The Maverik Center, originally known as the E Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose
arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
located in
West Valley City, Utah
West Valley City is a city in Salt Lake County and a suburb of Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 140,230 at the 2020 census,
making it the second-largest city in Utah. The city incorporated in 1980 from a large, quic ...
, United States. Construction on the arena started in 1996 and was completed in time to hold its first event on September 22, 1997. The arena is owned by West Valley City, and managed by Centennial Management Group, Inc.
During the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
it served as the main venue for the
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
events, and as the venue for
ice sledge hockey
Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilita ...
during the
2002 Winter Paralympics
The 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from March 7 to 16, 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated. They were the first Winter Paralympics in the Ameri ...
. Today the arena is home to the
Utah Grizzlies
The Utah Grizzlies are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.
Franchise history
The current Utah Grizzlies franchise started in 1981 as the Nashville South Star ...
, and it is also a major venue in the area for numerous concerts and live touring productions.
History
In July 1995, only a month after winning the 2002 Winter Olympic bid, the
Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) accepted a proposal from West Valley City to build a new ice hockey facility in their city. SLOC loaned $7 million to the city for construction costs, and would rent the arena from the city during the Olympic Games. The arena would be funded through a variety of ways, but would be owned by the municipality of West Valley City, and used for various events before and after the games. Ground was broken for the arena on March 22, 1996, and construction was completed in September 1997; the E Center was officially dedicated in a ceremony on September 19, 1997. The first event held in the new venue was
WCW's ''Monday Nitro Live'' on September 22, 1997, notable for being the in-ring debut of
Bill Goldberg
William Scott Goldberg (born December 27, 1966), often known mononymously as Goldberg, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and former professional football player. He is best known for his tenures in WCW and WWE.
One of the most ...
.
Naming rights
In 2010, Centennial Management Group and West Valley City, announced that a new partnership (which included naming rights) had been reached with
Maverik, Inc.
:''This is about the legacy Flying J Inc., which remains in operation as FJ Management Inc. For the current truck stop chain, see Pilot Flying J.''
FJ Management Inc.,http://www.flyingj.com/flyingjPortalWebProject/flyingjPortal.portal?_nfpb=true&_ ...
, owners of
convenience stores throughout the
Intermountain West
The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the wes ...
. The sponsorship deal is a multi-year agreement, which included exclusive sponsorship and advertising rights, prominent signage on the exterior and interior of the building, along with a name change to the Maverik Center. Additionally, the venue now features Maverik's proprietary "adventure theme", a Maverik concession outlet, and exclusively sells a number of Maverik proprietary products.
In 2021, the arena's parking was used as a drive thru vaccination clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tenants
Present
![The E Center (387048493)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/The_E_Center_%28387048493%29.jpg)
The venue's primary tenant is the
ECHL
The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL).
The ...
's
Utah Grizzlies
The Utah Grizzlies are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.
Franchise history
The current Utah Grizzlies franchise started in 1981 as the Nashville South Star ...
. The Grizzlies have played at the arena since replacing the
AHL's former team of the same name in 2005.
On October 10, 2022, it was announced that the
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...
's
NBA G-League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...
team, the
Salt Lake City Stars
The Salt Lake City Stars are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are affiliated with the Utah Jazz. As of the 2022-23 season, the Stars play in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, U ...
will be moving into the
Maverik Center as their home arena for the 2022-2023 season.
Past
The arena used to be home to the
Utah Freezz of the
World Indoor Soccer League
The World Indoor Soccer League (WISL) was a United States-based indoor soccer league that existed from 1998 to 2001 and consisted of nine teams.
History
After the demise of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, four of its teams decided to crea ...
from 1999 to 2001.
The
PBR PBR may refer to:
Science and technology
* Passive bistatic radar
* Partition boot record
* Pebble bed reactor, a type of nuclear reactor
* Peripheral benzodiazepine receptor, another name for translocator protein
* Phosphorus bromide
* Photobio ...
hosted a
Built Ford Tough Series
The Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) was the elite series tour name of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competitions from 2003 to 2017.
The BFTS kicked off its tour on November 16, 2002 with the Mohegan Sun Invitational in Uncasville, Connecticu ...
event at the E Center in 2007; it was the PBR's first stop in the Salt Lake City area since 2000, when they visited the
Delta Center
Vivint Arena (stylized as vivint arena), formerly known as Delta Center, EnergySolutions Arena and Vivint Smart Home Arena, is an indoor arena located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Ass ...
.
In
indoor football, the arena previously hosted the
Utah Warriors
The Utah Warriors are a professional rugby union team that competes in Major League Rugby, the top-level rugby union competition in the United States and Canada that played its first season in 2018. The team is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and ...
of the
National Indoor Football League
The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...
from 2003 to 2004. In the 2010 season, the E Center became the home for the re-launched
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...
's version of the
Utah Blaze
The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper ...
(formerly the
Utah Valley Thunder
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its we ...
) that ceased operations when the AFL declared bankruptcy and suspended operations in 2009. However, the Blaze returned to their old home at the
EnergySolutions Arena
Vivint Arena (stylized as vivint arena), formerly known as Delta Center, EnergySolutions Arena and Vivint Smart Home Arena, is an indoor arena located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Asso ...
for the 2011 season. In 2017, the arena was used for the home games of the
Salt Lake Screaming Eagles, a team in the
Indoor Football League
The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...
that used fan interaction to help run the team.
2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics
The arena served as one of the venues for
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
during the 2002 games, with events spread out during six days in 31 sessions. The indoor facility was capable of holding 8,400 spectators, plus press members, during the competitions. 96.7% of available tickets were sold, for a total of 230,657 spectators witnessing events in the arena. During the 2002 Winter Paralympics the arena hosted the ice sledge hockey events.
Concerts
As part of their performance at the arena on November 2, 1998,
Phish performed Pink Floyd's ''Dark Side of the Moon'' album in its entirety.
Depeche Mode performed at the arena three times: the first one was on July 23, 2001 during their
Exciter Tour
Exciter may refer to:
Music
* Exciter (band), a Canadian speed metal band
** ''Exciter'' (Exciter album), also known as ''O.T.T.'', a 1988 album by Exciter
* ''Exciter'' (Depeche Mode album), a 2001 album by Depeche Mode
* "Exciter" (song) a 19 ...
. The second one was on November 12, 2005 during their
Touring the Angel. The third one was on August 25, 2009 during their
Tour of the Universe
Tour of the Universe was a Space Shuttle simulation ride located in the basement level of the CN Tower. Operating between 1985 and 1992, it was the world's first flight simulator ride.
The ride was the idea of Moses Znaimer and designed by SimEx. ...
, in front of a crowd of 6,601 people. The 2009 show was recorded for the group's live albums project ''
Recording the Universe
''Recording the Universe'' is the name of a project by the band Depeche Mode to record some of the concerts on their 2009-10 concert tour, Tour of the Universe. The recordings were made by London-based company Live Here Now and are available v ...
''.
One Direction
One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the g ...
and
Sam Smith
Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single " Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...
performed in the arena in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
References
External links
Maverik Center Official Website
{{Authority control
1997 establishments in Utah
Arena football venues
Buildings and structures in West Valley City, Utah
Gymnastics venues in the United States
Indoor arenas in Utah
Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States
Indoor soccer venues in the United States
Music venues completed in 1997
Olympic ice hockey venues
Sports venues completed in 1997
Sports venues in Salt Lake County, Utah
Sports venues in Utah
Utah Grizzlies (1995–2005)
Venues of the 2002 Winter Olympics