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 spectator ...

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 internationa ...

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 ...

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 rehabilitat ...

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 Amer ...

. 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 Stars ...

, 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 po ...

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 store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ti ...

s 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 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 ...

. 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), ...

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 will be moving into the

Maverik Center The Maverik Center, originally known as the E Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose arena located in West Valley City, Utah, United States. Construction on the arena started in 1996 and was completed in time to hold its first event on September ...

as their home arena for the 2022-2023 season.

Past

The arena used to be home to the

Utah Freezz The Utah Freezz were a professional American indoor soccer team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Freezz were a 1999 expansion team of the now-defunct World Indoor Soccer League. The team played in the E Center in West Valley City, Utah. Tim Mous ...

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 * Photo ...

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. 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 do ...

(formerly the Utah Valley Thunder) 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 for the 2011 season. In 2017, the arena was used for the home games of the

Salt Lake Screaming Eagles The Salt Lake Screaming Eagles were a professional Indoor American football, indoor football team based in West Valley City, Utah, near Salt Lake City. The Screaming Eagles started as an expansion team in the Indoor Football League (IFL) and bega ...

, 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

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 Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike G ...

performed Pink Floyd's ''Dark Side of the Moon'' album in its entirety.

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...

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 Touring the Angel was a 2005/2006 concert tour by English electronic group Depeche Mode in support of the act's 11th studio album, ''Playing the Angel'', which was released in October 2005. The tour, which was officially announced in June 200 ...

. 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 ...

''.

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