SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz did more than carve out a place in this city. They became a Salt Lake City institution, continuing to draw sellout crowds long after Stockton-to-Malone eventually turned into a rebuilding team that very well could be going on year three of missing the playoffs.

Turns out there is room for more than one major professional team in town. The arrival of the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes sparked enormous interest with more than 34,000 season-ticket deposits made in the first 48 hours after becoming available. And only 8% of those deposits for the Utah Hockey Club also were Jazz season-ticket holders, which means even more customers for Ryan and Ashley Smith, who own both teams.

“So we immediately became very, very bullish on the demand from the community,” said Chris Barney, Smith Entertainment Group president of revenue and commercial strategy. “Another really interesting nuance about that group is 63% of those people hadn’t even been to an arena event in a year. You don’t really get the chance in sports to cultivate a new audience.”

The Jazz, who moved to Salt Lake in 1979 after five years in New Orleans, created fans for the future by developing them when they were young through Junior Jazz. Barney said it’s the nation’s largest youth basketball program, and the idea is to create a similar legacy in hockey.

But the Utah Hockey Club plans to buttress existing programs rather than dictate the path of youth programs. The Utah Outliers junior team won championships the past three years and plans to expand its 17- to 20-year-old program with younger teams as it moves into a new 2,000-seat facility in Park City, Utah.

Having the NHL in the neighborhood, Outliers general manager and coach Paul Taylor hopes, will only increase interest among potential younger players.

“I think once the team starts, you’re going see a lot of interest, and kids are going to start choosing the hockey stick over a basketball or soccer ball or football,” Taylor said. “… It just builds their dreams when the best players in the world come into your backyard and they’re part of your community fabric as your home team.”

Beyond cultivating a young fan base, there’s also the task of educating those who haven’t watched hockey much, if at all, but are curious.

There also could be those with a mild interest in the sport, having watched an occasional game on TV, but who don’t have a firm grasp on the difference between icing and offside.

…