The Delta Center is an unusual and special place in the NBA.
The Utah Jazz have been a losing, tanking team for four years, but the fans still pack the building, buy merch, scream their heads off and stand behind the team despite wading through what has been a grueling and often tiresome rebuild.
“Especially here at the Delta Center, the support of the fans is not lost on us,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said.
That’s because Hardy and all of the players on this Jazz team know what arenas around the league look like for other losing teams. It’s not unusual for an arena of a losing team to look empty, sad and have a fog of quiet laying just over the top of the game being played.
But in Utah, that’s not the case. There have been 164 games here since the Jazz started this rebuild, and the fans have been there every step of the way. It was no different on Friday night for the last home game of the 2025-26 regular season
“Gotta show out for your team,” lifelong Jazz fan Cord Geter said, decked out in Jazz gear and heading to his seat with even more at halftime. “Always excited for them, no matter what.”
Fans have understood when going to games over the last few years that they probably wouldn’t see many Jazz wins, and they have known the team has been aiming for losses and lottery position, bringing down the on-court product.
But most fans were OK with rooting for losses and lottery picks, and proud of being a part of the fanbase that didn’t give up when things were looking bad.
And as the 2025-26 season comes to an end, the fans can see the light peeking through the clouds, promising that there are better days ahead.
“Listen, the Jazz are a small-market team. We’ve got no other choice than to lose right now,” fan Nathan Sweeten said. “You’ve got to support your team through the tough years, because next season we’re a top 5 team in the league, and you can quote me on that!”
With Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Keyonte George, (possibly) Walker Kessler, Ace Bailey, a likely incoming lottery pick and some promising role players, it looks like the Jazz will have a team that is not only fun to watch but will be on track to rack up wins next season.
Even the fans who have been almost begrudgingly coming to the Delta Center over the last few years see the end of the rebuild in sight.
Daren Larsen, who has been a Jazz season ticket holder for 10 years, said that if he wanted to sell his tickets to a game, he’d lose about $30 a ticket and it’s been a slog the last few seasons. So what is keeping him coming back and renewing his tickets?
“I guess hope,” he said. “I should have canceled the last year probably, but I have suffered through, so I might as well stay for next year, because there’s no reason to tank next year...I’m hopeful we’ll get to the playoffs again.”
Not everyone has been hopeful though. There are definitely subsets of the fanbase that have felt discouraged and abandoned by the Jazz. When the games stopped mattering and the Jazz tore down the roster — choosing lottery balls over wins — some fans felt like they’d been disregarded.
Though Hardy would have preferred for everyone to stand by the team through the hard times, he understands why this has been hard for fans, and he has a message of hope for them, too.
“I do think that any productive relationship has to go through and be able to navigate a hard moment,” he said. “If your instinct is to cut and run when it gets hard, you and I aren’t going to get along very well.
“But I do understand that fans want to win. I understand that sentiment very much, so what would I say to them about the future?...I would say, if you’re feeling discouraged as a fan, don’t give up yet.”