Utah Jazz Owners Say They Have The Immediate Ability To Bring An NHL Team To Salt Lake City – News18

The house owners of the NBA’s Utah Jazz mentioned Wednesday they’ve the quick potential to carry an NHL staff to Salt Lake City and requested the initiation of an growth course of.

The Smith Entertainment Group mentioned in a information launch it could use the Jazz’s enviornment as an interim house for an NHL franchise. SEG CEO Ryan Smith mentioned the corporate is “100% focused on making this happen as soon as possible.’

Talks between Smith and the league have been going on since 2022. The NHL said in a statement it appreciates the interest.

“During conversations over the course of the past two years, we have been impressed by Ryan and Ashley Smith’s commitment to their community and their passion and vision for Utah, not only as a hockey market but as a preeminent sports and entertainment destination,” the league mentioned in an announcement. “Utah is a promising market, and we look forward to continuing our discussions.”

The announcement comes previous the halfway level of the hockey season and with remaining uncertainty about the way forward for the Arizona Coyotes, who’re taking part in a second season in 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe. League and NHLPA leaders mentioned final yr they want a decision ahead of later a few lengthy-time period future for the Coyotes within the Phoenix space.

The Coyotes declined touch upon the Salt Lake City launch. They have been adamant about remaining in Arizona regardless of a failed enviornment vote in Tempe final yr.

President and CEO Xavier Gutierrez mentioned in June the staff had recognized six potential websites for a privately funded enviornment. The Coyotes introduced in August that proprietor Alex Meruelo executed a letter of intent to purchase a chunk of land for a possible enviornment in Mesa, Arizona.

After a collection of questions in regards to the Coyotes on the league’s pre-Stanley Cup Final information convention in June, deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed conversations with Smith and his curiosity in bringing the NHL to Salt Lake City.

Daly additionally mentioned the league has been constant in saying that growth wasn’t on the prime of its precedence checklist. The NHL has 32 groups, identical because the NFL and two greater than the NBA and Major League Baseball. It added the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken in 2021.

“You look at market, you look at ownership, you look at arena and you look at does it make the league stronger,” commissioner Gary Bettman mentioned. “And I think it’s fair to say that the last two expansions, Vegas and Seattle, have made the league stronger.”

Bettman known as Arizona a terrific and rising market, including that the staff has been “a little bit of a victim of circumstance.” The Coyotes have undergone a collection of possession modifications and performed in numerous arenas across the space — most lately in Glendale earlier than transferring to Tempe.

“We’re in a better position to resist moving than maybe we were 20 or 30 years ago,” Bettman mentioned June 3. “We want to make sure we explore all options at this stage of where we are before we would consider having to relocate a club, and I’m hopeful we won’t have to.”

Five NHL exhibition video games had been held on the Delta Center, the house of the Jazz, since 2018. SEG mentioned the situation for a possible new enviornment designed for hockey is but to be decided.

Utah governor Spencer Cox mentioned the state’s historical past with hockey, robust economic system, passionate sports activities followers and younger and lively inhabitants make it ripe for the addition of one other staff, whereas Salt Lake City bids for the 2034 Winter Olympics.

“With the Olympic bid underway, our long-standing reputation as one of the greatest winter sports capitals in the world, and with the proven leadership of Ryan and Ashley Smith and SEG in our community, I am extremely optimistic about the future of Utah,” Cox mentioned in an announcement.

Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Olympics, the second with NHL gamers. The ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies presently play in West Valley City within the suburbs.

“There is so much momentum happening at the state level around global sports and sports infrastructure,” Smith mentioned. “While Delta Center is ready to serve as an interim solution for an NHL team, Utah will need a new arena designed for professional and Olympic hockey.”

___

AP Sports Writer John Marshall in Phoenix contributed.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)