The team plays its home games at the Delta Center, an arena they share with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The team was created on April 18, 2024, with the NHL Board of Governors granting an expansion franchise to Jazz owner Ryan Smith.

Playing out of the Salt Palace for their first 22 seasons and the then-new Delta Center for their final three, the Golden Eagles won two Adams Cup championships in the CHL and two Turner Cup championships in the IHL, before ultimately being sold and relocating to Auburn Hills, Michigan, as the Detroit Vipers after the 1993–94 IHL season.

The Delta Center has hosted multiple Los Angeles Kings preseason games as part of the NHL's Frozen Fury series.

[10][11] However, the arena was not considered well suited to host ice hockey permanently, owing to poor sightlines and broadcasting capabilities.

Discussions to bring an expansion team to the city were revealed to have been underway since early 2022,[15] with the Utah State Senate passing tax legislation in February 2024 to support a new ice hockey-capable downtown arena proposed by Smith; the only condition asked by the Senate was that any potential team be branded "Utah" to honor the state in general, as opposed to any branding using Salt Lake City.

[17] The deal became official on April 18 after the NHL Board of Governors voted to establish a team in Utah using the Coyotes' hockey assets;[18] under the terms of the agreement, rather than a formal relocation the Coyotes will be considered "inactive", with Utah regarded as an expansion team in a similar situation to the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League.

[24][25] On May 6, the Smith Entertainment Group announced that a practice facility would be built for the team in the nearby suburb of Sandy, Utah,[26] which had its groundbreaking ceremony on August 12.

[27] On June 13, the NHL announced that the sale of the franchise had officially been completed and that the team would be known as "Utah Hockey Club" for their inaugural season.

[33] The team was initially introduced without a name, though Smith confirmed on April 18, 2024, that the franchise would use the "Utah" state moniker, rather than Salt Lake City.

[34][18] After emphasizing not wanting to "rush" the naming process, Smith announced on April 22 that the team identity would be chosen via an eight-name bracket, voted on by fans using the Smith-founded Qualtrics platform.

The options included Black Diamonds, Blast, Blizzard, Canyons, Caribou, Freeze, Frost, Fury, Glaciers, Utah HC (Hockey Club), Hive, Ice, Mammoth, Mountaineers, Outlaws, Powder, Squall, Swarm, Venom, and Yeti.

[6][7] On May 29, Smith confirmed on The Pat McAfee Show that the club had narrowed the list down to four names, specifically mentioning the Mammoth and the Yeti.

[38] On June 6, however, the six finalists were revealed to be Blizzard, Utah HC, Mammoth, Outlaws, Venom, and Yeti, and a second round of polling began.