E Center anchors West Valley, officials say

WEST VALLEY CITY — It's been a long bear market for the Utah Grizzlies and their E Center home — and not the kind where key chains and logo jerseys are selling at the team store.

How telling is it the current city fathers recently felt it necessary to chase good money after a bad hockey team in a gambit to prop up the arena's scheduling? It also begs the question: Is the city still on track to become what the then-city fathers envisioned when they threw open the E Center's doors in 1997?

The logic was simple: Raise the E Center and raise West Valley's City's stature and fortunes with it.

But outside of hosting the 2002 Winter Games hockey tournament or attracting an occasional headline concert or event — such as David Archuleta's recent performance — has the E Center accomplished its underlying mission of helping erase the city's nagging stigma?

Or was the logic simply flawed?

"Not at all," said West Valley city manager Wayne Pyle, who says the city's ambitions to be a Wasatch Front player haven't been derailed by the Grizzlies' current difficulties or by anything else.

"I think the city leaders at the time were trying to address the issue (of image) and turn it around by improving the profile of the city," Pyle said. "And (the E Center) has to some extent increased people's awareness and knowledge that there is more to West Valley then just being a suburb on the west side of Salt Lake City.

"Do we still struggle with those east-side/west-side issues and questions of (West Valley's) reputation?" Pyle asked. "Absolutely. But look at the development around the E Center and successes we have had from it."

From a purely entertainment and exposure standpoint, the E Center has been successful, Pyle said, outlining his city's role as an entertainment destination for the Salt Lake Valley.

The city manager said season tickets for the Hale Center Theater, which is adjacent to the arena, are sold out annually. Likewise, the nearby Hollywood Connection entertainment complex remains very popular with kids and families. Elsewhere in the city, Pyle points to the successes of USANA Amphitheatre and Utah Cultural Celebrations Center.

Before building the arena, there wasn't a single hotel room in the city, he said. Now there are 550 in the immediate area of the E Center and several hundred more currently under construction directly north of it.