The update comes after Salt Lake City Council members received a memo from Salt Lake City Attorney Katie Lewis on Thursday requesting a final briefing before a potential vote along with some final tweaks to the agreement, some of which reflect feedback from the NBA and NHL.
Salt Lake City Takes Key Step to Handing NBA, NHL Owner Ryan Smith $900 Million
- The agreement would send nearly $1 billion in public money to Smith Entertainment Group.
- The state still needs to approve the deal, which would be finalized with a tax increase.
Salt Lake City set to vote on finalizing Delta Center zone partnership after final tweaks
SALT LAKE CITY — It appears Salt Lake City is ready to decide on whether to finalize its agreement with Smith Entertainment Group on a partnership agreement and sales tax increase that would facilitate major changes to and around the Delta Center.
The Salt Lake City Council on Friday released its tentative agenda for its meetings on Tuesday, which includes potential votes on a resolution to
- accept the final participation agreement,
- project area and project participant designation,
- as well as an ordinance approving a 0.5% citywide sales tax increase.
- She wrote that the Smith Entertainment Group and SEG Real Estate — an entity added to the agreement — should have lease agreements with Salt Lake County and the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City by July 1, 2025.
- That's also the deadline for Smith to have received $900 million from bond issuers for projects including the renovation of the Delta Center to accommodate both the Utah Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club.
Another adjustment clarifies that Smith Entertainment Company's "responsibility to repay bonds is limited to the proceeds" of the 0.5% sales tax increase. The proposed ordinance adopting the 0.5% sales tax for the next 30 years notes that sales tax funds can be used to remodel the Delta Center and other projects within the zone that improve downtown.
Smith Entertainment Group expects to begin its multiyear renovation of the Delta Center in 2025 and complete it in phases by October 2027, but another adjustment handles concerns over any potential construction delays.
- The Jazz and Utah Hockey Club could temporarily play at an alternate site without violating a clause forcing the teams to play every home game at the Delta Center if renovation "renders the arena unusable."
- The company is required to use "commercially reasonable efforts to identify an alternate site with Salt Lake City boundaries" in this scenario. Lewis previously explained there would be a provision allowing one-off games at alternate sites, in case Salt Lake City is ever selected to host an event like the NHL Winter Classic.
Meanwhile, members of the Utah Legislature's Revitalization Zone Committee, which voted earlier this month to support the deal, also submitted a final recommendation letter Thursday.
- In it, they wrote that they believe the city should be "willing" to use a portion of the fee to address homelessness mitigation and public safety concerns "if needed."
That is something expected to be sorted out as Smith Entertainment Group seeks a lease agreement with the county.
It's worth noting that the agreement says modifications to 300 West would seek to link the Delta Center to the Salt Palace Convention Center, Abravanel Hall and "the rest of downtown" through a new public plaza. The agreement also has language tied to protecting what is left of Salt Lake City's historic Japantown neighborhood.
Committee members added that supporting the plan also doesn't mean that the state is committing funds toward any projects.
Tuesday's potential votes would take place as both the Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club prepare for their respective seasons. The NHL team made its Delta Center debut with a 3-2 preseason win over Los Angeles on Monday, while Jazz will host their preseason home debut on Oct. 4.
It's worth noting that the agreement says modifications to 300 West would seek to link the Delta Center to the Salt Palace Convention Center, Abravanel Hall and "the rest of downtown" through a new public plaza. The agreement also has language tied to protecting what is left of Salt Lake City's historic Japantown neighborhood.
Committee members added that supporting the plan also doesn't mean that the state is committing funds toward any projects.
Tuesday's potential votes would take place as both the Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club prepare for their respective seasons. The NHL team made its Delta Center debut with a 3-2 preseason win over Los Angeles on Monday, while Jazz will host their preseason home debut on Oct. 4.
Under the terms the two sides agreed to, Smith Entertainment Group can collect up to $900 million in bonds for projects to remodel the Delta Center to accommodate professional basketball and hockey teams, which can be repaid through a 0.5% sales tax increase in Salt Lake City over the next 30 years.
- Salt Lake City would receive funds from a new ticket fee to help pay for new affordable housing, public art within the district, and improvements to historic Japantown, which borders the project zone.
A state review
The Salt Lake City Council voted on July 9 to accept a participation agreement with Smith Entertainment Group, but that agreement required state approval from a special committee as outlined in a bill legislators approved in March that set up the process to help Smith Entertainment Group make improvements to the Delta Center.
A lot changed after the vote.
While Jazz owner Ryan Smith had been vocal about bringing the National Hockey League to Utah, too, his effort to purchase and relocate the Arizona Coyotes picked up after the legislative session ended, culminating with an official purchase in April that created the Utah Hockey Club.
- Participation agreement conversations with Salt Lake City leaders also started heating up in April.
- Details of Smith's plans emerged in May, which have centered on a remodeled Delta Center to accommodate both the Jazz and Hockey Club.
- The plans also requested drastic changes to two blocks east of the arena in a potential agreement with Salt Lake County.
Others voiced outright opposition to the deal, questioning why tax money was needed to help a billionaire owner or why the tax burden of a state bill falls entirely on Salt Lake City. Some also asked to include more projects in the funding zone, such as the Rio Grande Plan that would bury railroad tracks west of the arena.
A spokesperson for the city said there's no time line yet for finalizing the deal or considering the tax increase, but the city has until Dec. 31 to vote on whether to adopt any associated sales tax increases.
A spokesperson for the city said there's no time line yet for finalizing the deal or considering the tax increase, but the city has until Dec. 31 to vote on whether to adopt any associated sales tax increases.
- The deal also hinges on agreements between Smith and Salt Lake County, which remain a work in progress.
Billionaire NBA Owner Ryan Smith Scores Some Currency -- $900-Million Salt Lake City Revamp Deal
He wants the NBA's Utah Jazz to play in a revamped arena, flanked by bustling plazas and in the shadow of a new skyscraper.
Local lawmakers have offered $900 million to make sure that happens in Salt Lake City.
Billionaire NBA owner nears $900 million Salt Lake revamp deal
THE DEAL: Smith Entertainment Group — owner of the Jazz, two pro soccer teams and a yet-unnamed National Hockey League club — is proposing a makeover of the city’s downtown that includes a remodeled arena, new hotel and a residential tower that could become the city’s tallest.
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Not everyone likes the idea.
The longest-serving member of the city’s planning commission, Bree Scheer, believes it to be a sweetheart deal with no major benefit for the municipality’s more than 200,000 residents.
“My preference as an urban planner is that we have sports,” Scheer said. “But I don’t see giving away $900 million to the sports guy and giving the land and just rolling over. Because he’s going to make a ton of money.”
Uploaded: May 8, 2024
Most of the subsidy would be spent revamping the existing downtown sports arena, the Delta Center. But the development will also facilitate new business opportunities and cultural happenings and generally enliven the area, a spokesperson for Smith’s group wrote in an emailed statement.
“Smith Entertainment Group is committed to reimagining downtown Salt Lake City to help ensure a vibrant, thriving downtown urban core for generations to come,” the SEG spokesperson said.
Sports owners have long pit cities against one another in attempts to get public funding for stadiums. In April, voters in Missouri rejected a $2 billion subsidy for a stadium renovation for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League and a new ballpark for the Royals of Major League Baseball. Lawmakers in neighboring Kansas then hurried to pass a bill allowing for their state to do what Missouri would not.
The deal that brought an NHL team to Salt Lake City came after voters in Arizona declined to help the Coyotes build a new arena there.
The deal that brought an NHL team to Salt Lake City came after voters in Arizona declined to help the Coyotes build a new arena there.
David Berri, a sports economist and professor at Southern Utah University, said $900 million is a hefty subsidy for something that will not be very lucrative for the taxpayers footing the bill. Deals like this don’t really generate economic growth for cities, he said, but are better thought of as something like a public park.
“Salt Lake City would desperately like to be thought of as a major city, so they need a basketball team,” Berri said.
“It’s unfair because we’re shuffling taxpayer money to someone who’s fabulously wealthy.”
“It’s unfair because we’re shuffling taxpayer money to someone who’s fabulously wealthy.”
Uploaded: Jun 20, 2023
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