DELTA CENTER
STADIUM DUDE’S NHL ARENA RANK: #32
ARENA INFORMATION
- Location: Salt Lake City, UT
- Opened: 1991
- Capacity: 16,200 (11,131 unobstructed)
- Games attended: 1
- Last visited: 2024
ARENA INFORMATION
I visited Salt Lake City for only the second time in my life in the fall of 2024. I wasn’t in the city long, but it seems like a decent place to live. The airport is an easy one to navigate, and traffic seemed manageable. Despite some archaic liquor laws, there’s a decent little brewing scene. You get lots of sun. And the mountains are impressive. It’s not the most diverse city in America, but it’s not “funless”.
So why was I there? The Coyotes finally got out of Phoenix and put down roots on the Wasatch Front. The soon-to-be Yetis got out of a 5,000-seat college rink and into a legitimate arena that can seat more than 16,000 for hockey. Unfortunately, because it wasn’t built with hockey in mind, 5,000 of those seats are obstructed view; some very obstructed. It’s a little like a Mormon Barclay’s Center is that it’s a good arena that simply wasn’t built for an NHL sized hockey rink. Although, unlike Barclay’s, at least the scoreboard is centered. Nevertheless, for now, it sits last among the current arenas.
THIS MAY EVENTUALLY WORK
SLC is just big enough to support a couple of pro teams, so I think once the market learns the game of hockey, it will be OK. The owner has deep pockets. And there’s a major renovation plan in the works.
But right now, it’s definitely a work-in-progress.
Great Location and Good Bones
The rink sits on the outskirts of downtown SLC. But unlike other downtown arenas, ingress and egress seemed really easy. Parking wasn’t crazy expensive. The Trax Light Rail had a stop practically on the doorstep. For out-of-towners, there are several hotels closer than most parking lots if you want to be in bed quickly after a game. And being in a central business district, there are several pregame restaurants and watering holes within a short walk of the rink.
The rink was first opened in 1991. As such, there is a more modest level of club suites, meaning the upper deck is closer to the action. Seats are wide at 20 inches, so you don’t feel squished in. The incline is fairly steep which helps with visibility over the row in front of you. The multiple renovations over the years has equipped the building with a nice scoreboard, lots of secondary display panels, and a relatively fresh feel inside. The guts are good.
Strong Game Day Presentation
The area has been in operation with the Jazz for a long time, so they’ve already figured out concession throughput. There seemed to be a lot of ice cream and sweets for sale, which is odd for a cold-weather sport like hockey. (Are frozen dairy treats the Mormon vice?) There were some local offerings, a limited craft beer selection, and the “usual suspects” at the efficient concession stands. Washroom lines move very quickly even between periods; perhaps the quickest of any arena that I’ve visited (I’m not sure the Utah fans have figured out the cadence of a hockey game yet, so it was really easy to hit a restroom as soon as the period siren hit and avoid the usual massive lines). They have the “nuts and bolts” of running an event down.
I’ll give Big Kudos to the pre-game presentation. A solid show with state-of-the-art on-ice projections is almost now table stakes. The UHC took a step further by augmenting the on-ice projections by using all the ribbon boards as well as the main 2,900 square-foot scoreboard to create a winter wonderland. They even pumped fake snow in the stands for a 4D effect. The Minnesota Vikings do something similar, but the intimacy of the hockey rink made it work much better. It was kewl.
The in-game atmosphere was pretty standard. The Hockey Club has borrowed Jazz Bear for their inaugural season until they get their own mascot. The in-rink announcer is a little over-the-top cheeseball, but the production crew really, really tries to get the crowd engaged with lots of “Noise” prompts and solid between-play A/V entertainment.
So Why Is It Rink #32? Too Many Bad Seats
Hockey has a much larger playing surface than basketball. If the arena is planned for hockey, it’s relatively easy to accommodate basketball. It’s much harder to go the other way.
Almost all upper deck seats behind the goals have a limited-to-no view of the closest net. In some of the back seats, you can barely see half the face-off circle. In fact, the team doesn’t even sell the “single goal” seats for weekday games, meaning you’ll have large empty sections unless you’re there for a high-demand weekend tilt. The scoreboard is a good size and mitigates that issue somewhat, but not seeing one of the goals in a hockey rink is major. It’s arguably worse than having the pitching mound or batter’s box blocked in a ball park. It’s a massive flaw, even if it’s temporary.
Will Re-evaluate After the Renovations
At the end of the day though, one NHL arena has to finish last in the rankings. If you have a good unobstructed seat on a high-demand game when the building is full, there’s no way it’s the 32nd best arena. There is too much good here. Alas, the Delta Center’s issues are the biggest among all NHL barns, earning it the #32 slot. Let’s hope the renovations work, and hockey can thrive at 4,265 feet above sea level.
