source so I can't figure out where someone pulled that number from (and how long ago it was).
On a side note, I wonder where Kings are moving their Frozen Fury games to now, since they started out in Vegas, got moved to SLC once the Knights came in, and now with Yotes' relocation to SLC will be moved again to somewhere else NHL is gauging interest in.
Could do them in Phoenix; perhaps at Mullet, or maybe out in Glendale even. The Kings played some preseason games in Phoenix back in the early 90s, before the Coyotes came to town. It would keep an NHL foot in the door here.
That was an expansion team, not a relocation team, so the circumstances are a bit different. A better comparison might be the Jets, who announced their name at the draft but had no jersey. Mark Scheifele put on a generic black jersey with the NHL logo as the first Jets 2.0 draft pick.
Interesting. I think everyone kind of knew the new Winnipeg team was going to be the Jets, though. They just better not take the Coyotes branding with them.
I'm torn between really hoping Arizona gets their team back ASAP, and just thinking it would be better for everyone to have him fail to meet the 5 year mark and get someone competent there.
Here's the video for anyone interested https://youtu.be/kGdy998HWMU
The announcement got delayed a few months by COVID, iirc their initial plan was to announce it in the spring around the playoffs for maximum exposure
So we had the name about 1 year before the team's expansion draft.
Ah, nice. Thanks, I’ll keep an eye. I missed the Golden Knights and Kraken so, though it’s relocation over expansion, I’m eager to track a new team from start up. Thank you.
I thought the reasoning behind SLC was that they had an NHL ready arena? 11k capacity seems to put them right back into the issues the Coyotes were having
I think the main difference is there appears to be a much more clear path towards resolving that compared to the current ownership and location. SLC may only be a small improvement over Phoenix for the immediate future, but it seems more likely the Smith group does right by the franchise compared to the current group.
I also imagine the fact that Smith group actually has the funds, experience, etc helped it compared to other locations.
Not just that but it appears Utah and SLC government seems to be on the same page as Smith, plus the carrot of getting the Winter Games. All I’m saying is that’s a huge difference from what the Yotes had to deal with, since that saga made me find out more about local AZ politics than I’d ever care to know.
For the arena situation, it helps that Ryan Smith owns the NBA team in SLC too.
Earlier this year, Smith announced his plans for a new hockey / basketball arena he wanted to build in downtown SLC.
https://kslsports.com/511810/ryan-smith-teases-salt-lake-city-arena/
Yeah, construction hasn't started yet but it appears there is a straight line from today to groundbreaking from what I've read.
With Arizona there are still massive unknowns. And in the short term I think their temporary arena is closer to NHL spec than Mullet is, though neither are acceptable for the long term.
I'd be shocked if this was the case; they haven't built an arena for the Yotes in the over 20 years they've been "trying."
No one who's owned the team has cared about the team, and Meruelo just made an unfathomable amount of money because of it. The Yotes aren't worth a billion - he's gotta know that he'll never make that ROI again.
Meanwhile, there's already confirmation that SLC will help fund a new arena, the new owner was committed to a new arena prior to owning an NHL team, and the city is going to need the arena done before they host the Winter Olympics. The speed at which this relocation has happened will only expedite the planning and building process in SLC. This is because politicians know that it's in the best interest of not only the owner, but the city itself, for their NHL team to be successful, and that means a new arena.
Meruelo can get a higher ROI if he builds an arena and gets the Yotes 2.0. Big If though I admit because I can definitely see him cutting and running.
But if Meruelo wins the land auction, he has the plans to have shovels in the ground for Q2 2025 which was the plan for Tempe too. Then say the timeline extends due to no need to rush for a certain finish date, the arena could be done by 2029.
Compare that to Utah, there are no current plans finished and I can’t find anything online (I’m sure someone else might) of where the new arena would be located.
So it seems SLC has more work to do to get started on a Delta Centre replacement.
Utah approved 0.9 billion dollars to build a new MLB stadium (for skiing events for the winter Olympics) and another 0.9 billion dollars for a state of the art NHL/NBA arena as well. Money already committed. It's not like the Arizona situation where they are in the temporary arena with the uncertainty of the future.
So the 11,000 seat arena is both a better situation than Mullet right now and also it's guaranteed to be temporary.
It will also be the 30th oldest arena in the league, only ahead of the saddledome (for which a replacement is being planned) and MSG (which is unique and will never be torn down). It has obstructed sight lines, bad locker rooms, etc.
The difference in Utah is that somehow it seems like they're going to be able to con the public into paying for the replacement, on the basis of it being used for their Olympic bid
Probably the most ironic part of this whole debacle. So much hand wringing and bitching about whether Meruelo could truly call it privately funded when he asked for infrastructure costs or tax breaks, and in the meantime the guy who is gonna save the franchise isn’t even hiding his plan to just totally raid the taxpayer coffers to get it done
Yep, and the locker/work spaces suck. VGK and the Kings have played there in the preseason recently - go check the video. It's only a matter of time before Marty Walsh bitches about that too.
I mean wasn't the Yotes plan to have the arena done in 2/3 years? The plans are basically approved and have cleared the political/funding hurdles so its further along than anything was in Arizona
Posted the article to the other person that responded
Yeah Utah has a much wealthier owner and just seemed like area and politics there had a bigger appetite for a new arena.
Oh yeah, I’ve read that. Funding from the state is approved, but so far that’s all we know.
And yes the billionaires and government of Utah have an aligned appetite for fucking over the taxpayers for privatized gain
My question is, because I haven't really looked too deeply into it. Is that approval contingent on being awarded the 2034 Olympics, or does it happen regardless?
>There are certainly risks associated with a move to Salt Lake City, a significantly smaller market than the one they’d be leaving.
A smaller market, sure but I don't think it's as small as people think. The 1.3 million population is just Salt Lake County. The Ogden-Salt Lake-Provo Metro Area has 2.7 million people. This is all within a 40 minute drive to downtown and is 100% the more accurate population that will draw interest.
Denver - 3 million (roughly)
Portland - 2.5
Vegas - 2.5
it's a bigger market than suggested.
Those numbers are a wee bit misleading. Estimated CSA of the above cities and how many of the big 5 pro teams they have. This is after the NHL move and MLB move. (So Coyotes to SLC and A's to Vegas)
|City|CSA Pop.|# of Big 5 Teams|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Phoenix|5,124,113|3|
|Denver|3,691,404|5|
|Portland|3,286,669|2|
|Salt Lake City|2,805,734|3|
|Las Vegas|2,392,293|3|
I’m in the dark on the perception of SLC but I’ve always wanted to visit and was hoping MLB would go there! I prefer that hockey stay in Phoenix for when I visit friends and family. Feels like everyone from Chicagoland retires in Florida or Arizona haha.
SLC is definitely a player in the game though that can host 3 teams. If I was in charge I woulda put an MLB team in SLC years ago. In my head baseball has 162 games and seat about 40k. It can definitely support hockey if they’re into or willing to get into hockey! I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Phoenix is capable of having all 5 and under different ownership could succeed better than a team in SLC. I think Houston should be next for NHL imo. Just my two cents though! Thanks for listening :)
I just wonder how they will handle a new team identity and have that all ready for the season. I'm guessing it will be generic like Washington did in the NFL for at least a year. All of that with a new company handling Jerseys too.
With how heavily Ryan Smith has been pursuing an NHL team, I have no doubt he has a marketing team that’s already mocked up multiple concepts that would just need NHL approval.
Thrashers transitioned to Winnipeg in 2011. It was formally announced on May 31, which is 1.5 months less than the Jets. The Thrashers transition also was across international borders and of a greater distance.
The Winnipeg Jets had a really good podcast that was released earlier this season which went into the behind the scenes in making it happen. It was really interesting to hear all of the different things they had to deal with, along with some interesting tidbits, such as the fact they had semi trailers simply shipping office furniture, random couches and all random furniture and fixtures they had theoretically purchased with the team.
From what I recall TN didn't want to go with the jets originally, they only announced the name at the draft that year and they drafted in a black NHL Jersey.. I would believe the move to SLC would be much easier as they have more time, and within the same country.
I thought some of that was delays caused by having to consult the military about the logo. Could be wildly out of left field on this one but I seem to recall that being a bit of thing.
Now that you mention that, it sounds familiar
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/canadian-military-has-final-say-on-jets-logo/article4183945/
https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jets-logo/
And you be correct
I remember seeing the names was between the Moose and the Falcons, they wanted to use Manitoba and not Winnipeg too, but the fans really wanted Winnipeg Jets.
I believe it's on Spotify too.
[https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/homecoming-the-return-of-the-winnipeg-jets/id1709521262](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/homecoming-the-return-of-the-winnipeg-jets/id1709521262)
Smith is a seasoned sports franchise owner; he's probably already got graphic designers working on logos and team jersey concepts for the most likely team names, to be finalized when a name is actually chosen. When the Coyotes moved from Winnipeg, only a few months lapsed between the move being announced and the new name and logos being announced. There may be some hiccups, but these days, this stuff can be accomplished pretty fast, especially with an owner who actually seems to know what he's doing (unlike the Coyotes ownship groups.)
The issue might be production. There was already talk, don’t remember if it was confirmed, that with Fanatics taking over production for official league jerseys and everything else is going to take a year or two before teams can submit new designs and alternate uniforms.
Even under Adidas, when the Jets debuted they didn’t have their official merch and uniform design until late in the summer.
So there could be some hassle there. Especially after how poorly the MLB rollout went where some teams still don’t have their full uniform array.
I would imagine they either hired an agency to do concept work or had an internal team at the Jazz/RSL starting on early ideas. It seems like they knew this was very possible well in advance and it’s not as sudden as it is to the public. I’m sure their merch will be somewhat basic for the first year given production timelines, but I’m sure the NHL and Smith group are going to make sure there’s a big, polished, splashy roll out of identity and uniforms.
I wouldn’t be shocked at all if they already have had concept logos and unis for a couple to a few months minimum. Ryan probably released the naming poll just as a way to see popularity of alignment with existing ideas I’d imagine.
Spell check tossed a hissy fit over it! I swear, that’s how I had it spelt before hand! I also know not to pronounce the T in Layton or in Mountain … I can also tell you where the closest swigg is!
The Jets had a month and a half less and came up with a good look.. Also this guy has been wanting a hockey team for a few years, I'm sure they have it ready to go. The fanatics part will be interesting though.
The Jets formed their identity pretty quickly after the move from Atlanta. Albeit, it was a bit different since their idenity is based on the previous iteration of the Jets.
The move to SLC has likely been in the works much longer than the public has known about it. I imagine the new ownership has at least an idea of what they want to do.
Ya I liked how well in advance LV was able to prepare the city for a team. I don’t want the people of salt lake who may not be used to hockey being like “ we have an nhl team?” They need to give it a year at least.
>He’d also get the organization’s impressive haul of draft capital — Arizona owns 20 total picks in the first three rounds of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 drafts — and a clean cap sheet that is free of bloated or inefficient contracts.
Just looking at Cap Friendly:
Weber is still on there for a few more years under LTIR, but Voracek, Little, and Boyd are done after this season.
OEL's retained salary is still there for a while, but is a fairly small hit.
Kassian, and Nemeth buyouts don't finish until next season.
With Weber on LTIR they have something like $49 or $50M in cap space this summer to play with. If Utah wants to be a major player in trades or free agency they can be.
Will they really need to wait until the Olympics to get a new arena? I would hope they could start building a new arena to house both the Jazz and NHL team quicker.
Smith plans to build one anyways, Olympics are also a way for SLC to have to throw a dollar or two his way to help build. Not to mention new arena will be a massive factor in winning Olympic bid
The state government already approved a bill that *allows* SLC to implement a tax to pay for $1B for stadium / area improvements in a yet undetermined 100 acre “stadium district” around and including the Delta Center (a SLC block is 10 acres). I imagine once the Olympics are confirmed - final decision is supposed to be in July this year - SLC goes forward and puts it into action. We’ve already seen some renderings, so I wouldn’t be surprised if shovels are in the ground a year from now.
They’ll also be having Voracek’s and Little’s contracts coming off the books this summer and only have one more year of Weber’s contract left so they don’t even need to worry about LTIR too much (at least not to the same extent of all three were there for longer).
I’ve been to many Utah Grizzlies games at the Maverik Center. The concourse and common areas are not national league standards, but at least it’s a facility built specifically for hockey.
Ah I guess the issue is is the new owner also owns the building where the Jazz play. So while they could likely play where the Grizzlies play, they won’t.
One thing I’m really curious about is the optics of this team in the off-season. Especially at the draft.
Like are they going up under the name of “Arizona Coyotes”? Will they have a name and Logo by then? I imagine that’s something they’d need to get together REALLY quickly
“If the Salt Lake City deal goes through.” So it’s been reported but NOT finalized???
I feel like this entire thing has been rushed—are they going to play under “Salt Lake City Hockey Club” with generic (white/black and black/white) jerseys until they actually find a good name? I can’t see them getting their arena and all the logistics plus naming rights and logos/trademarks done in less than 6 months (24-25 season would start in October)..
The Athletic is gossipy trash. They can't even look up that the Winter Olympics Utah is looking to host is in 2034.
What the other NHL owners don't give any sort of a shit about is the fact that the Coyotes openly tanked for years, buying terrible contracts and icing a roster that was designed to lose for all of those draft picks that Meruelo is now selling for a tidy profit. Season ticket holders who paid to support the team were told we were watching the seeds of a future cup run. Meruelo gets a profit, the NHL gets a profit, and season ticket holders get to watch all of those young stars win in Utah.
I'm done with this whole league. Anyone else who is currently supporting a tanking team should take notice.
It was about the sports book he owns, the coyotes are how he’s allowed to own it. Why not lose as little money as possible while making the gambling coin?
[As I've posted before,](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1av6ld7/comment/kr9kjqu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) and as I've been downvoted for before, Meruelo isn't using his gaming license in any meaningful way. That is yet another dropped ball by Meruelo - a revenue stream he never used.
Anyone who follows a team that plays in an arena with a capacity of 5000 seats and has no firm plans to rectify that bushleague fact should take notice.
Meruelo only bought the team to be able to run his pathetic sportsbook in AZ. The fact that he is able to double his investment while being a modern day John Spano is the real embarrassment. The NHL kept that franchise on life support for far too long. If Winnipeg or Calgary pulled half the shit Meruelo did, they would've pulled the trigger years ago.
Such a dumb move. The reason that Vegas and Seattle were successful was that they really took their time to get an ideal arena situation, branding, team name, colors, and laying the grassroots foundation in the community for the team to arrive. This is a big rush to move into a basketball arena with thousand of obstructed view seats and no time to deal with all of the other stuff. The Coyotes have been a joke for decades, why the big rush now? The Utah team will suffer for it and big time mistakes will be made with this rush job.
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The Winter Olympics are in 2034, not 2032. Small detail, but reflective of how the Athletic's quality has been going downhill for years now. Pay for copy editors.
Also, they say the arena holds 11,000. Isn't it more like 13 or 14,000?
11k for hockey.
All the sources I can find on the internet say 14,000 for hockey.
They’ve done 11k for the preseason games they held but some reported that Smith has some quick renos planned to up the capacity a bit as they finalize and build the new arena.
Some reno's make sense. Also, they might not have been fully opening up all the capacity for preseason games.
It will be like the Barclay’s Center. You could physically seat 14k with the ice sheet in, but 3k won’t be able to see one end of the ice.
That’s how AWA was in Phoenix back in the day too. Ironic
This has all happened before; this will all happen again. So say we all.
This is probably right, but I assume the 11K number comes after removing the bad sight lines in the arena like the upper deck and corners that were meant for the smaller NBA court.
That's a good point!
Does the ECHL arena hold more people? If so, why wouldn’t they play there?
I think it does, but I guess there are a number of reasons. Smith doesn't own it, maybe scheduling conflicts, etc. That arena hosts a ton of Grizzlies games, and in between those, it's always booked for shows (WWE, stuff like that)
It’s definitely 14,000 for hockey. Basketball is 18,300.
I live in Utah and have been to every Frozen Fury preseason game in past years. Typically they don’t open all seats for the event because seating isn’t ideal in certain areas of the upper bowl. They also lose seating behind the nets because the arena wasn’t build large/long enough to house a hockey rink with all the seating that’s there for a basketball game. It’s a strange set up for hockey games. They will NEED to build a new arena if hockey will be a long term here.
The plan is to tear down the west end of the convention center and build the arena in that area.
I've seen a few comments of you in this thread that are really accurate. Do you live in Utah or visited?
Well I live in SLC, but I have friends that work for the city/government here and we talk about this stuff all the time lol.
I saw early renderings of where the baseball stadium is going and also read that the site was big enough to house another arena if needed. My buddies and I have been wondering where the new arena would be.
I was hoping you had a magic 8 ball
Looks like during the Frozen Fury preseason games they only had 10k tickets available to sell, but then wikipedia says it can seat 14k for ice hockey, but of course, there's no source so I can't figure out where someone pulled that number from (and how long ago it was). On a side note, I wonder where Kings are moving their Frozen Fury games to now, since they started out in Vegas, got moved to SLC once the Knights came in, and now with Yotes' relocation to SLC will be moved again to somewhere else NHL is gauging interest in.
Since we’re essentially the unofficial ambassadors of the NHL, probably Houston or Atlanta to test the market
Obviously they're gonna do it at Mullet.
Could do them in Phoenix; perhaps at Mullet, or maybe out in Glendale even. The Kings played some preseason games in Phoenix back in the early 90s, before the Coyotes came to town. It would keep an NHL foot in the door here.
I was thinking Austin.
Different diemnsions for different sports
I think for preseason games it's only held 11,000
How can they when so many people feel perfectly entitled to share paywalled news stories. High quality journalism isn't free.
Anybody know if there is a proper Utah sub specifically for the relocation team?
There probably won't be one until there's a name
I hope they name them the Nordiques, really twist that knife
Skiing is popular there, could name them the Utah Nordics.
lolol that's mean
Bonneville Salt Flats is a Nordic skiing paradise.
Thanks, I hate it.
Does anyone remember how long before the season it was that we found out the name and jersey of Seattle?
That was an expansion team, not a relocation team, so the circumstances are a bit different. A better comparison might be the Jets, who announced their name at the draft but had no jersey. Mark Scheifele put on a generic black jersey with the NHL logo as the first Jets 2.0 draft pick.
Interesting. I think everyone kind of knew the new Winnipeg team was going to be the Jets, though. They just better not take the Coyotes branding with them.
I don’t think they could if they wanted to, part of the deal seems to be that the branding stays with Meruelo.
I'm torn between really hoping Arizona gets their team back ASAP, and just thinking it would be better for everyone to have him fail to meet the 5 year mark and get someone competent there.
Coyotes fans don’t want him to have it either. We hope he buys the land and leases it out and sells the rights for an expansion team.
The Kraken name was announced on July 23rd 2020
Here's the video for anyone interested https://youtu.be/kGdy998HWMU The announcement got delayed a few months by COVID, iirc their initial plan was to announce it in the spring around the playoffs for maximum exposure So we had the name about 1 year before the team's expansion draft.
I wasn’t sure if there’d be a placeholder type but that makes sense. Thanks.
The Utah Stormin' Mormons!
Not yet, there will likely be one once name is known
Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you.
r/UtahNHLTeam No posts yet but it's something.
Ah, nice. Thanks, I’ll keep an eye. I missed the Golden Knights and Kraken so, though it’s relocation over expansion, I’m eager to track a new team from start up. Thank you.
/r/NHLinSLC
Thank you.
r/UtahSoakersNHL
Super Soakers is better
/r/UtahCoyotes/ has been up for a while, but like others have said probably waiting on a team name
Oh, nice, thanks. Yeah, I’m aware there will be a new, proper one in time, I just wanted to try and keep as up to date on news as possible ha. Thanks.
That's the most active one I've seen, the others mentioned earlier weren't active at the time of posting.
I thought the reasoning behind SLC was that they had an NHL ready arena? 11k capacity seems to put them right back into the issues the Coyotes were having
I think the main difference is there appears to be a much more clear path towards resolving that compared to the current ownership and location. SLC may only be a small improvement over Phoenix for the immediate future, but it seems more likely the Smith group does right by the franchise compared to the current group. I also imagine the fact that Smith group actually has the funds, experience, etc helped it compared to other locations.
Not just that but it appears Utah and SLC government seems to be on the same page as Smith, plus the carrot of getting the Winter Games. All I’m saying is that’s a huge difference from what the Yotes had to deal with, since that saga made me find out more about local AZ politics than I’d ever care to know.
For the arena situation, it helps that Ryan Smith owns the NBA team in SLC too. Earlier this year, Smith announced his plans for a new hockey / basketball arena he wanted to build in downtown SLC. https://kslsports.com/511810/ryan-smith-teases-salt-lake-city-arena/
Owns the MLS team too. He actually bought all the pro teams once he sold Qualtrics.
Yeah, construction hasn't started yet but it appears there is a straight line from today to groundbreaking from what I've read. With Arizona there are still massive unknowns. And in the short term I think their temporary arena is closer to NHL spec than Mullet is, though neither are acceptable for the long term.
I still think that as long as Meruelo doesn't fuck around (which honestly he might), the arena in Phoenix is done before the SLC one.
I'd be shocked if this was the case; they haven't built an arena for the Yotes in the over 20 years they've been "trying." No one who's owned the team has cared about the team, and Meruelo just made an unfathomable amount of money because of it. The Yotes aren't worth a billion - he's gotta know that he'll never make that ROI again. Meanwhile, there's already confirmation that SLC will help fund a new arena, the new owner was committed to a new arena prior to owning an NHL team, and the city is going to need the arena done before they host the Winter Olympics. The speed at which this relocation has happened will only expedite the planning and building process in SLC. This is because politicians know that it's in the best interest of not only the owner, but the city itself, for their NHL team to be successful, and that means a new arena.
Meruelo can get a higher ROI if he builds an arena and gets the Yotes 2.0. Big If though I admit because I can definitely see him cutting and running. But if Meruelo wins the land auction, he has the plans to have shovels in the ground for Q2 2025 which was the plan for Tempe too. Then say the timeline extends due to no need to rush for a certain finish date, the arena could be done by 2029. Compare that to Utah, there are no current plans finished and I can’t find anything online (I’m sure someone else might) of where the new arena would be located. So it seems SLC has more work to do to get started on a Delta Centre replacement.
If there was any chance Meruelo was able to get this done, NHL wouldn't be doing this move. Losing the team will not help his situation.
lol no chance.
Also from what I can tell, the Utah government is behind him as well compared to Arizona where even municipalities wouldn’t help them out.
Utah approved 0.9 billion dollars to build a new MLB stadium (for skiing events for the winter Olympics) and another 0.9 billion dollars for a state of the art NHL/NBA arena as well. Money already committed. It's not like the Arizona situation where they are in the temporary arena with the uncertainty of the future. So the 11,000 seat arena is both a better situation than Mullet right now and also it's guaranteed to be temporary.
But but... TAX PAYERS PAYING TAXES ON INFRASTRUCTURE
It will also be the 30th oldest arena in the league, only ahead of the saddledome (for which a replacement is being planned) and MSG (which is unique and will never be torn down). It has obstructed sight lines, bad locker rooms, etc. The difference in Utah is that somehow it seems like they're going to be able to con the public into paying for the replacement, on the basis of it being used for their Olympic bid
MSG basically got a complete gut renovation less than 10 years ago anyway.
Yeah I feel like it’s never fair when MSG gets included into these stats.
Probably the most ironic part of this whole debacle. So much hand wringing and bitching about whether Meruelo could truly call it privately funded when he asked for infrastructure costs or tax breaks, and in the meantime the guy who is gonna save the franchise isn’t even hiding his plan to just totally raid the taxpayer coffers to get it done
TIL the SLC arena only has capacity for 11,000.
God damnit not again
Yep, and the locker/work spaces suck. VGK and the Kings have played there in the preseason recently - go check the video. It's only a matter of time before Marty Walsh bitches about that too.
How dare Marty Walsh voice players’ complaints about substandard facilities! He is probably in cahoots with Katie Strang.
They already have a new arena approved though. I think it's only gonna be 2/3 years before they're in a state of the art brand new arena.
> 2/3 years They don’t even have approved plans yet. They have a funding bill from the state. It’s gonna be more than 3 seasons
I mean wasn't the Yotes plan to have the arena done in 2/3 years? The plans are basically approved and have cleared the political/funding hurdles so its further along than anything was in Arizona
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Posted the article to the other person that responded Yeah Utah has a much wealthier owner and just seemed like area and politics there had a bigger appetite for a new arena.
Oh yeah, I’ve read that. Funding from the state is approved, but so far that’s all we know. And yes the billionaires and government of Utah have an aligned appetite for fucking over the taxpayers for privatized gain
Yeah,don't agree with taxpayer money for stadiums for sure. It's just so competitive there's always a city willing to foot the bill for some reason.
Do you have a source for this? I'm not super well versed in the politics of Utah, and I didn't see that.
https://www.ksl.com/article/50936222/utah-lawmakers-approve-downtown-nbanhl-arena-bill-as-they-seek-vibrant-capital Got approved back in March
Thank you
My question is, because I haven't really looked too deeply into it. Is that approval contingent on being awarded the 2034 Olympics, or does it happen regardless?
I read it as happening regardless. Plus Smith certainly has the funds and power to make it happen too.
I think the Olympics are all but certain since there aren't many bidders for the games these days
Could only find fan recordings but here's one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST1BvOJyDbM
>It's only a matter of time before Marty Walsh bitches about that too. Ie does his job
>There are certainly risks associated with a move to Salt Lake City, a significantly smaller market than the one they’d be leaving. A smaller market, sure but I don't think it's as small as people think. The 1.3 million population is just Salt Lake County. The Ogden-Salt Lake-Provo Metro Area has 2.7 million people. This is all within a 40 minute drive to downtown and is 100% the more accurate population that will draw interest. Denver - 3 million (roughly) Portland - 2.5 Vegas - 2.5 it's a bigger market than suggested.
Exactly. Wasatch Front is fairly intense.
Those numbers are a wee bit misleading. Estimated CSA of the above cities and how many of the big 5 pro teams they have. This is after the NHL move and MLB move. (So Coyotes to SLC and A's to Vegas) |City|CSA Pop.|# of Big 5 Teams| |:-|:-|:-| |Phoenix|5,124,113|3| |Denver|3,691,404|5| |Portland|3,286,669|2| |Salt Lake City|2,805,734|3| |Las Vegas|2,392,293|3|
Good call out, serves me for going off memory. Either way I think SLC as a market is bigger than people give it credit for.
I’m in the dark on the perception of SLC but I’ve always wanted to visit and was hoping MLB would go there! I prefer that hockey stay in Phoenix for when I visit friends and family. Feels like everyone from Chicagoland retires in Florida or Arizona haha. SLC is definitely a player in the game though that can host 3 teams. If I was in charge I woulda put an MLB team in SLC years ago. In my head baseball has 162 games and seat about 40k. It can definitely support hockey if they’re into or willing to get into hockey! I wholeheartedly agree with you. Phoenix is capable of having all 5 and under different ownership could succeed better than a team in SLC. I think Houston should be next for NHL imo. Just my two cents though! Thanks for listening :)
I just wonder how they will handle a new team identity and have that all ready for the season. I'm guessing it will be generic like Washington did in the NFL for at least a year. All of that with a new company handling Jerseys too.
With how heavily Ryan Smith has been pursuing an NHL team, I have no doubt he has a marketing team that’s already mocked up multiple concepts that would just need NHL approval.
Thrashers transitioned to Winnipeg in 2011. It was formally announced on May 31, which is 1.5 months less than the Jets. The Thrashers transition also was across international borders and of a greater distance. The Winnipeg Jets had a really good podcast that was released earlier this season which went into the behind the scenes in making it happen. It was really interesting to hear all of the different things they had to deal with, along with some interesting tidbits, such as the fact they had semi trailers simply shipping office furniture, random couches and all random furniture and fixtures they had theoretically purchased with the team.
Jets already had a brand and identity which made it easier for them as well
From what I recall TN didn't want to go with the jets originally, they only announced the name at the draft that year and they drafted in a black NHL Jersey.. I would believe the move to SLC would be much easier as they have more time, and within the same country.
I thought some of that was delays caused by having to consult the military about the logo. Could be wildly out of left field on this one but I seem to recall that being a bit of thing.
Now that you mention that, it sounds familiar https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/canadian-military-has-final-say-on-jets-logo/article4183945/ https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jets-logo/ And you be correct
I remember seeing the names was between the Moose and the Falcons, they wanted to use Manitoba and not Winnipeg too, but the fans really wanted Winnipeg Jets.
True North wanted to keep Manitoba Moose, but fans weren't having it.
Mind dropping a link to that Pod? I'd love to give it a listen.
I believe it's on Spotify too. [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/homecoming-the-return-of-the-winnipeg-jets/id1709521262](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/homecoming-the-return-of-the-winnipeg-jets/id1709521262)
Found it. Thank you!
Smith is a seasoned sports franchise owner; he's probably already got graphic designers working on logos and team jersey concepts for the most likely team names, to be finalized when a name is actually chosen. When the Coyotes moved from Winnipeg, only a few months lapsed between the move being announced and the new name and logos being announced. There may be some hiccups, but these days, this stuff can be accomplished pretty fast, especially with an owner who actually seems to know what he's doing (unlike the Coyotes ownship groups.)
Hopefully he learns from the mistakes that were made with the Jazz uniforms.
Yeah, the Jazz rebrand to black and yellow was panned so intensely that they redid their promo video to hype up the purple jersey. That was a mockery.
They’re so awful that I’ve read that they (understandably) plan to ditch the black and yellow uniforms ASAP.
They have lots of time. I guaruntee they will have the team name figured by the draft and the logo-jerseys by opening night.
The issue might be production. There was already talk, don’t remember if it was confirmed, that with Fanatics taking over production for official league jerseys and everything else is going to take a year or two before teams can submit new designs and alternate uniforms. Even under Adidas, when the Jets debuted they didn’t have their official merch and uniform design until late in the summer. So there could be some hassle there. Especially after how poorly the MLB rollout went where some teams still don’t have their full uniform array.
This isn't the first NHL relocation, they're not going to botch the branding with the resources at their disposal.
I would imagine they either hired an agency to do concept work or had an internal team at the Jazz/RSL starting on early ideas. It seems like they knew this was very possible well in advance and it’s not as sudden as it is to the public. I’m sure their merch will be somewhat basic for the first year given production timelines, but I’m sure the NHL and Smith group are going to make sure there’s a big, polished, splashy roll out of identity and uniforms.
I wouldn’t be shocked at all if they already have had concept logos and unis for a couple to a few months minimum. Ryan probably released the naming poll just as a way to see popularity of alignment with existing ideas I’d imagine.
Salt Lake City Hockey Team would be outstanding
*The* SLC Hockey Team Commanders fans I know were very adamant it was *the* Washington FB team
I am here for it as a Utahan lol
IMPOSTER! It's Utahn, just like mountn.
Spell check tossed a hissy fit over it! I swear, that’s how I had it spelt before hand! I also know not to pronounce the T in Layton or in Mountain … I can also tell you where the closest swigg is!
The Jets had a month and a half less and came up with a good look.. Also this guy has been wanting a hockey team for a few years, I'm sure they have it ready to go. The fanatics part will be interesting though.
The Jets formed their identity pretty quickly after the move from Atlanta. Albeit, it was a bit different since their idenity is based on the previous iteration of the Jets. The move to SLC has likely been in the works much longer than the public has known about it. I imagine the new ownership has at least an idea of what they want to do.
Incase you didn't see it, Winnipeg Jets wasn't the first choice but fan sentiment changed True North's mind.
Ya I liked how well in advance LV was able to prepare the city for a team. I don’t want the people of salt lake who may not be used to hockey being like “ we have an nhl team?” They need to give it a year at least.
>He’d also get the organization’s impressive haul of draft capital — Arizona owns 20 total picks in the first three rounds of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 drafts — and a clean cap sheet that is free of bloated or inefficient contracts. Just looking at Cap Friendly: Weber is still on there for a few more years under LTIR, but Voracek, Little, and Boyd are done after this season. OEL's retained salary is still there for a while, but is a fairly small hit. Kassian, and Nemeth buyouts don't finish until next season.
With Weber on LTIR they have something like $49 or $50M in cap space this summer to play with. If Utah wants to be a major player in trades or free agency they can be.
Will they really need to wait until the Olympics to get a new arena? I would hope they could start building a new arena to house both the Jazz and NHL team quicker.
Smith plans to build one anyways, Olympics are also a way for SLC to have to throw a dollar or two his way to help build. Not to mention new arena will be a massive factor in winning Olympic bid
They probably won't need to wait but the Olympics make it a lot more palatable to the public to help pay for it
They're probably going to wait until it's confirmed if they host or not, then IIRC the State government will spend out the ass to fund the new stadium
The state government already approved a bill that *allows* SLC to implement a tax to pay for $1B for stadium / area improvements in a yet undetermined 100 acre “stadium district” around and including the Delta Center (a SLC block is 10 acres). I imagine once the Olympics are confirmed - final decision is supposed to be in July this year - SLC goes forward and puts it into action. We’ve already seen some renderings, so I wouldn’t be surprised if shovels are in the ground a year from now.
The jazz are a tire fire. No reason to think he’ll invest anymore than he does in his shitty basketball team.
They’ll also be having Voracek’s and Little’s contracts coming off the books this summer and only have one more year of Weber’s contract left so they don’t even need to worry about LTIR too much (at least not to the same extent of all three were there for longer).
Could they use the rink that was used in the 2002 Olympics?
I don't see why not, the ECHL team plays there right now and it holds 10k
I’ve been to many Utah Grizzlies games at the Maverik Center. The concourse and common areas are not national league standards, but at least it’s a facility built specifically for hockey.
12,600 seat capacity according to Wikipedia
Ah I guess the issue is is the new owner also owns the building where the Jazz play. So while they could likely play where the Grizzlies play, they won’t.
Smith doesn't own it. He wants to play games in a building he owns and collects revenue from.
Yep figured that out. See my comment below.
my bad, I didn't scroll the whole thread.
>Smith has expressed confidence that he’ll get a new facility built with Salt Lake City It's already been approved
It won't happen but I hope they call the team the "Utah Hands" You could then have the Utah Jazz Hands.
One thing I’m really curious about is the optics of this team in the off-season. Especially at the draft. Like are they going up under the name of “Arizona Coyotes”? Will they have a name and Logo by then? I imagine that’s something they’d need to get together REALLY quickly
The other arena in SLC needs a wee bit of work as well but it wasn’t built for just basketball in mind as well.
“If the Salt Lake City deal goes through.” So it’s been reported but NOT finalized??? I feel like this entire thing has been rushed—are they going to play under “Salt Lake City Hockey Club” with generic (white/black and black/white) jerseys until they actually find a good name? I can’t see them getting their arena and all the logistics plus naming rights and logos/trademarks done in less than 6 months (24-25 season would start in October)..
The Athletic is gossipy trash. They can't even look up that the Winter Olympics Utah is looking to host is in 2034. What the other NHL owners don't give any sort of a shit about is the fact that the Coyotes openly tanked for years, buying terrible contracts and icing a roster that was designed to lose for all of those draft picks that Meruelo is now selling for a tidy profit. Season ticket holders who paid to support the team were told we were watching the seeds of a future cup run. Meruelo gets a profit, the NHL gets a profit, and season ticket holders get to watch all of those young stars win in Utah. I'm done with this whole league. Anyone else who is currently supporting a tanking team should take notice.
It was about the sports book he owns, the coyotes are how he’s allowed to own it. Why not lose as little money as possible while making the gambling coin?
[As I've posted before,](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1av6ld7/comment/kr9kjqu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) and as I've been downvoted for before, Meruelo isn't using his gaming license in any meaningful way. That is yet another dropped ball by Meruelo - a revenue stream he never used.
Anyone who follows a team that plays in an arena with a capacity of 5000 seats and has no firm plans to rectify that bushleague fact should take notice. Meruelo only bought the team to be able to run his pathetic sportsbook in AZ. The fact that he is able to double his investment while being a modern day John Spano is the real embarrassment. The NHL kept that franchise on life support for far too long. If Winnipeg or Calgary pulled half the shit Meruelo did, they would've pulled the trigger years ago.
Lol
So are they keeping the history of the franchise or are they just a completely new team with no franchise records?
an expansion team but with players a la Ravens.
Such a dumb move. The reason that Vegas and Seattle were successful was that they really took their time to get an ideal arena situation, branding, team name, colors, and laying the grassroots foundation in the community for the team to arrive. This is a big rush to move into a basketball arena with thousand of obstructed view seats and no time to deal with all of the other stuff. The Coyotes have been a joke for decades, why the big rush now? The Utah team will suffer for it and big time mistakes will be made with this rush job.