Jazz considering options for new arena, including possibly outside SLC

Jazz owner Ryan Smith is “juggling his options” around the team's future home including "keeping a new arena, as well as development around it, downtown or constructing a new complex at The Point of the Mountain or on open space in Utah County," according to Gordon Monson of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. Smith has “more than a few” options, though some are contingent on the “opportunity for him and his partners to lure an NHL team -- somebody else’s or an expansion franchise -- to Utah.” That “might justify a new build,” though there are “many leaders in Salt Lake City who are worried not only about who’s going to pay for all this, but also that Smith might ... locate a new structure outside the state’s capital city." Monson: “Don’t do it, Ryan. Not the last part, anyway.” The Jazz “might as well be playing in Egypt as Utah County or at The Point of the Mountain.” They are “good places to live,” but “lousy places to house pro teams.” But the Jazz’s current home, the Delta Center, is the “third-oldest arena in the NBA,” behind only Madison Square Garden and the Target Center (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 12/9).