The head of the next Olympic Games in Utah did not expect Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith to announce a venue change for the 2034 Winter Games.

But that’s exactly what happened hours before the opening game of the new National Hockey League Tuesday night at the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

“You’re going to have a little party tonight,” Smith told reporters. “And from the corner of your eye, I want you to imagine that this is going to last a lot longer here, because with the Olympics coming up, where this will be the hockey venue, sorry, I’ll tell you that right now. When you are the home of the NHL and you don’t have hockey….”

Smith also owns the arena that is being renovated to house hockey along with his Utah Jazz team as part of a revitalization effort in downtown Salt Lake City.

Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, which successfully submitted bids for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Games, said he was unaware Smith would tell everyone about the planned venue change that will occur in the make is for a while.

“Surprise! Lots of excitement today and we are very excited to be working with Ryan and the NHL,” Bullock told the Deseret News via text message from his seat at the Utah HC-Chicago Blackhawks game that the state’s new team has 5- 2 won. “It’s a great moment for Utah,” the Olympic leader said.

When Utah hosted the 2002 Winter Games, the Delta Center was home to figure skating and short track speed skating. That was also the plan for 2034. That’s when Smith decided to go after an NHL team in Arizona, which led to the Utah Legislature quickly passing a billion-dollar downtown makeover bill in early March.

Smith announced the NHL would come to Utah in April after purchasing the Arizona Coyotes for $1.2 billion. And last week, the Salt Lake City Council signed off on a sales tax increase that will finance $900 million in bonds to renovate the Delta Center as part of a new entertainment district.

With Olympic hockey moving to the Delta Center, Bullock said figure skating and short track skating would move to the Maverik Center in West Valley City, which hosted hockey in 2002 and would do so again in 2034, along with the smaller Peaks Ice Arena. in Provo.

“Normally there are adjustments to the bid plan and given the addition of NHL hockey to the Delta Center it would be a great fit to have Olympic hockey there. We will work with the IOC to make this change,” Bullock said. “Maverik is a great arena for Olympic-sized ice.”

While in Utah late last month, IOC President Thomas Bach met with Smith, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson to hear plans for the center. Bullock said the IOC was informed of the venue change weeks before Bach’s two-day visit.

Bullock said the discussion with the outgoing IOC president “was about the transformation of downtown,” and not about using the Delta Center for hockey. He said the bid committee, which will become an Olympic organizing committee by the end of the year, “will work on this together with the IOC in the coming months.”

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is “quite excited about the venue plans that are in the works and starting to become a reality in the Utah region,” CEO Sarah Hirshland told reporters on Wednesday. “It promises to continue to improve innovation, both the experience for the athletes competing in those venues, but also the experience for spectators.”

With nearly a decade to go before Utah hosts another Games, Hirshland said there is “time to bring them to life.”

Contributions: Dennis Romboy