SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Utah is in the process of undergoing a massive sports revolution – one that many may claim is long overdue. As more and more groups seek to bring professional sports to Salt Lake City, Mayor Erin Mendenhall said Utah’s capital needs to “level up” in order to be ready.
Over the last year, sports in Salt Lake City have gained a lot of traction. The International Olympic Committee selected Salt Lake as the preferred host for the 2034 Olympic Games. Business and political leaders have begun pushing to bring Major League Baseball to Utah. At the same time, Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith submitted a bid to add a National Hockey League franchise to the Wasatch Front.
On ABC4’s Good Morning Utah on Wednesday, Jan. 31, Mendenhall said these are opportunities for Salt Lake City to not just grow Salt Lake City economically but culturally as well.
Still, as rumors swirl that Smith may pack up the Jazz for a move out of Salt Lake City and into Draper, Mendenhall said there is a lot of work to be done so the state’s capital can be ready to embrace these opportunities.
“The future, and really what we are seeing in the current development of major league sports across this country, is an entertainment district,” said Mendenhall. “That means that it’s not just the experience at the game but before and after. That will require us to evolve our public spaces downtown. It’s something that we are absolutely committed to doing as a city.”
One focus is on downtown Main Street.
The city has been exploring options to turn Main Street between South Temple and 400 South into a pedestrian-only mall during the weekends and for summer festivals. Mendenhall said the area would be an epicenter for the 2034 Olympic Games and would continue to be should Salt Lake gain two new professional sports teams while keeping hold of the Utah Jazz.
Mendenhall called the plan a “big ambition” and something the city had planned for 62 years ago but was never quite able to pull off. Still, she felt Main Street is due for the evolution.
“In order for us to achieve the potential that we are being offered and the opportunities that are coming our way, we have to level up Salt Lake City,” explained the mayor. “The decisions to do that happen now. They happen in the next few years in order to be ready in 10 years. The way we want to grow is not for a single global event but it’s for every single day for every Salt Laker and to create a space that everybody in Utah can be proud of.”
During her visit to the ABC4 studio, Mendenhall said economics have shown that a strong capital city means a strong state and a strong region. She said keeping the epicenter for sport, art, culture and entertainment downtown is not a “zero-sum game” and is good for the rest of the state.
