NASA and the Utah Mammoth have one thing in common: They’re boldly going where no one has gone before.
The former, of course, sent a team of astronauts beyond the moon last week, marking the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth.
The latter’s project isn’t quite as ambitious, but it will pique people’s interest all the same: a mammoth-shaped Zamboni designed to carry eight fans at a time.
They call it the “Zammoth.”
“It’s an opportunity for our fans to engage with the crowd,” said Chris Barney, president of revenue and commercial strategy for Smith Entertainment Group. “It puts them down on the ice where their heroes are playing. A lot of people don’t get the opportunity to be down there on the ice. It’s one more example of us trying to do that.”
The Zammoth, whose base comes from a Zamboni used at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, will take a hot lap before each Mammoth game and at the beginning of every intermission. It no longer functions as an ice-cleaning machine — the other Zambonis will take care of that afterwards.
Fans might remember it from when Utah-based content creator HeavyDSparks mentioned in a February video that his team, Diesel Brothers, was working on a half-million-dollar Zamboni for the Mammoth. This is the completed project.
The concept of a rideable Zamboni isn’t unique to the Mammoth. The Florida Panthers and the Columbus Blue Jackets have similar machines, which was the foundation of this idea. But the Mammoth wanted to build on that idea.
“Sometimes, the best ideas are found from other people and then taking them and kind of putting them on steroids,” Barney said. “You don’t always have to innovate your own idea. There’s great ideas out there that you can take and add your of flair to it, and I think this is one more example of that.”
Interestingly, it wasn’t always the plan to tie the Zammoth to the 2002 Olympics. When SEG began its search for the base of a Zamboni to use for the project, someone threw out the idea of using that one, which they already had sitting in the Delta Center.
“I don’t think it’s something that somebody shows up to a hockey game expecting (to see), but our goal has been to continue to surprise and delight our fans and give them ways to interact with the brand and the team,” Barney said.
The Zammoth will be on display on the plaza at the Delta Center for the next several games after Tuesday to give fans the chance to see it up close.
The team has not released information on how fans can sign up to ride the Zammoth, but those details will come shortly.