“Jazz Owner Pushes for Utah to Shine in the Spotlight with NBA All-Star Game”

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — When the NBA All-Star Game returns to Salt Lake City for the first time in three decades, Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith anticipates the event will help make Utah a destination to make for other major sporting events.

“All the lights will be on us, but I think it’s another compelling event in a series that we must have, we should have and we will have,” Smith said at a news conference Monday.

Hosting the 72nd NBA All-Star Game on February 19 is expected to have a significant economic impact on Salt Lake City over a five-day period. Hotel rooms across the city and Salt Lake County are selling out for the weekend.

The expansion of infrastructure helped jazz bring back the coveted game, last held in 1993. Several hotels have opened near Vivint Arena in the last five years. There have been development projects in downtown Salt Lake City and an expansion of the Salt Lake City International Airport.

“I always look at the growth of a city by the number of cranes in the air. We have a lot of them in Salt Lake City and that’s a good thing,” Smith said.

Utah has hosted other major sporting events, including the 2002 Winter Olympics. As the state prepares for another 2030 or 2034 Olympics bid, Smith sees the NBA All-Star Weekend as the perfect opportunity to show what Utah is capable of has to offer.

“This is a really important moment for our state to shine,” Smith said. “That was 30 years ago.”

The All-Star Weekend includes a men’s college basketball game between Grambling State and Southern — dubbed the NBA HBCU Classic on February 18 at the Huntsman Center. That evening there is a concert with Pitbull at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

The Salt Palace will feature 14 basketball courts for fans to shoot and play.

Smith said he’s been working to roll out numerous events and pop-up stores to give fans who may find it too expensive to attend the game a chance to join in the weekend’s celebrations.

“If people want to go, there’s something for everyone,” Smith said.

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John Coon, The Associated Press

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