The Utah Legislature allocated nearly $2 billion worth of taxpayer funds this year to help build two sports and entertainment districts in Salt Lake City.
Now, another group is preparing to ask lawmakers for help with a billion-dollar stadium project 300 miles south.
Black Desert Resort in Ivins plans to build an arena that potentially could host a minor league hockey team, NBA preseason games, the Utah Jazz’s G League team, concerts and other events. Patrick Manning, the resort’s managing partner, told The Salt Lake Tribune this week that a bill has been written for the next legislative session, asking the state to help fund the project, which could cost up to $2 billion.
State Sen. Jerry Stevenson (R- Layton) will sponsor the proposed bill.
At this time, though, the bill is not listed on the 2025 legislative agenda. Stevenson said the bill will apply for a Public Infrastructure District to build the arena. But he cautioned the project was in its early stages and he’s skeptical the final price point would be $2 billion.
“Even if it passes, it is quite a ways out. My gosh, $2 billion. I don’t know what they are looking for,” Stevenson told The Tribune. “... I just think it’s something that will have to be looked at. Once the bill passes, it is turned over to some very conservative people in the state treasurer.”
He continued, “I think there is a lot of conjecture still about what they can put together. They have to have the financials to come to the table. And I think the bond market would have to be, I would assume, different than it is now.”
Manning said he has had talks with Smith Entertainment Group about the possibility of moving both the Utah Jazz’s and Utah Hockey Club’s minor league affiliates to the resort just outside of St. George.
Manning said sports will be an important part of the resort’s plans moving forward. Black Desert had brief discussions with the Las Vegas Raiders about holding some practices at the resort. Manning also said he had discussions with Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith about bringing preseason games to St. George this year, but those talks fizzled out when they couldn’t figure out how to fit a basketball court in the venue.
In a statement, SEG rebutted that. “Black Desert is an incredible partner of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club. However, SEG has never discussed moving preseason games for our NBA or NHL franchises or moving those affiliates away from Delta Center in any official capacity with Black Desert or any other partner,” an SEG spokesperson said.
The Black Desert arena would seat anywhere from 5,000 to 12,500 people, Manning said, though the project’s size would be dependent on how much the state is willing to financially assist.
“We will have to see how much the Legislature likes the idea, but I think we would probably go anywhere from 5,000 [seats] to the magic number of 12,500 that allows us to do some other things,” he said.
Manning described the bill as similar to legislation passed this year to help the Larry H. Miller Company and Smith Entertainment Group build a potential Major League Baseball stadium and renovate the Delta Center for the new Utah Hockey Club, respectively.
SEG could collect as much as $900 million from a half-a-percentage-point sales tax increase in Salt Lake City. In LHM’s case, sales tax generated within the new district along North Temple (as well as other potential tax hikes) would help pay for a Major League Baseball stadium if the group is successful in its bid for an expansion team.
“Very similar to the Smith Entertainment Group and Larry H. Miller and that would help give us the financial resources to be able to build that arena with the hotel that would wrap around,” he said.
Still, Stevenson said the SEG and LHM projects have key differences from the one in Ivins. Millions of people, he said, will be able to use the hockey arena or ballpark and a project near St. George might not have the same impact.
“We’ve probably got 2 million people that would have access and would have used the facilities at the hockey arena and the facilities around it. But you look at St. George, you’ve got to draw people in. You don’t have quite the same draw as Las Vegas. I don’t know,” he said.
Renderings for the arena are not yet finalized, a spokesperson for Black Desert said.
“That’s longer-term, five years or six years out, plans and goals,” the spokesperson for the resort said. “We don’t have anything concrete at this particular moment.”
The Black Desert Resort is set to officially open next month. The resort is hosting a PGA Tour event Oct. 10-13. It will host an LPGA Tour event in May 2025.
Beyond the golf course, the resort will have hotels, restaurants and a boardwalk open to the public, Manning said.
While he said a new arena would likely cost $2 billion if he had his way, he is flexible on the price point.
“Again it depends on what we build. What I want to build would probably cost close to $2 billion, that one structure. But it just depends on how things go. We may have to pare it way back and make it not a hotel. It may be a less expensive seating and sporting [venue].”