Delta learned that the naming rights to the Delta Center were sold by the Utah Jazz to EnergySolutions, a Salt Lake City-based nuclear waste disposal company. The 10-year, multimillion-dollar deal again points up the fiscal problems of Delta, which wanted to extend its rights, but has been hobbled by bankruptcy for more than a year.

Faced with the loss, Delta immediately put on its game face. Although the arena is no longer the Delta Center, the carrier will continue its relationship with the Jazz as a sponsor and an advertiser, spokesman Anthony Black said.

"We've a long partnership with the Utah Jazz and the arena since 1991. Delta will continue [our] sponsorship with the Utah Jazz and we will also divide our remaining sponsorship opportunities throughout the Salt Lake community," Black said.

Delta's bankruptcy "was something we worried about, whether we could even go forward with Delta, considering its . . . situation," Utah Jazz President Dennis Haslam said Monday.

Moreover, US Airways already has naming rights to the AmericaWest Arena in Phoenix, where the Phoenix Suns and other sports teams play. US Airways merged with AmericaWest last year.

So extending Delta's naming rights to the Salt Lake arena for another term "might not be the wisest of investments," Haslam said.

Tim Brown, a partner at Salt Lake advertising firm Richter7, says the merger bid and Delta's failure to outbid EnergySolutions are a public relations blow that will raise questions about the carrier's commitment to Salt Lake City, where it operates its westernmost airline hub.

"A more accurate sign of Delta's health is the flights that they have. When it comes down to it, that's really what business travelers . . . and leisure travelers worry about. That could be remedied quite thoroughly by doing business as usual," Brown said.

Since last year, Delta has added more than 30 new nonstop routes from Salt Lake City International Airport. The carrier is also setting the stage for its first-ever nonstop service from Salt Lake City to Europe, in 2008.

David Politis, founder of Politis Communications and CEO of SOAR Communications, a sports marketing and consulting firm, said the merger and naming rights setbacks are unrelated. What is important is whether Delta will survive as a stand-alone airline when it emerges from bankruptcy next year.

"If I am a politician or a business owner here in Salt Lake City, the county or the state, I want Delta to maintain its hub at the Salt Lake airport," Politis said. "If giving up its name sponsorship of the Jazz arena helps them to do that, then I'm fine with that."

pbeebe@sltrib.com

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* Tribune reporter MIKE GORRELL contributed to this story.