Call it a matter of supply and demand.
With fewer seats available for hockey games inside the Delta Center and a waitlist of more than 34,000 depositors, season tickets for the NHL’s first year in Salt Lake City will cost more than Utah Jazz tickets, the Smith Entertainment Group revealed Tuesday.
NHL tickets will start at $44 per game for the slate of 42 preseason and regular season games when they go on sale Friday, meaning season tickets for the new Utah hockey club will cost $1,848 for the cheapest seats. Jazz season tickets, meanwhile, start at $20 per game, or a total of $860.
That’s, in part, thanks to limited supply. At most, the team will allow about 16,000 fans through its doors for hockey games, fewer than the 18,206 attending NBA sellouts. But even that 16,000 number will include significant caveats: First, an estimated 6,000 of those seats have partially obstructed views of the ice. Secondly, only “select games” will use the team’s full allotment of seats — most games will have some of the obstructed-view seats roped off.
“We’re trying to be very smart with partial-ice-view seats,” SEG Chief Commercial Officer Chris Barney said. “The goal is to ensure the best possible experience, while also maintaining some fan-friendly pricing and some accessibility options. That’s kind of why we’re thinking that it won’t be a full 42-game slate right now.”
SEG is taking this approach in part because of advice from the NHL and the New York Islanders, who played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for five years. It, too, is an NBA arena converted awkwardly to NHL games.
The Delta Center’s obstructed-view seats will start at $19. The team will decide for which games those will be sold once the NHL releases its schedule this summer. More seats are expected to open up for the 2025-26 season after the team begins renovating the Delta Center.
The ticket purchasing process begins with a three-day open house, Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., where those who placed a deposit can visit the Delta Center. The building’s NHL rink will be set up, so fans can learn about their seating options and speak to ticket sales representatives.
Then, beginning Friday, season ticket depositors will be invited to purchase the seats they’re interested in, beginning with those who deposited earliest. Priority is also given to Jazz season ticket holders, and those who deposited from a Utah zip code will get invites before those who did not. That process will continue through multiple rounds in June for those who didn’t get their deposits in until later.
Despite the higher prices, SEG expects to sell out of season tickets. They hope to accommodate more of their interested fans by giving season-ticket depositors priority on buying selling half-season tickets, mini packages, and single-game tickets.
Most of the depositors, it turns out, are fans new to the Smith Entertainment Group. Barney cited internal statistics that showed 92% of NHL season ticket depositors did not have Jazz season tickets, and 63% of those on the list hadn’t attended any event at the Delta Center over the last year.
“The demand has been totally overwhelming, and we’re just so excited for the hockey community in Salt Lake and in Utah,” Barney said.
