Ideas from around the NHL to implement on Utah Mammoth game days

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Mammoth's season-opening road trip provided an opportunity to visit other NHL arenas and take some inspiration from the sights and sounds that make game days unique and exciting around the league.

With the Mammoth still in the development stages of a young NHL franchise, here are some ideas observed at other arenas that could enhance the process of growing the brand and the game-day experience in and around the Delta Center.

Live music

Music is an instrumental part of every sporting event, but today's club and DJ culture has replaced live musicians with recorded tracks, except for the national anthem.

One surviving instrument still heard at many arenas in both basketball and hockey is an organ, which Mammoth players and fans got to hear in both Nashville and Chicago during the opening road trip.

Both arenas featured their organist on camera on the Jumbotron, and Chicago even played a timeout game where fans had to guess which popular song was being played on the pipes.

With an organ in every meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a competent and willing organist should not be too hard to find in the Salt Lake Valley.

Nashville, also known as Music City, took live music a step further by featuring a band on a stage in the lower bowl behind one of the goals that played several songs during intermissions.

One need not look too far — Kilby Court, the State Room and the Depot, to name a few — to find robust rock and country band repertoires along the Wasatch Front.

The Mammoth brought Shaboozey to the Delta Center for last year's inaugural Utah NHL game and have cover band "Shuffle" scheduled for Wednesday's home opener, but incorporating live music directly into the in-game experience could help keep momentum going between periods.

Player entrances

Nashville started its in-game experience with exciting player introductions, culminating in the skaters emerging from a giant real-life version of the "Predator" sabre-toothed tiger head.

The Vegas Golden Knights do a similar thing with a giant helmet, and, with a little work, Utah could make its own with a giant mammoth head placed at the entrance to the rink. Just imagine, a pair of skaters zooming in between the tusks and trunk as they make their way onto the ice under the lights.

The team may want to wait to reveal its mascot before building a large version of its head, however.

Art and signage around the arena

The game day experience begins way before you enter the arena, and that's where increased branding and visuals in the surrounding blocks could help kick things off.

The Nashville Predators have a large mural of a blue and gold sabre-toothed tiger on the side of Bridgestone Arena, while the Chicago Blackhawks have banners hanging from lamp posts around the United Center with the faces and names of all of their players for fans to become acquainted with.

A large mammoth mural at the Gateway and player banners hanging along South Temple, 300 West, 100 South, and 400 West could go a long way in welcoming Mammoth fans long before their tickets are scanned.

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