Post Malone, Alesso to headline new Salt Lake City New Year's Eve festival

SALT LAKE CITY — Post Malone and Swedish DJ Alesso will headline an event celebrating Utah's first-ever outdoor NHL game and the beginning of the new year.

Smith Entertainment Group announced the New Year's Eve Festival on Wednesday as part of its plans around the 2027 NHL Winter Classic, between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Dec. 31. The festival will be held at the Delta Center after the game, beginning at 4 p.m., wraps up.

It's part of four straight days of events at the arena to close out 2026 and ring in 2027, which it calls "Winter Weekend." The Utah Jazz also play host to the defending NBA champion New York Knicks on Dec. 30 and then Boston on New Year's Day, while the Mammoth face off against Vancouver on Jan. 2, 2027.

"We wanted to create a weekend unlike anything Utah has experienced before," said Ryan Smith, chairman and CEO of Smith Entertainment Group, which owns the Jazz and Mammoth, in a statement.

"We're bringing four days of sports and entertainment together to create something special for Utahns and give fans from across the country a reason to make Utah their New Year's Eve destination," he added. "That's the vision behind Winter Weekend and exactly what we want Utah to be known for."

Smith Entertainment Group said it's partnering with Palm Tree Crew, a global music and entertainment company co-founded by DJ and producer Kygo, to put on the new festival. The group has previously produced destination music festivals across the U.S.

Post Malone, the stage name for Utah resident Austin Post, has performed at Rice-Eccles Stadium each of the last two years. He remains one of the world's top-streaming artists, with more than 63 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Alesso also has more than 16.5 million monthly listeners on the streaming platform.

A presale will begin online at 10 a.m. on Thursday, before tickets officially go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday. More than 6,000 tickets will be listed at less than $125 to help make the New Year's celebration "accessible to more fans," Smith Entertainment Group officials said.

More Winter Weekend programming is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, leading up to the Winter Classic.

Additional festivities are planned for the Select Health Ice Center in Sandy. The Gretzky Hockey School will hold a camp for youth hockey players ages 6 to 14 from Dec. 27-30, ahead of the Winter Classic.

The Utah Mammoth Winter Cup, an event bringing in multiple youth teams, will begin on New Year's Day. It will run through Jan. 3, 2027.

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