Sandy \u2022 As billionaire owner Ryan Smith led one of many tours through the Utah Mammoth\u2019s new practice facility this week, one emotion was constant in his words and on his face:<\/p>\n
Pride.<\/p>\n
The sprawling 146,000-square-foot facility in The Shops at South Town will host the NHL team as it begins the 2025-26 season. And it\u2019s clear that Smith believes the project \u2014 which will also be open to local hockey teams to practice and play at in \u201cearly 2026\u2033 \u2014 will change the fates of the community at the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley.<\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Clayton Keller comes off the ice after shooting a ceremonial goal during a tour of the Utah Mammoth 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
needed<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was one of the things Sandy City said, that, like, \u2018We really need your help,\u2019\u201d Smith said, adding there was \u201cnot a lot of life\u201d in the area.\u201c \u201cI mean, we took over a mall here \u2014 it was arguably dying on some level, which most malls are. Then we put a bunch of life into it with the ultimate anchor tenant, which is sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mammoth began their training camp at the new facility on Thursday; the team\u2019s rookie camp already took place there last week. The Utah Jazz have also moved some business operations down to the site on the corner of 10600 South and Interstate 15. <\/p>\n
\u201cNot a lot of us do live downtown, and there\u2019s a lot of pressure for our players to be down or close to the arena,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWell, right now, what\u2019s really cool is our players are going, \u2018Oh, wait, I\u2019ve got downtown and I\u2019ve got Sandy. I can live anywhere (in between) there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been just 13 months since crews broke ground on the location after the Smith Entertainment Group bought the mall complex. Here\u2019s what The Salt Lake Tribune saw on a tour of the facility this week:<\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The media get a tour of the Utah Mammoth 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
First things first: the hockey rinks. Two full NHL-size rinks take up the most southern space of the South Town complex; Smith boasted about how the team would be able to practice on one rink, \u201cchop it up,\u201d and then have it be Zamboni\u2019d while the team continued practice on rink No. 2. <\/p>\n
Both ice sheets contain a \u201clocal positioning system\u201d that allows the team to measure players\u2019 speed, workload, and other metrics related to their practice performance.<\/p>\n
When the team is on the road, or when practice is out of session, the rinks \u201cwill be available for team practices for community programs, youth hockey, and public skating.\u201d The Smith Entertainment Group plans to have 500 spectator seats available for the rinks. <\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Mammoth locker room is pictured during a tour of the 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
The design of the locker rooms largely mirrors that of the Mammoth\u2019s locker room in the Delta Center. Players have separate storage spaces for sticks and their equipment. <\/p>\n
A second overflow locker room will be used for the team\u2019s rookie camp, or other times when the team is working with more players than usual. Beyond that, the facility will have eight other locker rooms for visiting teams.<\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tony Silva, head equipment manager for the Utah Mammoth, discusses the newest tech for sharpening skater blades during a tour of the Utah Mammoth 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
Where previously players\u2019 skates were sharpened by hand by equipment manager Tony Silva, a new automated sharpener speeds up the process and leads to better results. About half the teams in the NHL now use automated sharpeners rather than hand-sharpening skates. <\/p>\n
Each player has up to 12 blades that can be used on their skates, which can be swapped out during games in a matter of seconds should one go dull. <\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Mammoth locker room is pictured during a tour of the 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
The facility\u2019s medical wing features massage tables, float tanks, compression systems, and more. There\u2019s a dedicated concussion room for diagnosis, treatment, and return-to-play protocols, along with a sauna and steam room large enough for full-team sessions, Smith said.<\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The media get a tour of the Utah Mammoth 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
Finally, the pool room contains a 22-foot therapy pool, with underwater treadmills and current resistance systems for recovering players.<\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The media get a tour of the Utah Mammoth 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
The team\u2019s workout room is massive: 40 yards of turf allows room for quick sprint training, including with resistance belts. <\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The media get a tour of the Utah Mammoth 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
Squat racks are equipped with cameras for biomechanical validation, making sure the athletes do their weight training with the correct form. Rooms with a form of synthetic ice made of plastic allow players to work on shooting and puck handling outside of the rinks when needed.<\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People tour the players lounge at the new practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
One goal of Smith\u2019s was to create a practice facility where players would want to stay even when they didn\u2019t have to be there. As a result, the Mammoth created an open-concept kitchen, dining, and living room area at the facility. <\/p>\n
A long set of tables sits in the middle; NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman suggested there be enough room so that the whole team could eat together if the players wanted, Smith said.<\/p>\n
Players can eat either buffet-style meals or, eventually, order \u00e0 la carte through the team\u2019s kitchen with a mobile app. There are dedicated smoothie and espresso stations, a cold bar, and even kegerators \u201cfor kombucha and cold brew.\u201d <\/p>\n
A lounge and barbershop are also planned for the facility.<\/p>\n
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The media get a tour of the Utah Mammoth 146,000-square-foot practice and training facility at the southeast end of The Shops at South Town in Sandy, during a soft opening celebration on Wed. Sept. 17, 2025. <\/p>\n
All in all, the early reviews from players and coaches are positive. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn our organization, we have people who have been around \u2014 you know, it\u2019s not their first barbecue,” head coach Andre Tourigny said. \u201cThey\u2019re looking around, like, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s unreal. So it\u2019s really unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defenseman Sean Durzi agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s state-of-the-art stuff. It\u2019s everything you could ask for and more. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be a selling point for many players in the league,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful facility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sandy \u2022 As billionaire owner Ryan Smith led one of many tours through the Utah Mammoth\u2019s new practice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85,101933],"class_list":["post-152039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-top-workplaces-utah-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}