SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Jazz did more than carve out a place in this city. They became a Salt Lake City institution, continuing to draw sellout crowds long after Stockton-to-Malone eventually turned into a rebuilding team that very well could be going on year three of missing the playoffs. Turns out there is room for more than one major professional team in town. The arrival of the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes sparked enormous interest with more than 34,000 season-ticket deposits made in the first 48 hours after becoming available. And only 8% of those deposits for the Utah Hockey Club also were Jazz season-ticket holders, which means even more customers for Ryan and Ashley Smith, who own both teams. “So we immediately became very, very bullish on the demand from the community,” said Chris Barney, Smith Entertainment Group president of revenue and commercial strategy. “Another really interesting nuance about that group is 63% of those people hadn’t even been to an arena event in a year. You don’t really get the chance in sports to cultivate a new audience.” The Jazz, who moved to Salt Lake in 1979 after five years in New Orleans,

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Jazz did more than carve out a place in this city. They became a Salt Lake City institution, continuing to draw sellout crowds long after Stockton-to-Malone eventually turned into a rebuilding team that very well could be going on year three of missing the playoffs. Turns out there is room for more than one major professional team in town. The arrival of the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes sparked enormous interest with more than 34,000 season-ticket deposits made in the first 48 hours after becoming available. And only 8% of those deposits for the Utah Hockey Club also were Jazz season-ticket holders, which means even more customers for Ryan and Ashley Smith, who own both teams. “So we immediately became very, very bullish on the demand from the community,” said Chris Barney, Smith Entertainment Group president of revenue and commercial strategy. “Another really interesting nuance about that group is 63% of those people hadn’t even been to an arena event in a year. You don’t really get the chance in sports to cultivate a new audience.” The Jazz, who moved to Salt Lake in 1979 after five years in New Orleans,