Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino didn’t wake up one morning thinking his company that puts on thousands of live music shows around the world should build a concert venue in Salt Lake City.
But a proposal from Smith Entertainment Group chairman and CEO Ryan Smith changed that.
“He’s got magic in him that I just saw and wanted to be part of,” Rapino said. “We couldn’t turn it down.”
SEG and Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment promoter, announced a joint venture at a press conference Tuesday to build a 6,000-seat indoor music venue as part of the planned sports, entertainment, culture and convention district in downtown Salt Lake City.
Smith called Live Nation his company’s “No.1 target” after renovation of the Delta Center began in April and said it falls in line with an effort to bring “cool things” to Utah.
It is the first of what SEG says will be many major announcements regarding its plans for the area between the Delta Center and the Salt Palace Convention Center, which will be the heart of the new downtown district. “This is the first anchor that sits between two other anchors but we will build around this,” Smith said.
Where and when will the music venue be built?
“Our goal has always been to bring enormous opportunities to downtown. Once the transformation of Delta Center was underway, partnering with Live Nation on what a world-class concert venue could look like in downtown became a top priority,” Smith said in a press release.
SEG owns the Delta Center as well as the Utah Jazz and Utah Mammoth, which will begin its second season in Salt Lake City this fall. Renovation of the arena to accommodate both NBA basketball and NHL hockey will continue for the next two off-seasons.
Details of exactly where and when the concert venue would be built were sparse. Mike Maughan, SEG executive and downtown project principal, said demolition of the mid-block area between the Salt Palace and the Delta Center will begin in 2027. Construction of the venue would begin after that somewhere on those 6.5 acres, he said.
Maughan said SEG is in the early stages of identifying an architect for the mid-block project. “We are putting together our phasing plan. We know this will be a central component,” he said.
Live Nation Entertainment expanding nationwide
SEG is looking to attract the “best and most influential brands in the world to invest” in the state, he said.
The new venue expects to host 200 events a year, including 80 to 100 concerts as well as corporate, conference and community events. It aims to “fill a gap in the market” per SEG, and marks Live Nation’s only purpose-built, large indoor venue in the Salt Lake City area.
Rapino called 6,000 seats the “sweet spot” for up-and-coming musical artists who can’t fill an arena but are too big to play clubs, as well as mature artists looking for a more intimate setting. Live Nation will operate the building.
Live Nation is expanding its presence in sports and entertainment districts nationwide. Current venues include the MGM Music Hall at Boston’s Fenway Park, with upcoming projects such as Citizens at The Wylie in Pittsburgh, a downtown Indianapolis venue with Boxcar Development and a new venue in downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Yards.
Rapino said the company has 40 projects on the docket but most of them are in mixed-use developments and that building in a downtown is a rare opportunity.
“Utah is a great market for live music, and Smith Entertainment Group is the right partner to help us deliver a world-class venue to fans in Salt Lake City,” Rapino said in the release. “SEG’s incredible vision for the downtown district aligns with our mission to expand access to live music. This venue will be a hub for unforgettable experiences, connecting fans with the artists they love.”
Live Nation partnered with the University of Utah for a Billy Joel concert at Rice-Eccles Stadium earlier this year but that show was ultimately canceled after the “Piano Man” revealed a brain disorder.
Is there room for another downtown Salt Lake venue?
The Delta Center will continue to host concerts and other entertainment events for 12,000 to 19,000 attendees, while the new venue will serve artists seeking a “best-in-class, mid-size indoor option” for 2,000 to 6,000 attendees, according to SEG.
In addition to the Delta Center, the downtown area already has several large gathering spots, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Conference Center, Salt Palace Convention Center, Eccles Theater and Abravanel Hall.
Multiple events on a single night could make for a crowded downtown.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendehall called it a “fantastic” announcement for the city and the state and not duplicative of existing venues. It brings a new level of the entertainment spectrum that would be flying over Salt Lake City otherwise, she said.
The city is working with the Utah Department of Transportation, the Salt Lake Chamber and downtown property owners to come up with a better parking navigation and way-finding system in the city center. “You’ll see progress on the commuting, residential and parking front from the city and I believe in conjunction with UDOT,” she said.
Also Tuesday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans to close and tear down the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel it owns just west of Temple Square. The hotel is not part of the city’s planned sports and entertainment zone but sits just outside of it at 122 W. South Temple.
The church in a press release cited rising costs “to maintain, operate and update its aging structure” as reasons for the closure. Initial plans call for the site to be used for parking in support of the Salt Lake Temple open house, set to begin in April 2027.
How is the entertainment district funded?
The downtown sports, entertainment, culture and convention district would be built with a combination of private and public funds.
SEG intends to put $3 billion into redeveloping a three-block area in the city center, which includes reconfiguring the arena entrance to face east, pedestrian plazas, building a residential tower and a hotel and providing retail and restaurant space.
The plans, which aim to better connect the east and west sides of downtown, will impact the Salt Palace Convention Center, Abravanel Hall, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and Japantown Street.
Salt Lake City approved creation of the district, including raising sales tax in the city to help pay for downtown development. The tax hike is anticipated to generate $1.2 billion over the 30-year life of the agreement, $900 million of which would go to SEG to repay bonds for the project. The company estimates it will spend $600 million on the Delta Center remodel and $300 million on the other district improvements.