On Monday, some members of the Golden State Warriors made headlines for compaining about how they wanted to face the Los Angeles Clippers instead of the Utah Jazz due to the lack of nightlife in Salt Lake City. A couple of days later, both Jazz fans and the Salt Lake City tourism bureau are firing back.
How is the SLC tourism bureau fighting back against the Warriors’ comments? According to The Associated Press, they launched a terrific website and created a video on Monday entitled “There’s nothing to do in Salt Lake.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=bg8y4LJbWuY
Scott Beck is the President of Visit Salt Lake, and sent a letter to the Warriors with the video that outlined why the Jazz can’t wait to host the Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals.
“In case you do stumble across something to do while here in Salt Lake, all of our bartenders and servers are on notice to keep you up late!” Beck wrote.
The “keep you up late” part is a terrific kicker.
One Utah Jazz player also had the brilliant idea of trying to find ways to keep the Warriors up late at night.
Jazz wing Joe Ingles said he'll pay for a car if the entertainment-seeking Warriors want to go to Las Vegas between games.
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) May 1, 2017
The Jazz are adding to the fun too, and announced Wednesday they will be selling navy blue T-shirts that say #Nightlife.
Pre-Order your #NightLife Shirts NOW at @FanzzSports!
Go Here: 👉 https://t.co/ufttn2AVbL pic.twitter.com/LadlWI9Lpg
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 3, 2017
Remember, this whole situation came about because of a couple comments from various Warriors about the lack of things to do in SLC.
“You sit in your room,” Matt Barnes said Sunday. “I think there’s an Olive Garden out there and then a Benihana. So, you’ll definitely be locked in [on the game] all the way. L.A., you have a few more dinner options. You’ve got the beach right there and the sun, and I got family. I think as players, we’re pulling to go to L.A.”
“The problem with Utah is that you’re just sitting there and your mind is like dead because in L.A., you still got energy for the game,” Andre Iguodala told ESPN. “Because you’re in L.A., you’re like, ‘Man, this is just the vibe in L.A.’ but in Utah, it can kind of lull you to sleep. And then you’ve slept too long or I’m bored out of my mind and now you got to try to pump yourself up for the game. You know you’re in the playoffs and you’re supposed to be pumped anyway, but the vibe is just like, ‘Man, let’s just get out of here.’”
The largely Mormon state claims that it’s used to jabs like this.
“It was a little bit of deja vu,” Beck said Tuesday, laughing about when he read the Warriors’ comments. “It was like, ‘Oh no, not again’ and then, ‘Wait a minute, this is an opportunity.'”
And it’s safe to say the Tourism bureau has taken advantage of this opportunity and then some.
“Everybody knows we have great red rock and everybody knows we have great snow, but they don’t know we have this incredible urban core,” Beck said. “We’re floating around some really good ideas (for potential events this weekend).”
Kudos to Salt Lake City for not backing down. They just moved up one spot in my officially unofficial ranking of the final eight cities:
