For Utah gymnastics team, Maverik Center is starting to feel like home, even if it isn’t

Restrictions in place due to COVID-19 have drastically changed college sports this year, from attendance to travel to postseason plans.

One thing has remained the same for Utah’s gymnastics team, their arena still feels like their own, even if it isn’t.

The Utes, who compete in the NCAA Regionals Thursday through Saturday at the Maverik Center, thought they’d have the meet in the Huntsman Center, an arena known for its raucous and loyal gymnastics supporters.

The meet was moved to the Maverik Center because it has more space for social distancing purposes. Instead of 15,000 fans watching in the Huntsman Center, only 2,500 fans will be allowed for the competitions at the Maverik Center due to the NCAA social distancing protocols.

The Utes aren’t too upset about the change though, thanks to their successful history in the building.

The Utes recently won the Pac-12 Championships in the building, with a season-high 197.725, and won the Best of Utah meet against SUU, BYU and Utah State earlier in the year.

“I feel like we have as many meets in the Maverik Center as we do the Huntsman Center,” Utah sophomore Maile O’Keefe said. “That’s kind of nice for us.”

The Utes see the Maverik Center as a key partnership because the Huntsman Center can be a little too cozy. Even though it holds more fans, fitting more than 15,000 for gymnastics meets as compared to the Maverik Center’s gymnastics capacity of 9,000. The layout of the Maverik Center also is better for gymnastics because it has a larger floor.

The additional space allows meets to be held on the podium setting. Additionally, buying a podium setup can cost more than $100,000, a financial hit not all schools in the conference were willing to commit for hosting the conference meets.

Knowing all this, Utah coach Tom Farden started talking to Maverik Center officials about the possibilities of hosting more gymnastics events.

“I couldn’t stand seeing other conferences competing on the podiums if we didn’t have the same opportunities,” he said. “The top recruits see that in other conferences and if we aren’t doing that as a conference, we are falling behind and we can’t fall behind because recruiting is our lifeline.”

Farden found an agreeable listener in Kevin Bruder, the general manager of the Maverik Center. He was interested in not only filling the building’s calendar but supporting a sport that had a loyal following in the area.

“The Utah Red Rocks have been a dynasty of sorts in the world of collegiate gymnastics,” he said. “Their success made the opportunity very appealing.”

The Maverik Center committed to hosting the Pac-12 Championships from 2019-21 and the Best of Utah meet for five years, starting in 2019. It also purchased a podium setup for the meets.

A crowd of 8,621 watched UCLA edge Utah in the 2019 Pac-12 Championships.

Unfortunately, the pandemic wiped out the postseason last year and has limited crowd sizes this year, with just 2,500 fans allowed for the upcoming regionals.

Bruder acknowledged the times have been “extremely rough for live events.” It is not yet be known how or if the arena will recover some of the losses in potential revenue.

Interestingly, even though the Maverik Center came into play because it can hold a podium event as required by the Pac-12 for its championship, it won’t be used for the regionals because not all the regional sites are capable of or able to fund the costs of the equipment and it is seen as an unfair advantage to use one.

Not being able to use the podium is disappointing, particularly since it will be used at the NCAA Championships, but for now, Farden and his gymnasts are just happy to have access to the venue.

“For the Maverik Center to invest in women’s sports says a lot,” Farden said. “I’m humbled and grateful, particularly right now when the disparities between men’s and women’s sports are being talked about that they’ve come through for us. We don’t take it lightly.”