The University of Utah could renovate the Jon M. Huntsman Center instead of building a new arena, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told the university's board of trustees in a meeting Tuesday.
Back in March 2025, the board voted unanimously to allow campus leaders to explore alternative sites for a new sports arena. Now, however, the university could be leaning toward renovating the 56-year-old building instead.
"It's incredibly historic," Harlan said. "It's our home. We have a lot of people that work there, we compete there, but the one thing as we were looking at this over the last year, it just became more and more apparent to me that where we are located is such a great spot, with all the residential halls for the students and our students who compete live right there.
"So really diving into it, if I was to give a tilt in my hat, I think renovation-plus is where my mindset is right now, with a lot more work to do."
The "renovation-plus" plan for the Huntsman Center could include reducing the arena's capacity to around 9,000 seats from the current 15,000 and creating a "state-of-the-art arena in its current footprint," according to a slide deck from Tuesday's meeting.
A renovated Huntsman Center could include more premium seating, which could increase revenue brought in from each event. The slide deck also listed non-Utah Athletics events that could be held at the venue, such as concerts, comedy shows, expos, conventions and more.
"There's a need for us to maybe downsize a little bit based on data that we found, create more premium (spaces), but an athletic director's dream is to be in the middle of that student area where students can just come into games and flood into it," Harlan said.
Otro Capital, Utah's private equity partner , could factor into plans for the Huntsman Center, but the decisions will solely be made by the university.
"Decisions about university facilities rest solely with the University and its board of trustees. It would be reasonable to expect that Otro and leadership of Utah Brand Initiatives will be consulted and provide expertise on future facility planning," Troy D'Ambrosio, University of Utah chief of staff to president Taylor Randall, told the Deseret News last week.
In its current location, the Huntsman Center sits in the middle of Utah's "College Town Magic" concept — a plan to transform Utah's current status as a commuter school into a university wherein a significant chunk of students live on campus.
The university has greatly increased the amount of housing available to students in recent years, including constructing residential buildings for students directly to the east of the Huntsman Center.
By next fall, Utah estimates that it will have capacity for 29% of its students to live on campus. That number could grow to 44% or more as the plan moves along.
"College Town Magic" will be around the area of the Huntsman Center, with dorms, retail and dining spaces, community spaces and recreation creating a central hub for the university.
While the hope is that "College Town Magic" will improve the experience for students at the university, the early stages have created some problems with parking for events at the Huntsman Center.
Harlan said that "probably the No. 1 issue" with the Huntsman Center is the parking situation.
The construction of the residential buildings knocked out already scarce parking for fans immediately by the arena. There are parking lots and a parking garage across the street from the Huntsman Center, plus another parking garage adjacent to the area, that are reserved for Crimson Club members with parking passes.
For the rest of the public, free parking is available at Rice-Eccles Stadium next to the TRAX line that takes fans to the Huntsman Center. Fans can also park in the Guardsman Way or Merrill Engineering Building lots and take the free "Runnin' Utes Express" bus to the arena.
Utah officials know that it is not an ideal situation, especially if the men's basketball team improves and attendance grows in the coming years. The gymnastics team already draws large crowds, averaging 11,135 fans this season at home meets, according to roadtonationals.com.
"Mark mentioned that we do need to solve a challenge with getting to the Huntsman Center," said university chief operating officer Jeff Labrum.
"If you attend events there, it's difficult to get there, and so this is sort of the analysis that we've been working on as to what is the nature of those stalls and where might they be and where might they go?"
Labrum believes that the university can solve the issue "through a mix of parking, whether that be some surface, some structured and potentially even some underground parking."
The slide deck used in the meeting projected the number of "implied parking stalls needed for College Town Magic" at approximately 2,600.
The board of trustees will vote on a plan for the Huntsman Center on March 10, with successive votes in April and May about other parts of the master plan.
Utah fans leave before the game is over during a game against Oklahoma State held at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. | Brad Simmons for the Deseret New
