The Maverick Center will also be the home of figure skating for the Olympics in 2034. It is a smaller arena but very well suited for skating events with good sight lines. Spectators are down by the ice and not up 10 feet. I have no problem sitting in the seats and the stairs are not too steep. The food is limited. The restrooms are fine. If my memory is right and the map is right, you can walk all the way around the concourse but it is very narrow at one end.
There is quite a bit of parking around the Maverick Center (and other buildings near it). Some of it is available to people going to events - some of it isn't. There has been some build up of small hotels and food etc. around the Maverick Center but not tons. It's still sort of out by itself and not in the most affluent area of the city. It's fine, it's just not fancy.
The Salt Lake Ice Center - AKA Steiner - has two ice surfaces next to each other. One has seating for larger groups, the other only has about 3 rows, up from the ice quite a bit. Both surfaces can be seen from the concourse at the top of one side through windows and there are doors directly from the arena to the other ice surface. It has been home to many competitions from regionals to the US classic for several years. It was the practice arena for 2002 Olympics and 2001(?) Four Continents. It's pretty cold. The other surface is even colder. Steiner (most locals will know it by that name) has some food but not all the time. For some events, I carried my own folding chair in and sat at the top. That's a limited area though. It's an arena where people mention that it looks like no one is there for competitions, but that's because everyone sits at the top.
Someone mentioned the parking at Steiner. It is plentiful but it is also separated from the parking for University of Utah sporting events (by signs). If you happen to park in the wrong area when there is a large sporting event going on, you will be ticketed. It shouldn't be a problem unless there is a Basketball game or a Gymnastics meet (the "U" sells out the Huntsman Center for gymnastics).
The concourse at Steiner is a good place to walk. There are also a lot of walkways around the area as it is close to the VA hospital complex and practice facilities and other community buildings. It is not easily walk-able to hotels in the area.
In Salt Lake City, the streets are pretty wide and the blocks are 8 to a mile. What looks like a short distance for most cities is longer in Salt Lake. It is also very useful to know your east, west, north and south as the streets are set up that way. The main group of mountains is east. If you can see the state capitol building - that's north. If you can see out to the Great Salt Lake - that's west. South is opposite the state capitol and looking at "point of the mountain" (It used to be the prison, but that prison has moved).
Safety should not be a big problem around either the Maverick Center or Steiner - using sensible precautions, of course.
In 1999 for Nationals, I volunteered and was at the Maverick Center for a couple of days. I watched Evan Lysacek and Deanna Stellato win Novice.
