Smith Entertainment Group Unveils Culture and Entertainment District Around Salt Lake City’s Delta Center

Smith Entertainment Group (SEG) has unveiled plans for a sports, entertainment, culture and convention district around Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City, the home arena of the NBA’s Utah Jazz and the NHL’s Utah Mammoth. The district is set to be completed ahead of the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and is expected to welcome five million visitors a year.

At its center is a new convention center to replace the existing Salt Palace. The venue will serve as a central hub for Salt Lake City’s hosting of the 2034 Games, acting as an operations, hospitality and events center during the event. The plan also includes a 6,000-capacity concert venue operated by Live Nation, expected to host 80 to 120 events a year, alongside a new hotel, an art museum, restaurants, retail and office space. Delta Center itself will get an updated front, reoriented to face east.

The district plan follows an extensive renovation of the arena, under way since summer 2025, to turn it into a dual-sport venue. Delta Center has been home to the Jazz since 1991 and began hosting the Mammoth in 2024. The work includes a first-of-its-kind retractable seating system designed for basketball, ice hockey and concerts, with enhanced upper-bowl seating due to be completed in 2027.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall called the plan “a massive win for Salt Lake City.” She said the Salt Palace currently acts as a wall between City Creek and the rest of downtown, and that the new district would create a walkable pedestrian connection from City Creek to Delta Center. Mendenhall said Delta Center already generates more than $970 million a year for the city’s economy, and pointed to a public benefit fund SEG created with the city, which contributes millions of dollars a year toward affordable housing, public art, transportation and other city priorities.