Utah’s beer drinkers showed up in full force at Tuesday night’s NHL game at Delta Center. The match made Utah sports history in more ways than one: On top of it being the debut game for the Utah Hockey Club NHL team, it saw record-breaking beer sales at Delta Center, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
By the end of the night, stadium concessions saw beer sales accumulate to over $120,000 — a number higher than that of any NBA or NHL event ever hosted at Delta Center, according to Utah-based investment company Smith Entertainment Group. To put that in a historical perspective, the stadium has served as the home of the Utah Jazz since 1991.
The beer prices were admittedly steep. At the Utah Jazz game the previous night, the price of a Michelob Ultra was $13, but got bumped up to $15 for the inaugural Utah Hockey Club match. Even at that price, the total sales equated to 8,000 cans of beer sold. Merch sales were booming as well. Fans’ merchandise-spending for the match doubled the stadium’s single-night sporting event sales digits.
The game ended with a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, and allegedly, fans were chugging beers out of their shoes by the third period. The excitement in the stadium was at a palpable fever pitch that made its way onto the ice.
On Thursday, the Utah Hockey Club will hit the ice again for an away game against the New York Islanders. After three more away games, the team will return to Delta Center on October 19 to go head to head against the Boston Bruins, giving Delta Center another chance to sling more beers to NHL fans.
