Arenas


2026 represents the final year for the Utah Grizzlies in my town because an NHL team has come to Salt Lake. When the Grizzlies moved to Utah in 1995 they had just won a championship, but the Avalanche had come to Colorado and it was time to move. The Grizzlies originally competed at the Delta Center, though current owners want to remove the word the. In its first season in Utah, the Grizzlies brought a home-grown hockey championship back to Utah, something that hadn’t been done since the Golden Eagles won the Turner Cup in 1988, while playing in the Salt Palace. 

At the same time the Grizzlies moved to Utah, Salt Lake City won the rights to host the 2002 Winter Olympic games. Organizers partnered with West Valley City to build a new hockey arena that would host the Olympic and Paralympic hockey events. When the city first tried to name the arena, it found little interest. Without a sponsor, the facility became known as the “E Center.” 


I unsuccessfully promoted an alternative name premised on two companies paying for the naming rights. As an elementary student I took a field trip to the Wonder Bread bakery and was amazed by all that I learned and loved the tasty and warm individual tiny loaves of bread Wonder donated to all of the children. 


My backyard until my teen years was part of the Winder Dairy farm and I had, and have, so many good relationships with the Winder family. I thought their business would be a perfect complement to Wonder Bread. 


Because the E Center would be home to winter events like hockey, I believed the building should embrace an identity that symbolized cold and wintry themes. I could think of nothing better than to have my friends at Winder Dairy and the owners of Wonder bread come together and name the arena the “Winder Wonderland.” It still seems to me the perfect name. 


Perhaps I should have contacted former colleagues from my time working in advertising, but in the end, the beautiful concept went nowhere and no one else came forward to put their name on the building until 2010. Though more than a decade delayed, the owners of a regional convenience store sponsored the now-named “Maverik Center.”


I place the article “the” in front of these arenas’ names because they are personal to me and my community. Even though it has carried the Maverik name for almost 16 years, I still call it the E Center, unless I’m giving directions to someone unfamiliar with the area. I witnessed the final regular season game with the Utah Jazz at the Salt Palace. I saw John Stockton break the assist record at the Delta Center. I provided the play-by-play commentary for the Spanish delegation of the 2002 Paralympic gold medal sledge hockey match at the E Center where I also witnessed my children graduate from high school. Efforts to eliminate the word “the” will fail, at least for me.
Location: West Valley City, UT, USA

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