Jazz owner Ryan Smith on an NHL expansion team in Utah 🗣️ ‘THE UTAH YETIS!’ | The Pat McAfee Show

Jazz owner Ryan Smith on an NHL expansion team in Utah 🗣️ ‘THE UTAH YETIS!’ | The Pat McAfee Show

Obviously you have the plans immediately to play in the Delta Center have there been any other things thrown around you know we talked about Jerry Jones have you thought about building like a Ryan Smith world like kind of like a Utah Jazz hockey team world where you have

The restaurants kind of like the Staple Center the way the Kings do it they have a staple center no for sure yeah okay please yeah for for sure so I think I think if you take a step back and you say okay we’ve got 60,000 Juniors playing Junior jazz

You know who have come through and played Junior Jazz and it’s it’s unbelievable what does that mean I don’t think I know what that means that’s just a youth league so we have a we have yeah we have a youth program and everyone in Utah plays Junior jetz and as you’re a

Youth you come in and you sign up for it and it’s helped grow the game you get a couple tickets to the game and it becomes part of who you are I think one of the benefits that Utah can do with the youngest demographic for hockey is

If we actually set up a hockey specific Arena and we’re still whiteboarding a lot of this but if you set up a you uh hockey specific Arena one of the limitations on hockey is definitely ice Time Imagine a world where you could actually create the movement with the

Junior Hockey League similar to what we’ve done um with the Chets and so that would be an idea that we would have and then that would actually dictate us saying okay how would you actually create a full environment of entertainment around that but actually giv hockey its moment we got one of the

Best basketball Arenas in the country in the Delta Center with the slope like ultimately it would be really really cool to to give hockey this moment that people can rally around is that Batman D no that would have been cool imagine if he says you got a team stop talking just

FaceTime him in yeah that would have been amazing actually he he actually uh when he joined the program he had his uh button down unbutton sitting on the side of his he looks super cool we him about expansion he said he doesn’t have an exact time on

When it’s going to happen but he’s always looking into it maybe you’re able to kick him over there and it’d be great for the sport of hockey to have another home especially a home that loves hockey and loves winter sports go ahead AJ have you uh kicked around any possible team

Names for this uh team that you may be uh having come to town soon no the internet is full of them holy cow I mean we have more graphic designers and uh brand agencies in the state of Youth that I’ve seen I mean there was a bunch

Out there I saw the Utah Venom I saw um the yetis Utah yeti with a killer logo I thought that was pretty cool actually that’s um especially with the U and the Y theyd finally come together oh BYU Utah so so so so I think that

There’s there’s a lot there but like I mean our number one goal is like let’s land the plane here and get NHL in Utah and we can we can kind of worry about all the other stuff after that I don’t care how it gets here like we we just

Got to go and I think I mean NHL was gracious enough I mean weren’t really 100% expecting the response that they had today um but them leaning in and saying hey look like we know Utah is an incredible Market we’re we haven’t been asleep we’re watching the growth in Utah

And everything else and the desirability of that of that region and then you and everything you guys are doing at scg um and we’ll continue discussions I think that’s a that’s a really really um good approach and especially one from from Gary and um you know no one can see

All of the future but that’s that’s a good acknowledgement of where we’re at expansion is the only option because obviously uh the Phoenix Coyotes playing a thing called the mullet Arena uh which doesn’t even change over the logos in the arena for the coyotes from the Arizona State hockey team so that team

Has obviously been chatted about being moved out of Arizona for a long time just because it’s not good for hockey what’s taking place down there is how hockey people feel that is not how we are saying this is just the reality of the situation has that been chat about or only

Expansion uh just about every interview I’ve done but um okay good I think I’m happy we hit nice yeah I’m happy we yeah yeah yeah but look I think our goal is NHL and and I’ll leave the rest on how all that happens to Gary expansion I mean we went through the expansion

Process but you know we’re ready and we’re ready to go and we just want to be true partners with with the league like we’ve done and everything else and you know let let those Powers be figure out what the best way to to get something here on whatever timeline they

F we need we need to get them out of Arizona Gino malin’s scoring own goals in there you know guys just don’t play good hockey when they go bumpy ice even though we love Phoenix we we wish that was not the case it’s my favorite place to travel to it’s beautiful uh last

Question outside of Utah that’s your favorite place outside of Utah and Pittsburgh be honest hey are you guys ready for allstar game no in Indie we’re not no Ryan you you came with a lot of ideas what was that like three weeks ago yeah hey we got the

Super Bowl coming up yeah Ryan’s like Hey listen I got ideas we just had the allstar game in Utah here are some things you could potentially do I’m like who’s are we getting Tick Tock to do that talk who you talk is Tac going to do that Ryan how we yeah you’re like

You’re like looking around okay I will yeah Ryan I will actually do that

Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith joins Pat McAfee on The Pat McAfee Show to discuss the Utah Jazz youth league, expanding hockey to the state of Utah, what impact the NHL could have on the state and his ideas for the NBA All-Star Game.

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