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Playoff festivities energized by arena renovations, City Edition shirt giveaway

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz host the Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 3, NBA playoff basketball in Salt Lake City, Saturday April 21, 2018. Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) defended by Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12).

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz host the Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 3, NBA playoff basketball in Salt Lake City, Saturday April 21, 2018. Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) defended by Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12).

The plaza outside Vivint Smart Home Arena opened at 5:30 p.m., two and a half hours before the Thunder and the Jazz tipped off.

A half hour later, the streets were gridlocked with fans looking for parking and walking in hordes across the street. Several hundred had packed into the plaza, eating, drinking, watching cheerleaders and custom shoe designers, and making signs for the arena.

Jim Olson, the president of the arena, beamed as he walked through the scene on the warm Saturday evening. Just a year ago — before a $125 million renovation cleared the plaza of trees, doubled the number of doors and created a lot of space — the festivities weren’t logistically possible in the same way.

“It just creates this access for a gathering place,” Olson said. “We used to have all this congestion. It’s much more open, and it can capture that excitement in one spot.”

The playoffs are time to shine for the Utah Jazz, but also for the place they play.

The arena renovations have been on display for the whole season, but Vivint has a new skin for the playoffs: Alongside playoff branding and signage throughout the venue, the marketing team arranged for more than gold, orange and red shirts to be given away to color coordinate the sections. The effect replicated the popular design of the City Edition jerseys, themed in the colors of southern Utah.

After ordering the shirts through corporate partner Drive Marketing, the Larry H. Miller Group extended invitations throughout the company to set the shirts up on chairs throughout the arena. On Friday, a crew of at least 150 volunteers (who were given lunch) set out shirts on each of the 18,306 seats in Vivint.

“It’s kind of fun for us,” said Bart Sharp, who leads the Jazz marketing team. “The playoffs are a celebration for the team, but also the state. We like to give our staff the chance to feel a part of it.”

There was some nerves prior to the playoffs when the Jazz were in contention for home-court advantage. Vivint hosted concerts on April 12 and 13 for Justin Timberlake and Judas Priest, respectively — with the potential to host a home game as early as April 14. Since the Jazz lost in Portland on the last day of the regular season, turnaround ended up not being an issue.

Said Olson: “Of course we would’ve gotten it done anyway. That’s what we do.”

For the first time, the Jazz marketing and branding has a single sponsor for the entire playoffs: Zions Bank. Traditionally, the Jazz have sold different corporate sponsorships for different games, but the Zions Bank deal has helped streamline the process. The sponsorship lasts as long as the Jazz are in the playoffs this season — even if the team makes the finals.

So there will be another shirt giveaway for Game 4 on Monday night, a planned “white-out” promotion. Sharp said the Jazz organization has other ideas that will hopefully build on what it planned for this series — of course, the Jazz have to win, first.

The team also had giveaways, including bringing contest winners up from St. George and giving them lodging and tickets to the game. During the FanFest on the Plaza, there was also a giveaway for custom-designed shoes by artist Kickstradomis, who is responsible for at least a dozen shoes designs worn by Jazz players this season.

“It was pretty hard to get the smile off my face, to be honest with you,” Sharp said. “It’s been very fulfilling to see.”