The Salt Palace was an

indoor 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

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah 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 it ...

. Built on land that was once the "Little Tokyo" area of the city, construction was pushed by Salt Lake's bid committee for the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

, which included Gen. Maxwell E. Rich, president of the Greater Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Cal Rampton, and ''

Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History A ...

'' publisher John W. Gallivan. Ground was broken for the county's "civic auditorium" in March 1967, and the Salt Palace opened in the summer of 1969 at a cost of $17 million with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 10,725. Later expanded to 12,666 seats, the venue was the home of the

Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving to ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

from 1970 to 1975, the

Salt Lake Golden Eagles The Salt Lake Golden Eagles were a minor professional hockey team based in Salt Lake City from 1969 to 1994. History They played in the Western Hockey League from 1969 to 1974, the Central Hockey League from 1974 to 1984 and the International H ...

hockey club from 1969 to 1991, and the NBA's

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), ...

from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. From 1980 until the arena's closing, the arena was officially named the "Salt Palace Acord Arena" in memory of Thayne and Lorraine Acord. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of the arena at street level was approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. In 1994, three years after the Jazz moved into the new Delta Center (now

Vivint 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 Assoc ...

), the Salt Palace was demolished. A convention center of the same name stands on the site today. The first Salt Palace in the city was a theater and dance hall at 900 South, between State and Main streets; its exterior was sprayed with salt crystals to reflect the sun. The structure was lost to a fire in 1910.

Pro basketball

When the

Los Angeles Stars LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...

of the ABA moved to Salt Lake City following the 1969–70 season, the Salt Palace had a major tenant. The Utah Stars were a major success initially, defeating the

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...

in the ABA Finals and capturing the ABA Championship in 1970–71, behind Finals MVP

Zelmo Beaty Zelmo "Big Z" Beaty ( ; October 25, 1939 – August 27, 2013) was an American basketball player. He played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and four in the rival American Basketball Association (ABA). A three-time ABA A ...

. The Stars set an ABA attendance record in that season (6,100 per game), and would continue to draw well and field excellent teams in the following seasons. The team reached the ABA Finals again in 1973–74, before losing to the

New York Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

and

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

Moses Malone Moses Eugene Malone (March 23, 1955 – September 13, 2015) was an American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1974 through 1995. A cent ...

was selected in the 1974

ABA Draft The American Basketball Association draft was held from 1967 to 1975. First overall picks Note: 1974 ABA College Draft, not 1974 ABA Draft of NBA Players Further reading *{{cite book, last=Bradley, first=Robert D., title=The Basketball Draft Fac ...

and joined the team directly out of high school. However, the franchise declined with a season in despite drawing 8,500 fans per game. Financial problems plagued owners of the franchise in 1975 and the team folded on December 2 (4–12 record), after the franchise could not make payroll. Less than six months later on May 19, the ABA

Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were a basketball franchise based in St. Louis that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. This was the third and last city of a franchise that had begun as a charter member in 1967 as the ...

announced that they planned to relocate to Salt Lake City and the Salt Palace as the

Utah Rockies Utah Rockies was the name under which the Spirits of St. Louis were to play during the ultimately aborted 1976–77 American Basketball Association (ABA) season. The Spirits of St. Louis had some earlier connections to Utah. On November 29, 1975 ...

for the 1976–77 season. However, negotiations for the ABA-NBA merger were completed and the Spirits/Rockies were one of two ABA teams disbanded in the merger. The fan support that the Stars received established Salt Lake City as a viable basketball market, setting the stage for the NBA's New Orleans Jazz to relocate and become the

in 1979. The final regular season game in the Salt Palace was a 107–93 win over the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

on April 20, 1991. Its final NBA game was in the second round of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, a three-point loss to the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

, 104–101 on May 12.

Seating capacity

Capacity over the years for basketball:

Concert deaths

In 1991, three teenagers were killed at an

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coin ...

at the Salt Palace on January 18. When AC/DC took the stage, the crowd rushed towards the stage, trampling the three. Security guards tried to get the band to stop playing but failed to quickly communicate the extent of the dire situation leading AC/DC to play for about 20 minutes before the band learned people were hurt or dying. The band stopped playing as soon as they discovered what had happened. Blame was pointed at several different groups, including the fans, the band, the security personnel, and the Salt Palace's

festival seating In live entertainment, there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators—including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes which are most commonly used, though there are no hard and fast rules and alter ...

arrangement. The families of the victims sued AC/DC, as well as other groups associated with the concert, in connection with the deaths, and eventually settled out of court.

References

External links

Ballparks
– Salt Palace {{Authority control American Basketball Association venues Basketball venues in Salt Lake City Indoor arenas in Salt Lake City Defunct indoor arenas in the United States Sports venues in Salt Lake City Former National Basketball Association venues Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Defunct indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Utah Jazz venues