The Delta Center is scheduled to reopen in 54 days, when the Utah Mammoth host the Colorado Avalanche for their lone home preseason game of the year.
Ryan Smith, who owns the Mammoth and the Utah Jazz, posted an update over the weekend showing the progress of the arena renovation — and there’s still a long way to go.
This is the second summer of a projected three-year Delta Center renovation to retrofit the NBA stadium for NHL hockey. A hockey rink is much larger than a basketball court, so significant adjustments were necessary to give every seat an unimpeded view.
Among other things, the summer of 2025 involved raising the playing surface by two feet, extending the end zones by 12 feet on each end and installing an adjustable scissor lift bleacher system that can sit at different heights for hockey and basketball.
When the stadium reopened in September 2025, it captured league-wide attention for how steep the lower bowl was. In Smith’s post this weekend, he noted that “the steepness is real in comparison to the old sight lines” in the upper bowl. He also stated that it will have a better view.
Construction crews are currently installing terraces and gondolas to hang over the existing suites on the north/northeast side of the building. Each gondola is projected to seat about 200 people.
A 450-stall parking garage is also set to be completed this year. It has been under construction since 2025.
In 2027, Smith Entertainment Group plans to connect the lower and upper bowls on the south/southwest side of the Delta Center to create one big slope — not unlike “The Wall” at the Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers.
“You’re going to feel that intensity from the floor, you know, all the way up, so that the visiting team can really, they can feel the fans right on top of them,” said Jazz president Jim Olson, who oversees the renovation project, in a video shared by Smith in May. “It’s going to create even a greater home advantage than what we already have.”
SEG’s end goal is for every seat in the building to have a full view for hockey without sacrificing the basketball fans’ experience.
Rendering of the sideline gondola at the Delta Center. | Courtesy of Smith Entertainment Group
Rendering of the terrace-style ledges on the northern/northeastern side of the Delta Center. | Courtesy of Smith Entertainment Group
Rendering of the terrace-style ledges on the northern/northeastern side of the Delta Center. | Courtesy of Smith Entertainment Group
Rendering of the seating slope at the southern/southwestern end of the Delta Center. | Courtesy of Smith Entertainment Group
Full-view rendering of the Utah Jazz’s court after the completion of the Delta Center renovations. | Courtesy of Smith Entertainment Group
Full-view rendering of the Utah Jazz’s court after the completion of the Delta Center renovations. | Courtesy of Smith Entertainment Group
Full-view rendering of the ice at a Utah Mammoth game after the completion of the Delta Center renovations. | Courtesy of Smith Entertainment Group
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