Utah Senate passes potential NBA/NHL arena bill; House passes MLB stadium bill

A rendering of a new Utah Jazz/National Hockey League arena in Salt Lake City that team governor Ryan Smith released on Tuesday. The Utah Senate voted Tuesday night to approve a bill that helps fund a new arena.

A rendering of a new Utah Jazz/National Hockey League arena in Salt Lake City that team governor Ryan Smith released on Tuesday. The Utah Senate voted Tuesday night to approve a bill that helps fund a new arena. (Ryan Smith, X)


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SALT LAKE CITY — A pair of bills that set up the framework to construct new major sports stadiums in Salt Lake City are now both halfway toward completion.

Members of the Utah Senate voted Tuesday night to pass an amended bill that sets up a Capital City Reinvestment Zone, including a possible new arena for the Utah Jazz and a National Hockey League franchise.

The vote came after the Utah House of Representatives voted to pass a bill earlier in the day that creates a district to oversee redevelopment on Salt Lake City's west side and sets up the framework for a Major League Baseball stadium.

The two bills will now be exchanged in the chambers for consideration before the legislative session ends this week.

A new Salt Lake arena?

Members of the Utah Senate voted 21-7 to pass SB272 after some tense questions by Senate Democrats, including members representing Salt Lake City.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, sets up a reinvestment zone to establish a sports and entertainment project area in downtown Salt Lake City, including a potential arena for the Utah Jazz and a new National Hockey League team.

McCay introduced a substitution that tweaks some of the bill's original wording, "cleaning up" some of the bill's financial language. That includes a local option sales tax of up to 0.5% within a project area defined by the city.

It doesn't change the heart of the bill, which would offer up $900 million in subsidies. However, he argued to his colleagues on the floor, the money is more of an investment in Utah's capital, the state's largest city and one of its fastest-growing ones, too, that can help the state's economic future.

"Instead of thinking of this as a hockey arena or a basketball arena ... let's think about our vibrant urban core that represents the Utah economy to the rest of the nation and to the world," he said. "We're not building an arena, we're building a city."

The bill would also offer some insurance, forcing the beneficiaries to repay benefits if they leave within 30 years.

But the bill faced some tough questions before the vote. Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said the state should consider including the Japanese community in discussions about the district. An area close to the arena has historically been a major piece of the Japanese community in Utah.

Sen. Nate Blouin, D-Salt Lake City, also appeared to reluctantly vote in favor of the bill after he questioned the bill's entire intent.

"I can totally see both sides of this. It concerns me that we're cutting taxes in place and then subsidizing the very wealthy in the other for amenities," he said before the vote. "It really does concern me."

The vote came after Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who is also behind the efforts to bring in an NHL team, spoke in favor of the bill when it went through a Senate committee last week. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson have also supported the measure.

Smith shared a rendering of a possible new Delta Center on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier Tuesday.

"Downtown Salt Lake City is the heart of Utah. Our efforts are not about an arena, it's about revitalizing a downtown that desperately needs investment," he wrote. "Imagine a downtown experience like this with the NBA/NHL at its core."

The bill must be approved by the Utah House of Representatives by the end of Friday before it can be enacted.

House approves ballpark bill

Meanwhile, the House voted to pass a substitute version of HB562, 51-21, on Tuesday afternoon, after it also went through another round of revisions over the past few days.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, sets up a new Utah Fairpark Area Investment and Restoration District, including space for a potential stadium that the state would own and lease to a prospective MLB franchise.

"This is an opportunity that is unlike something we have had before. (It's) probably similar to the Olympics a little bit, only this one stays. It doesn't last two weeks and go away," he said shortly before the vote.

"Utah is made for baseball, but baseball isn't the only reason," he later added. "If this bill didn't include baseball, it would be worth it — maybe the more important parts are what we're doing right now apply to what we're doing for (Salt Lake City's west side)."

The bill was initially up for a vote on Monday, but lawmakers agreed to postpone that until the changes to the amended version were ready to be presented. Wilcox unveiled the revised version of the bill on the House floor before Tuesday's vote.

The latest version removes a 1.5% statewide increase to the transient room tax, a tax people pay when they stay at hotels or short-term rentals, that would have been enacted if Major League Baseball selects Salt Lake City for an expansion team or an existing team relocates to the city by mid-2032.

The funds will now come from a sales tax that would be imposed within the district, Wilcox explained. In addition, it requires that "Utah" is included in the future name of a major league sports team playing in the stadium.

No changes were made to the key structure of the deal, though. Utah would provide up to $900 million in tax aid to help pay for the stadium, which is estimated to cost about $1.8 billion. The state would own the property and lease it out to a team owner, who would be responsible for construction and upkeep.

The latest version also changes who will serve on a board that oversees the Fairpark District, removing the Salt Lake City Council's power to appoint a member to the board and giving that to the Westside Coalition instead.

Wilcox said the revisions were in direct response to suggestions and concerns brought up with the bill last week, including from Salt Lake City leaders, representatives from the hotel industry and House colleagues.

A rendering of what the Power District could look like in the future with a possible Major League Baseball stadium.
A rendering of what the Power District could look like in the future with a possible Major League Baseball stadium. (Photo: Larry H. Miller Company)

House members seemed generally enthusiastic about the changes, some of whom said they flipped from a "no" to "yes" with the revisions made since the bill was introduced.

"I really appreciate the sponsor and our leadership team. They took our concerns and went to work — and worked hard to come up with a solution that really gets it to a place where it's going to be a valuable asset to our community," said Rep. Walt Brooks, R-St. George.

Others noted that it would be impactful regardless if Salt Lake City lands an MLB team because of the cleanup of the Fairpark area. Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, added that she believes the bill sets up the possibility of collecting the types of taxes that would fund the project.

"The state's portion of sales tax that's going to be collected just in this area will be from new business and growth," she said. "Right now, this area is a drain on taxpayers, from a public safety perspective (and) from an economic development perspective."

Still, some voiced concerns with the bill. Rep. Nelson Abbott, R-Orem, said he opposed a 1.5% tax increase on motor vehicle rentals that remains in the bill. He was one of the nearly two dozen who voted against the measure despite the latest revisions.

Some additional concerns were brought up during a Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Standing Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon. Gaud Maragani, leader of the Utah Gay-Straight Coalition, who spoke against the bill last week, said it still doesn't solve concerns about the timing of the bill and providing state aid to a wealthy company.

"We're unclear why taxpayer dollars need to subsidize wealthy individuals," he said, later asking for the committee to hold the bill and save it for a future interim committee.

But a few of the groups that expressed concerns last week returned to voice support of the revised bill.

The committee heard the bill; however, it did not vote on it because the bill had not been heard yet on the Senate floor at the time of the meeting. The bill would need to be approved by the committee and the full Senate body by the end of Friday before Gov. Spencer Cox can either sign or veto it.

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Utah Major League Baseball expansionUtah LegislatureUtah NHL expansionBusinessUtahSportsSalt Lake CountyPolitics
Carter Williams is a reporter for KSL.com. He covers Salt Lake City, statewide transportation issues, outdoors, the environment and weather. He is a graduate of Southern Utah University.

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