- Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found nearly 4 in 10 Utah residents closely follow the Utah Jazz
- The Jazz have sold out 306 consecutive home games.
- A majority of Utahns polled don’t plan to go to many Jazz games, notably 59% say they won’t attend any this season.
The Utah Jazz are on pace for their worst season in more than a decade. But that hasn’t stopped fans from packing the Delta Center for every home game. In fact, the team has recorded 306 consecutive sellouts and counting.
And though the team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2021-2022, Utahns appear to still be engaged with the NBA team that has called Salt Lake City home for more than 50 years. The Jazz rank 14th in attendance so far this year among the league’s 30 teams at 18,175 per game, according to ESPN.
A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found nearly 4 in 10 residents closely follow the Jazz — 9% very closely and 30% somewhat closely. The survey shows 30% say they don’t follow too closely, while another 30% don’t follow the team at all.
HarrisX conducted the poll of 854 Utah adults Nov. 26-Dec. 5. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Ups and downs of fandom
As the Jazz continue to retool with a combination of veterans and young players under CEO of basketball Danny Ainge and coach Will Hardy, enthusiasm doesn’t seem to have waned — at least in terms of game attendance — among fans waiting for another winner.
That nearly 40% of Utahns keep tabs on the Jazz might be a respectable number, but it’s nowhere near the popularity the team enjoyed at the peak of the Stockton-Malone era.
A Dan Jones & Associates poll for the Deseret News in 1998 — the year Karl Malone and John Stockton led the team to the NBA finals — revealed a whopping 85% of Utahns considered themselves either average or avid Jazz fans. And that took time to build through the early years when the team wasn’t good.
“The current iteration of the Jazz is benefitting from the growth of the Salt Lake market and higher expendable incomes. Despite the team’s sub-par record, attendance is still very strong. Having the games available without a cable subscription on KJZZ 14 is helping build interest, but it’s a financial hit to the team not having cable money,” said Eric Schulz, a Utah State University marketing lecturer and former head of the Larry Miller Sports & Entertainment Group, which owned the Jazz until selling to Ryan Smith in 2020.
In addition to KJZZ, games and other content are available on Jazz+, Smith Entertainment Group’s subscription-based streaming service.
Utah has been the second-fastest-growing state in the nation over the past five years and has the seventh-highest amount of disposable income per capita, according to IBISWorld, a business analytics firm. Salt Lake City is the 28th largest media market in the country, per Nielsen Media.
Along with the Jazz — the only pro game in town for years — the Salt Lake City area now supports an MLS team and a new NHL team. It’s also trying to position itself as the future home of an MLB franchise. A recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll found 25% of Utahns closely follow the Utah Hockey Club.
How much is a Utah Jazz ticket?
The poll also asked how often Utahns plan to attend a Jazz game in person this season.
The results showed 1% would go to more than 20 games, 4% to 11-20 games and 8% to 5-10 games. The majority, 59%, said they won’t attend any games, while 28% would attend less than five games a season.
Ticket prices per game vary greatly. Barry’s Tickets, a resale market that isn’t the primary ticket provider, lists the average price for a Jazz home game at $218.
The Jazz offer some of the most affordable single-game tickets in the NBA, with a few upper bowl seats going for less than $10 depending on the opponent. Lower bowl seats run into the hundreds of dollars and can exceed $1,000 when a marquee team comes to town. The Delta Center also offers a menu of cheaper concessions among the more pricey fare. Hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and ice cream go for $3 and bottled water sells for $2.
According to the poll, Utahns making over $100,000 a year were likely to attend more games than those who earn less than that.
Who are Utah Jazz fans?
The survey also revealed some of the characteristics of Jazz fans.
According to the poll, 47% of men and 32% of women very or somewhat closely follow the team. The Jazz also appear to have a young fan base, with 46% of those in the 18-34 age group closely following the team, higher than any other age group by at least 9%.
The NBA has younger fans than the NFL, NHL and MLB. And the age differs depending on whether they go to games in person or watch on television, per Sports Business Journal. The average age of a fan who attends an NBA game is 36, while it’s 37 for a fan who watches on TV.
The Utah poll also shows 53% of those living in urban areas pay close attention to the Jazz, while the figure drops to 38% in suburban areas and 30% in rural areas.
