There’s less than a month remaining before the first event at the Delta Center since beginning an unprecedented renovation project. On Thursday morning, Smith Entertainment Group released a video explaining the changes.
The most significant portion was a visual demonstration of how the new “triple scissor riser” bleacher system works. They engineered the lift specifically for this arena to allow the lower-bowl bleachers to sit in a number of positions, giving spectators an optimal viewpoint for each event.
The video shows the risers moving both up and down as well as in and out. It notes that there will be 68 risers for hockey and 80 for basketball.
“This allows us to literally press a button and have a different configuration each night for concerts, for the Olympics, for everything else that’s coming,” said Ryan Smith, chairman of SEG, in the video.
This, among many other things, was part of phase one in the arena’s three-phase renovation plan. SEG intends to spend the next two summers improving the rest of the building, including the upper-bowl seats — which will not have significant view improvements this season.
“Starting from the ground up, we’re truly working our way so that every seat has full-goal, full-hoops view, without changing the experience,” Smith said.
It will also increase the seating capacity of the arena, with hockey jumping from 11,131 (plus 4,889 obstructed-view seats) to approximately 17,000. Basketball capacity will jump from 18,206 to nearly 19,000.
The next event at the Delta Center is the Utah Mammoth’s Oct. 2 preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings.
What did it take to renovate the Delta Center this quickly?
While the Jazz and Mammoth want to participate in postseason action this spring, the construction workers would be pleased to have the extra time to work on the project.
As reported by the Deseret News in August, 200-300 workers occupy the Delta Center on any given day, working two shifts spanning from 6 a.m. to midnight. About 500 people will work on the arena each summer, putting in about 3.5 million labor hours.
“All we’re focusing on right now as far as the arena goes is the lower bowl,” said Harmon Tobler, project director for Okland Construction, the project’s general contractor. “We tried to do as much as we could this year, but the design is still in progress for the upper bowl.”
Okland has lined up 33 trade partners — they’re not called subcontractors anymore — with expertise and experience in various areas of construction to work on the renovations. Those trade partners, he said, have to use their knowledge to maintain progress.
