Jazz owner files application to house NHL team in Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY — Ryan Smith is moving forward with Salt Lake City to build a hockey rink for an NHL team. Smith has formally submitted an application for a revitalization zone.

However, it’s not clear if he wants to build a new NHL arena in Salt Lake or revamp the Delta Center.

An application is just the first step toward building plans according to Salt Lake City Council Chair Victoria Petro.

“We’ve been proposed to,” she said. “We have not decided where we’re going to live or how we’re going to split finances.”

The Council will look at the application for a revitalization zone and determine what the city needs to do on Tuesday night.

“I will say that there’s models throughout the country that show basketball and NHL sharing facilities quite beautifully,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of land here thanks to the mountains. So that feels like an organic match.

Petro said the Council will work out the details in the next few months. That includes how to use a .5% increase in sales tax.

She expects a public hearing in May and a vote in July.

Related reading:

• What happens to the Grizzlies if NHL comes to Utah?
• What happens next in the effort to get Utah MLB, NHL team?
• Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: What to call a new Utah NHL Team?

Follow @aims_babe