Delta Center is making some changes for Utah Hockey Club fans this season

Delta Center is about to be busier than ever.

With Utah Hockey Club’s arrival, the downtown arena will now host more than 80 nights of sports entertainment between the NHL and the NBA’s Utah Jazz.

And while the arena will be changing its playing surface from night to night, fans who fill the arena can expect a different feel depending on who’s in the building too.

Delta Center wants to make attending a Utah Hockey Club game its own world.

“We wanted to add different varieties of menus, activations, different types of services because the clientele might be the same,” said Dallas Balzly, the senior director of operations for Salted Honey Hospitality, which manages food and beverage at the arena. “If you’re at a Jazz game on a Tuesday and a hockey game on a Wednesday, you want to have a different experience.”

Here’s what sports fans can expect this season.

Food and beverage updates

Delta Center will have some new local concessions this season, including MOZZ Pizza, which serves handcrafted pizzas and wings. Meanwhile, Summit Snacks and Tenders will add Frazil frozen drinks and hot chocolate to its menu.

On top of new taps and canned beers around the concourse, alcoholic beverages from Five Wives, High West and Old Town Cellars will be available in premium spaces.

Smith Entertainment Group announced $2 and $3 pricing for a group of fan-favorite concessions including popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, Farr’s Ice Cream and Dasani water. These items, and prices, will be available for every Utah Hockey Club and Jazz game.

With the food and beverage additions, 70 percent of the Delta Center’s offerings are from local establishments. This includes Cubby’s, JDawgs, Iceberg Drive Inn, Santorini Greek Grill and more.

“It’s a huge priority for us because ... it takes a village, especially in Utah, to be able to do all these things,” Balzly said of using local vendors. “Being able to activate these third-party vendors so we can keep up the demand, volume and the variety as it moves along the season. …You almost have to have them.”

Travis Taylor, the executive chef at Delta Center, is looking to connect with fans through food and make their visit at the arena about more than just the game. For the Toyota Club and premium spaces, Taylor is taking on the initiative of providing dishes inspired by the visiting team’s city for every Utah Hockey Club game.

Opening night against the Blackhawks will feature Chicago Dogs. When the Montreal Canadiens come into town, poutine is planned for the menu.

“It was a fun and unique idea that we all collaborated on about how we can help engage our fans, especially with hockey. We’re not familiar with hockey here in Utah,” Taylor said. “It will help our fans maybe understand more about that city. For me as the chef, I can tell a food story.”

So, while hockey and hoops may be the main event, fans will have a well-rounded experience to look forward to at Delta Center this season.

Utah Hockey Club merchandise

Team jerseys may not be available until November, but Delta Center’s team stores will be stocked with Utah Hockey Club merchandise starting opening night on Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Team Store located on level three — directly inside the Delta Center’s main entrance — was expanded by 1,500 square feet to hold both hockey and basketball products. Utah Hockey Club has its exclusive store on level five, and there will be smaller stands on the concourse selling similar items.

Parker Bushnell, the director of retail for the Utah Hockey Club and Utah Jazz, has been a guiding figure in getting the idea of UHC off the page and onto t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats on the racks.

“We got news that we were getting a hockey team nine days after the Jazz season ended,” Bushnell said. “ You’ve got to be so grateful for opportunities like this. It’s literally once in a lifetime that you get something like this coming down.”

There are licensing processes for the NHL, so the league’s vendors tend to design some of each team’s merchandise. However, Bushnell said it was a collaborative effort with Utah Hockey Club’s creative, buying, marketing and brand teams to produce products that hit their quality standard.

The black “UTAH” hoodie with a skate lace threaded through it was the team’s best-selling item for the first preseason game at Delta Center on Sept. 23. Bushnell said there will be a lot of inaugural year products — like commemorative tickets and pucks — for fans to purchase as collectibles.

Forward Liam O’Brien — nicknamed Spicy Tuna — has been an early fan favorite of Utah Hockey Club, and the retail team is leaning into that by collaborating with one of its vendors called Homage.

“We’ve got some fun stuff in store for Spicy Tuna, specifically,” Bushnell said. “Homage does a lot of hand-drawn designs based on nicknames…We’re working on a Spicy Tuna rendition to be in the store later this season.”

O’Brien, Dylan Guenther, Mikhail Sergachev, Clayton Keller, Lawson Crouse, Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton jerseys will be readily available in the team stores come November. Fans will also be able to customize jerseys for any player on the roster once in stock.

For a team that was merely a concept five months ago, Utah Hockey Fans are going to have more than enough merchandise options to represent their new squad.

“Gearing up for a season that we normally have nine months to a year to plan for in under six months,” Bushnell said. “There’s always that deep breath of ‘Okay, it’s all here, it’s all arriving finally.’ We’re in a really good spot, excited about everything that we’ve got.”

On non-event days, the Team Store is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. On event and game days, it is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.