"I can't tell you the number of women who show up for his show; they turn out in droves," says Debbie Brown, director of sales for the neighboring Country Inn & Suites. "They stay the night, they go to dinner and they go to the show. It's the perfect demographic for us."

Granted, crooners don't serenade sold-out throngs every night at the E Center, but that doesn't stop West Valley City business leaders from singing the praises of the sports/concert venue and the sales and image boost it brought to Utah's second-most populous city.

Built on 44 undeveloped acres near 3100 South and Interstate 215, the E Center was flanked by a single hotel when it opened in 1997.

Today, the arena is the heart of West Valley City, sporting nearby hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, a sports bar, a comedy club, Hale Centre Theatre and an indoor fun center.

"We're not just about the E Center. We're about everything around here," Brown says. "All of these hotels, restaurants and activities make it more enticing for guests to stay here because everything is within walking distance, and it is safe."

The E Center and its neighbors have emphasized those multiuse amenities and, judging from the growth sprouting around the arena, they have done it successfully. The opportunities might have been missed if not for hockey.

In 1995, West Valley City leaders negotiated with the Denver Grizzlies, promising the International Hockey League team an arena while at the same time offering the Salt Lake Organizing Committee a hockey arena for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Although initial cost estimates rose millions, the E Center was built with little burden on taxpayers. The bonds are being paid back from facility operations and increased tax revenue from all the commercial development.

The arena boasts a 32,000-watt sound system, its own restaurant and meeting rooms. Booked an average of 130 nights a year, it stages everything from Grizzlies games to concerts to monster truck pulls.

"We are very flexible," E Center General Manager Kevin Bruder says. "We just had Gallagher [the comedian] in here for 1,500 people and, in November, we had 12,000 for Metallica."

Not that the nearby hotels can rely merely on the arena for their bookings.

Pam Cook, manager of the Sleep Inn, estimates her hotel notches less than 10 percent of its business from E Center activities.

"We couldn't survive on a sports venue alone," she says. "It's only a small piece of the pie."

So area businesses have formed a group called Hospitality West. The conglomerate includes the businesses next to the E Center as well as the Utah Olympic Oval and Oquirrh Park Fitness Center (both in Kearns), Rocky Mountain Raceways (farther west in West Valley City), several golf courses and other attractions. The group's new campaign bills the area as "Salt Lake's Fun Side."

"We've found that we have a lot of success when we market ourselves together," says Brown, who heads the group. "One of our main focuses is youth sports. We aren't just drawing from Salt Lake, but also from Idaho, Wyoming and California."

Public contribution: $40 million in bonds for the land, arena and parking lots that are paid back from facility operations and West Valley City Redevelopment Agency money.

Private contribution: $7 million in Olympic money from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

Number of events per year: 130, including at least 40 Grizzlies hockey games.

Number of people employed: 49 full time, up to 180 for events.

Number of seats: 10,800

Other amenities: Meeting rooms, restaurant, catering, luxury suites.

The name: Dubbed "E Center," as in Event, as a working name prior to the 2002 Olympics with the expectation that naming rights (as in "Delta" Center) would be sold. That has yet to happen.