The past, present and future of professional sports in Salt Lake City were prominent in 2024, and promise to reshape the city in the years to come.

The Salt Lake Bees played their last game at Smith’s Ballpark in September. The Utah Hockey Club played its first game at the Delta Center in October. The pitch to land a Major League Baseball team continues forward.

Salt Lake City has suddenly become home to two major league sports franchises, with high hopes for a third. Once the only game in town, the Utah Jazz suddenly have company with a second major sports franchise moving into not only their city but their building. And Utah HC’s arrival triggered an ambitious proposal to remake downtown.

An equally ambitious development project is in the works on the city’s west side, where a big league baseball stadium would be built if a team comes to Utah.

While billionaire owners are investing big money, advancing their plans to lift the city’s pro sports profile as well as its cultural and economic prospects, state and local lawmakers jumped on the bandwagon, passing legislation, signing development agreements and providing taxpayer dollars to make them a reality.

Here’s a look at some of the key moments that made 2024 a pivotal year in Salt Lake City’s history.

Utah Hockey Club arrives

Fans line the front plaza of the Delta Center as they wait for the players of the Utah Hockey Club to arrive for the inaugural season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks in Salt Lake City, on Monday Oct. 7, 2024.

Ryan and Ashley Smith announced the purchase of the Arizona Coyotes in April, bringing the NHL to Utah faster than anyone expected. Smith Entertainment Group scrambled over the next six months to put the temporarily named Utah Hockey Club on the ice for the 2024-25 season, including finding practice ice, Delta Center modifications for fans and players, ticketing, uniforms, staffing, sponsorships and broadcasting. It all came together in October when the team beat the Chicago Blackhawks in the season opener.

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Utah Hockey Club fan Braxton Hull puts on a team sweater at a press conference at Delta Center plaza in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024.

Downtown Salt Lake City revitalization

The Salt Palace near the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
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The hockey team’s emergence acted as a catalyst for a proposed downtown sports, entertainment, culture and convention zone in a three-block area east of the Delta Center. SEG plans to put $3 billion into demolishing part of the Salt Lake Convention Center for a pedestrian plaza, residential tower and high-rise hotel. Salt Lake City will raise its sales tax starting Jan. 1 to generate $900 million to help pay for remodeling the arena to accommodate hockey and basketball and other improvements in the zone. What might become of iconic Abravanel Hall and adjacent Japantown Street stirred controversy. City, county and company officials have made assurances to keep the home of the Utah Symphony intact and improve the historically significant street.

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Salt Lake Bees move

Alyhani Medina poses for a photo with Bumble before entering the stadium to watch the Salt Lake Bees in one of their last games at Smith’s Ballpark on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

In September, the Salt Lake Bees Triple-A baseball team played its last game at Smith’s Ballpark, located a little over a mile from the city center. The Larry H. Miller Company is moving the team to a new stadium it is building in South Jordan, about 20 miles to the southwest. The Bees, also called the Buzz and Stingers throughout the years, played in the ballpark since it opened in 1994 as Franklin Quest Field. The park, too, had several names as sponsors changed, including Franklin Covey Field and Spring Mobile Ballpark. The Bees will start to play at the new stadium in 2025.

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Construction continues on a baseball stadium in the Daybreak neighborhood of South Jordan on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. When finished, the ballpark will become the new home of the Salt Lake Bees. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Smith’s Ballpark future

Salt Lake Bees fans watch as the Bees play in one of their last games at Smith’s Ballpark against Oklahoma City on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

The city has yet to decide what to do with the former home of the Salt Lake Bees. The University of Utah baseball team will continue to play in the park through the 2025 season. After that, city officials are considering several plans, including tearing it down. In December, the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City pared the field’s future to three options to preserve, adapt or rebuild:

  • Transform the 30-year-old ballpark into a year-round venue for professional, amateur and community sports. The renovated stadium would provide a space for a farmers market, festivals on West Temple and local retail.
  • Partially tear down the stadium but retrofit the west side as a venue for performances and community events, with green space for gatherings and festivals, natural walkways and art installations.
  • Tear down the building, bring the three creeks beneath 1300 South to the surface and embed park spaces throughout the site.
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West side revitalization

In February, the Larry H. Miller Company announced plans to put $3.5 billion into a mixed-use development on Salt Lake City’s long-overlooked west side, including a potential Major League Baseball stadium. The Utah Legislature passed a bill that would raise the rental car tax to generate $900 million to help pay for the ballpark construction should a big league team come to Utah. Municipal leaders also came out in strong support of the project, saying it would boost the economic prospects of the west side. The project includes new headquarters for Rocky Mountain Power, green space and trails, a beautified Jordan River, housing and retail. In December, the Salt Lake City Council rezoned 93 acres the Miller Company owns from the Jordan River to Redwood Road and North Temple to I-80. It also signed a development agreement with the company.

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