Home Sweet Home: What Makes ESA So Tough?

Posted by James Seaman on October 22, 2008

As the Jazz get set to begin another season, fans prepare to defend their arena’s unofficial title of NBA’s Toughest Venue. Many basketball fans in other cities with whom I have conversed concede that visiting teams have a hard time winning in Salt Lake. Yet they don’t seem to grasp the specific reasons. In trying to explaining why visitors hate Energy Solutions Arena, I have formulated a theory as to exactly what makes ESA the “down-and-dirty meat grinder” that one Houston Chronicle reporter described it as during the 2008 Western Conference Playoffs.

'Home Court Advantage' (Andrew D. Bernstein NBAE/Getty Images)
‘Home Court Advantage’ (Andrew D. Bernstein NBAE/Getty Images)

1. Utah’s thin air affects the lungs of visiting players who haven’t adjusted to the altitude. As we know, Salt Lake City nestles up against the Wasatch Mountains, 4,200 feet above sea level and higher than any NBA city save Denver. While most professional basketball players relentlessly condition themselves, they cannot simulate an environment in which the air contains less oxygen.

2. The design of Energy Solutions Arena—originally the Delta Center—includes a steep incline in which fans practically sit on top of the players. Many NBA floors double as hockey rinks, meaning an excess of space behind the baskets. ESA wastes no such real estate, piling fans up right behind the hoop and stacking them almost to the ceiling.

3. The Jazz have remained competitive enough to keep fans interested while never being good enough to make their followers spoiled or complacent (a la Los Angeles). The Jazz have suffered only a single losing season in the last quarter century, meaning an entire generation of loyalists literally expects a winning team every year. Fans have a reason to passionately support the club year in and year out. At the same time, the lack of a championship produces a ravenous hunger among Jazz supporters that can make them seem downright rabid.

4. Despite the Blaze, Grizzlies, Bees, and Real Salt Lake, this remains a one horse town. Only the Jazz matter. When the Nuggets end their season each spring, residents of Denver can look forward to summer evenings at Coors Field and the beginning of Broncos camp. Utahns have no similar options. When the Jazz get eliminated from the playoffs, the world literally ends until the fall, with only the draft and the Rocky Mountain Review to sustain us through the parched desert summer.

5. Salt Lake’s status as a small market, combined with tough post-season losses to teams like Los Angeles and Chicago over the years, has produced a conspiratorial mindset among Jazz fans. From the missing illegal defense calls in Game Five of the 1988 Lakers series, to Michael Jordan’s push-off against Bryon Russell in Game Six of the 1998 Finals, to Kobe Bryant living at the free throw line free of rent last May, Utahns seem to believe that the NBA and the media have conspired to keep the Jazz from their rightful place at basketball’s banquet table.

Environmental factors, building design, and a hungry yet perennially hopeful fan base with undivided loyalty and an us-against-the-world mentality combine to create a toxic mix inside Energy Solutions Arena. Jazz fans revel in the wonderfully poisonous atmosphere they’ve helped create, proudly and rightfully proclaiming Salt Lake City the toughest place to win a game in the NBA.

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The Meyer's on October 22, 2008 said:

Great breakdown James! Here’s to 41-0 at home this season!

Jared Conger on October 22, 2008 said:

hmmm… that makes me wonder what the best all-time home record is in the NBA …

Jared Conger on October 22, 2008 said:

The 1985-86 Boston Celtics went 40-1,
and a whole ’slew of other teams went on to lose just 2 games at home,
with almost all of them winning the Championship in the end

Ben on October 22, 2008 said:

I’ve been searching for a way to explain it to all my “sheep” fair-weather fan friends. They always tell me I’m wrong in every argument we have. They say I’m just a biased fan who’s sad because my team hasn’t won a title. The way you worded this article was great and I’m going to print it out so they can read it. Maybe they’ll understand me a little better, probably not. After all, it’s easy to like teams who have won, but it’s hard to cheer for a team who has not but should have 4 or 5 times. One day I’ll be able to have a “strong” argument for my team when they have won a title, though apart from winning one, are probably the most consistently successful team in the NBA.
-Ben R. Arizona

J R Stewart on October 22, 2008 said:

2. Actually, the ESA was origionally used by the Utah Grizzlies hockey team and they can put the ice back in, and roll back the seats, for a hockey rink or special events, like the Olympics.

The higher noise level is a key factor. There is a high reflective factor, because of all the hard perpendicular surfaces. Plus, our fans are loud and the arena is usually packed.

Jazzaholic

UtahJazzQueen! on October 22, 2008 said:

Amen to that! Not to mention the fact that Jazz fans, well, we are the loudest, and most loving fans. We are dedicated, and we love our Jazz! I am loving the 41 and 0 home record idea.

Ken on October 22, 2008 said:

Don’t forget about the acoustics. Whomever designed the arena knew exactly where the opponent bench would be and designed the walls to focus all the noise on that spot! I’ll never forget watching Phil Jackson, MJ, and the Bulls during the ‘97 and ‘98 finals either leaving the court or wearing earplugs during intros because of the incredibly high decibels!

As a sidenote, whomever designs the new player intros needs to get this noise back!!! Nothing better than a few screeching fireworks to pump up the crowd and annoy the visitors!

Ken, Las Vegas, NV

BoondockSaint on October 23, 2008 said:

I am enamored with the idea of 41-0 at home and agree whole heartedly with your reasoning behind the difficulty for visitors to play at the ESA. I think it will only be tougher this year. The intoxication (now having marinated for an entire summer in our female fans) of Kyle Korver’s outside shooting (and other errrr shall we say “talentss”), Boozer and Deron’s success at the Olympics, and Memo’s new beard and tougher inside game should create an intense excitement and new reasons for Jazz fans to “MAKE SOME NOISE.”

Bob on October 25, 2008 said:

JR-

Actually, the Grizzlies didn’t come around until the mid 1990’s (95-96, I think). There was a team that played hockey at the DC when it opened: The Salt Lake Golden Eagles, who left for the Detroit area after languishing for a few seasons after the move from the Salt Palace.

However, for hockey (and now Arena Football, which uses roughly the same dimensions), the seats on the ends and the sides get pushed back, leaving a “wall” between the first few rows and the rest of the seating. This doesn’t exist in other dual-use stadiums. Also, many of the seats in ESA can’t see 100% of the hockey rink/football field, unlike other arenas that have their seats further away.

J R Stewart on October 25, 2008 said:

Bob:
You can tell I’m not a hockey fan!

And, you’re exactly right.

It does seem like the ends have a steeper slope, than at say the Staples Center.

James on October 25, 2008 said:

JR and Bob,

Thanks for the clarifications, fellas. Once again, Jazz fans prove to be smarter than other fans (not to mention better looking and sharper dressed).

Can’t wait to smack Denver on opening night!

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