Jazz remain top draw in Salt Lake

From football, baseball and basketball to soccer, hockey and motor sports, millions of spectators are drawn annually to Utah's sporting events. However, casual observers may not have attended home games for Utah's many sports teams. The Deseret Morning News will be running an ongoing series of reports looking at many of the state's major sporting events, summarizing the spectator experience as to venue, atmosphere and cost.

For Utah Jazz fans, talk about the NBA team's 2004-05 season went from "future" to "futility."

A year after a rag-tag band of little-known players overachieved its way to 42 wins, after a summer of high expectations and high-priced signings, and after a 6-1 start of the new season, the Jazz since have spiraled down to the bottom reaches of the NBA standings, floundering headfirst into a high NBA Lottery pick later this summer.

Rather than extolling the season-long virtues of the likes of Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer and Mehmut Okur, the Jazz franchise had to be content with homecourt highlights such as retiring John Stockton's No. 12 jersey in late November, hosting Karl Malone's retirement announcement in February and last month's unveiling of the Stockton statue outside the Delta Center, with Malone's bronzed likeness still to come.

Kind of makes one wonder why they renamed 300 West — the street that fronts the east side of the Delta Center — John Stockton Drive. Wouldn't it make more sense to rename both the major streets outside the Delta Center — 300 West and South Temple Street — after the Jazz's two future Hall of Famers? Having John Stockton Pass lead to Karl Malone Drive, just like in the good old days.

Ah, the good old days, when the Jazz were contending for conference and NBA titles more than a half-dozen seasons ago and the Delta Center was the hottest ticket in town, the place to be . . . and to be seen.

Even with the team scrambling to avoid setting franchise-low in victories as the season winds down, Jazz games still are one of the top draws as far as local sporting events as well as in the NBA. The Jazz rank seventh in overall attendance in the league, claiming a per-game average of 18,841 through early April — or 92 percent of capacity.

TEAM: Utah Jazz

TEAM WEBSITE: www.nba.com/jazz/

VENUE: Delta Center, 301 W. South Temple. Seating capacity of 19,911.