Two NBA teams, the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards, are reportedly exploring the possibility of new arenas outside their current downtown locations.
The ownership group of the Utah Jazz have been in discussions about building a new arena complex approximately 20 miles south of downtown Salt Lake City. The Jazz have played in the Delta Center in the urban core of Salt Lake City since 1991. A new arena complex would not only benefit the Jazz, but also would be seen as a move to position the metropolitan area to gain an NHL franchise through either relocation or expansion. Rumors of the NHL’s interest in the Salt Lake market have increased over the past several months. The Delta Center is considered to be not optimal for housing an NHL franchise. A new complex would be built at a location referred to as “Point of the Mountain” in Draper, Utah, located on the north-south running Interstate 15 between Salt Lake City and Provo. Jazz owner Ryan Smith has been outspoken in his desire to bring the NHL to Utah. The mayor of Salt Lake City has indicated the city itself will fight to keep the team from moving to the suburbs.
Across the country in Washington, DC, lawmakers across the Potomac River in suburban Alexandria, Virginia are reportedly considering a deal to attract the NBA’s Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals. The proposed agreement would include a practice facility and a mixed-use development, totaling $2 billion, with new hotels, a convention center, housing, and shopping also a part of the plans. On Wednesday morning, the Associated Press reported that Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin had reached a tentative agreement with the parent company of the Wizards and Capitals to move the teams from Capital One Arena in the Chinatown neighborhood in downtown D.C. Ahead of the announcement, Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled a counterproposal aimed at keeping the teams in the district through modernization of Capital One Arena.
These potential moves echo recent trends in the NBA, where teams have explored the construction of new arenas of the relocation of existing ones. The Los Angeles Clippers are set to move to the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California next season, while the Philadelphia 76ers are been looking to the possibility of constructing a new arena in the Center City area in the downtown core.