Ryan Smith: Utah Jazz rebranding | Jazz offseason | NHL team name latest

Ryan Smith: Utah Jazz rebranding | Jazz offseason | NHL team name latest

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hands olon Scott Gerard 975 the KSL Sports Zone high noon on a Friday hope you’re all having a great day we’re not wasting any time joining us now right out of the gate he is the owner of the Utah Jazz Royale Salt Lake and the new NHL team here in Utah it is Ryan Smith kind enough to join us Ryan how are you hey Ryan good guys how are you doing fantastic uh just uh sitting back and watching the the Boston Danny anges last night and I was kind of rubbing my hands together thinking man we got some great postseason we got NHL that’s jumping on the scene we got Major League Baseball all kinds of excitement it’s just it’s a great time of year for sports brother it is it is it’s that time um first congrats on 10 years guys like that’s oh thank you we appreciate that 10 years is is nothing to shake a stick at right like that’s a long it’s a long journey together it’s a long journey and and you know it is kind of like a marriage Ryan you know you you sit here on air you pour your heart out to each other and then I get home and I’m so tired of talking my wife’s like you talk to Scotty more than you talk to me and I’m like yeah that’s all right I don’t hug Scotty like this so it’s different it’s cool yeah it’s an exciting time there’s a lot cooking do you feel like and and look I know that you guys were so excited about this NHL franchise but the enormity of what you’re trying to do in such a short amount of time putting this whole thing together and being ready to go in September or October um do you feel like you guys are drinking from a fire hose right now because I you know I’m close I worked with Jim Olen and Chris Barney I’m still close with those guys and anytime I’ll chat with them they’re like oh we got this we’re working on and this and this and this and it’s just like holy smokes like your summmer just got blown up this year yeah it’s it’s for sure I mean we’re a 100 days out around there and I think um look I’ve done some gnarly stuff in my career um professionally and like we’ve hit some crazy we’ve had some crazy moments whether it’s going public or um you know acquiring companies or doing stuff like that this is about as aggressive and crazy as anything that has come across my plate and I think you mentioned Chris and Jim and the team team um like they’re just doing a Herculean effort right now is everyone coming together and saying hey what can we do we know these opportunities don’t come along I know there’s three other cities right now who are begging for a hockey team um and these are big cities these are basketball markets and um you know they chose Utah and so the answer is you just all join together as a community and you you just try to get it done and the best you can knowing that you know it’s not going to be perfect and we don’t want it to be perfect we actually want it to be authentic and we’re we’re building a community around hockey and everyone has a chance to kind of get in on the ground floor and we’re definitely seeing that um you’ve seen a bunch of people probably heading over to the arena and looking at tickets and I had someone call up yesterday um he’s like I’ve never been a jazz fan never done the NBA and I was like well why did why are you doing hockey and are you a fan he’s like look been to a couple playoff games but this is a chance for me and my family to rally and say this is what we’re going all in on and starting and I I was like wow that’s pretty cool and so we’re seeing that a we’re seeing that a lot i’ I probably had 40 or 50 different conversations with people who live up in Park City who have moved here spend the winters here wanting to get involved in our community and this is in a way that they’re they’re tying themselves to it so it’s it’s a pretty neat moment and I know the players are excited coaches and everyone else is excited they’ve all been out here and they’re going to do Camp up in Park City um there’s a lot going on so it’s it’s pretty exciting so I’m curious where you came up with the idea to let Utah pick the name um of the team and and how how is it going is it going the way you expected it to go and and where did you come up with that um I think people I I think it’s probably you know these these things you know you don’t get to start a brand from scratch very often right and I think this is definitely we we we said I think we said in the press conference we said they this is a Community Asset and if you think about the prior conversation about people coming in and wanting to be a part of it they’re voting on it it’s it’s not something it’s not about Ryan Smith or my family or ownership group as much as it truly is about the community and so we want the community to be able to take part and in naming it and you know we’re not going to run design by by 500,000 people because that would be a disaster but like I think I think it’s really working um as far as the Outreach and and getting people invested and and wanting to provide ideas and you know we’ve come up with six names and um it’s amazing I I didn’t think it would go nationally the way it has uh because you know I’m getting I got a text text last night from someone in the hockey industry and the only thing is said this is what I voted for for you but but this is it um we’ve got our NBA people who are also chiming and by the way this is what I get all the time by the way you know it’s the y or the outlaw or the mammoth like you’re crazy if you don’t do that and so but what I really like is I think there’s a lot of people are like I don’t I don’t care what it is I’m just all in and I’m excited and that’s that’s neat and so we’ll get down to the end and figure out you know how it all goes and you know we’ve gotten this far and so I think it’s fun and and by the way like there was no way in any scenario that I mean we we close on the transaction next week so naming and all that needs to come long after that and the seasons’s obviously already started from the apparel standpoint and all of that started long ago so there really no way to do that for this year and that was yeah definitely pointed out to us by the NHL early on and so um it’s kind of we we we first of all to your question H we we have the ability to do this which is which is unique you know a lot of times you don’t have that ability I mean I think that um you know I wasn’t part of the Jazz process when they moved over but I don’t know how much went into rebranding or renaming or how all that went what is more difficult for you and and you do a tremendous job and I know you take a lot of pride in marketing and branding and and and are fascinated by all that process what’s more difficult or what is what is you what have you found to be more difficult rebranding an NHL team from the ground up having a clean slate and just starting from scratch or working the Jazz and trying to re-image the Jazz with the new jerseys that you released earlier in the week and trying to Rebrand the Jazz yeah so it’s it’s not like Ryan sitting there in Adobe trying to come up with new sches and and you know we have a full of we have a great team um here and we’ve got a great you know we got race great resources outside of here um definitely the chance to be able to start fresh with a with a new team and and kind of start building that history is a lot a lot better and there’s nothing there’s nothing um wrong with our with our Jazz history at all like our Jazz history is incredible I’ve been a huge part of it you’ve got people in the fan base who are part of different portions of it you know I think if you if you think about you know the younger kids that they don’t they don’t know the the last stance age of the Jazz um you got a lot of people who are growing up who are now making decisions we had Darren Williams in The Practice Facility yesterday and that that’s that’s their guy and so I think I think that era is is is kind of it’s interesting watching that play out um what I would say is um the Jazz Brands definitely a trickier one than probably many in the NBA you know if you look at if you look at Boston or Chicago or um San Antonio you know these are these are very different than coming from New Orleans having a name the Jazz you know I I’ll never forget my first uh my first uh I don’t know what it was my first preseason games one of the GMS from the the Pelicans came up and said hey can we can we have that name back I was like um I didn’t know what to say I was like well we’re coming in that hot I was like I’ll tell you what you you guys have the Saints that’s probably more appropriate here why don’t we just do a swap because you’re in the same ownership group and we can talk about draft picks later right know that’s not that’s not happening so they haven’t asked again and I love the Jazz I love everything that we’re about I think that our new release that we we’ come up with has has been something that we’ve been looking at for a long time and you know trying to find something that we authentically own in Utah and Mountain basketball is just it it’s what we are there’s there’s Beach basketball you go to La Miami like we authentically can own Mountain basketball and I think it’s a box that we can color in for a long long time and we’re excited about that the purple is something that’s tricky but you know it’s what a lot of people want they know it as and the purple in the mountains makes it better I think the blue coming back also provides a lot of nostalgia for a lot of people in that D will Boozer era so I thought the team did an incredibly good job at rolling that out and you know kind of touched all the different Pockets or genres of our fan base because they aren’t just one fan base they’re they’re very different genres of of folks when they think of the Jazz and that’s awesome that’s a lot of teams would would would die for that kind of um loyalty and fan base and and I think it’s something that um the team did a great job with so when you’re looking at uh the Utah NHL logo and I saw the colors released the black and the and the powder blue and you know you talk about the entities that you’ve purchased with RSL do you do you try with logoing or coloring or scheme or do you try to intertwine them at all Ryan or do you just leave each entity separate with its its branding and interests well historically if I was trying I hadn’t done a good job at it that was probably on me I mean we haven’t had a we haven’t had a a a Pittsburgh a Pittsburgh City where everyone’s yellow and black um although there’s power in that um but but it’s hard like I actually really enjoy the the design and everything that RSL and the Royals I mean there’s kind of a yellow thing the times up all together one’s yellow and blue one’s Y and that that clar or that red whatever um you know the the the name of it the way the way it’s come up is and and you know I think that with with hockey because we have a clean slate we we definitely want it to have its own identity but there’s a lot of people working on saying hey if there was a been diagram like what’s the overlap you know where where Utah kind there’s there’s Easter eggs and stuff buried through without I think that would be really unique and once again we have a chance to be able to do that from the beginning which is really an amazing opportunity Ryan Smith joining us 975 the KSL Sports Zone owner of the Jazz Royale Salt Lake as well as the uh new NHL hockey team here in Utah Ryan when you look at this offseason for the Utah Jazz obviously there’s a lot of question marks in terms of is this team going to to take a Next Step how aggressive Danny a said big game hunting in the uh in the postseason press conference uh but uh you know when you go big game hunting you know sometimes there’s big game available and sometimes there’s not uh what obviously you want to be aggressive you want to see this team improve what what are the odds or what are the chances you guys are going to be able to land something that you feel like and take your team to a next step and and maybe push for a playoff spot next season yeah I mean you’re watching you know it’s hard to it’s hard to not watch last night in the game and see Danny’s hands all over everything that that’s been done in in Boston and just those pieces that really matter and and you know you don’t from my perspective it’s you know in my position you know you you really don’t bring Danny a in and not let Danny a do Danny a things so I I try to stay at I mean I’m in I’m involved in all of the details around the team but when it comes to basketball personnel and how we do it I mean I have my desire you know I’m a competitive guy I wanna I want to win and I want to win now and want to win always and want to you know have that goal for you know our franchise to be able to do something we haven’t done which is win a championship and you know that’s it’s really really important to me and I’m going to be doing this for 30 years that’s at least what I told Ashley I said hey this is a 30y year 30-year calling right and so uh we’re doing it for 30 years and so um we gota our goal is to win a championship and so you know we’re super fortunate to have Danny um he’s he’s the goat in my mind if you look at you know I think there’s there’s three people who have a winning percentage in playing coaching and being GM um and all of NBA history and he chose to be here in Utah and so he’s got Justin there who’s back and Incredibly um it’s an amazing story with Jay-Z back at at the hand and I’m just here to support him and so um you know my my job is to always put the best people around and kind of get out of the way and be a partner and so if there’s someone available or people available that’s going to help us improve and get closer to that um Danny and Justin are not going to not see it I mean a lot of the calls are coming through Utah um obviously because of where we sit and um and I think that you know I think that people want to play for Will and and that’s that’s apparent um and I think we got a lot of young talents so lining all that up given there’s a Marketplace which is a unique thing like in Tech you can just go out and get whoever you want at any time and there’s really no rules and you can go globally I think I think soccer is a little bit you know more that way as well um hockey as we jump into it is very much like probably what the NBA was in the 90s and this this new NBA with short contracts um you know most teams are you know with a lack of free agency are are looking to make deals with either picks or other things and so that’s really what it takes right now and JayZ and you’re way better at explaining that than we are but if you just look out um that’s kind of the trend that’s going with the CBA and especially the new CVA um it’s very different um getting into hockey as we’re kind of going into this hockey you know first off seon coming up I mean it’s almost back in the John and Carl days where you know you’ve got 19 and 20 21 year old kids 22 and they’re and they’re signing seven to eighty year deals which is pretty pretty incredible and so you know that’s a that’s a different shift than where we’re at in the NBA right now how hard is that for you as a you know first and foremost you’re a fan I mean you’re you’re a jazz fan you grew up as a jazz fan and and I got to and if I were you and you know and I I dropped those resources on this team I’m like you know what I want this I want it now and I want this and do this now and I want it this way and and I want to be competitive and and screw patience let’s go and uh and I got to imagine that’s got to be difficult for you in your background in as aggressive as you’ve been in other areas of your business to be like right Danny I I understand the steps you’re taking and and and let’s take this step by step and do it the right way I mean is that I mean just from a personal standpoint how difficult is that for you well I think it’s difficult when you know I’m sitting I’m sitting there I’m going to go to every game I’m going to sit in the locker room on every loss and win and you’re going to walk through it like we we know what it we know what it’s like um but at the end of the day there’s 25 teams in the league who finish unhappy and or there’s there’s 29 teams in the league who finish unhappy and one who finishes happy and that was the first thing Mark hban told me I remember when they beat us in the playoffs he came in and said hey look I’ve I’ve been doing this for 20 something years and I’ve only finished happy once you know and um so I guess it depends on how you look at it for me personally I just trust Danny more than I trust myself it’s all there is to it like I’ve known him forever we hang out every day like I trust I I have incredible trust in in that and he’s super collaborative and I trust our team and that’s that’s you know I’m gonna I’m gonna go for it and and there’s different strategies I mean you’re looking around the league you’ve got other people have come in you know Charlotte who’s probably um taking a different approach than what I would say um you know maybe uh Phoenix has and you know those are everyone the beauty of this is you can kind of do it however you want um I also believe just like with players like it’s so easy to compare players and say oh this you know this person’s just like Luca well Luca’s unique I mean you get in trouble when you do that because you know there really isn’t anyone like Luca right and so once you get to be in that spot you’re kind of carving your own path here and so you know we can say hey this is like the Celtics or this is like this team or this is like that and what I’m learning you know from a lot of listening from these guys is actually it’s not like that um it’s about like Utah and what is Utah what are we going to be in Utah you know it’s tough to compare 20 years ago it’s tough to compar because everything’s different everything in free agency is different everything contract’s different everything in the Cap’s different um everything in the draft’s different you know the the League’s completely innovating and you know so I think I think my thought is is you know trust the people you got around you and and work together and try to go build to that ultimate goal and don’t shy away from it there’s no shortcuts um and you’re presented with shortcuts all the time and so I think that that’s that’s where you need wisdom well you’ve got another draft coming up in the NHL and I got imagine it’s the same with Bill Armstrong I gotta imagine right I mean because you know basketball you played it you play it you know everybody around it you invested in it but with the hockey there’s probably a lot of you it’s like okay I I’m gonna go ahead and push this over to you cuz this is a massive draft with lots of assets and an opportunity for Utah NHL to advance and speak on speak about leaning on somebody that’s got to be all it’s about coming up in this draft yeah I mean it’s you nailed it on like it’s it’s Unique because we we come back on the 26 here uh I think we’re we’re in New York for for NHL meetings and then come back right into the NBA draft day one day two and then directly down to um the sphere in Vegas for the NHL draft and that’s in a 4-day period which is pretty crazy if you think about it so we’ll be having multiple Draft parties at the arena for everyone and uh but I think it’s exciting and and you know I hope I hope you know our our our community gets accustom to you know we got the six pit in the inil draft and you know I’m hoping everyone is doing their research and got their bingo cards out and saying hey who who are who are the folks that are in there but there’s going to be a long education process here in Salt Lake and that’s that’s incredible though I mean it’s incredible opportunity so um you know the teams are are eerily similar and you know there does have to be a lot of trust in Bill and and Coach bear bear just got back from you know the World Cup um with Team Canada um you know assisting John from Tampa Bay and um wow it’s exciting these guys are fired up it’s I I don’t think people understand where hockey’s at right now quite yet and I think I’m super excited for our community to see that I mean what’s happening in the NHL um what they’re experiencing in the playoffs it’s been it’s been incredible and um there’s a lot of there’s a lot of momentum around the NHL right now Ryan Smith joining us 975 the ekl Sports Zone when it comes to the new facility that you’re going to build uh down in where where H and I are right now broadcasting live we’re down here in Sandy and uh in this location um again learning about the sport learning about what needs to happen a lot of that with facilities as well are you just essentially saying hey look I don’t know what I don’t know what it needs to look like but I do want it to be state-of-the-art just go out and build me something special what’s that process like for you when you’re learning about this Sport and learning what it takes to be successful but also needing to provide the facilities necessary for that to happen it’s part of this deal where you know the practice component is very different um you know our our players definitely live by they will live by where they practice that’s the lab unique to a little bit of the NBA and I actually think it should be definitely considered um the hockey practice and NHL practice facilities are very much Community oriented places so you know it’s not it’s not going to be a thing where you walk into the Jazz practice facility and and Lowry and JC and Colin and keante are playing on the court next to you that’s incredibly common if you’re going to go play wreck or Junior Hockey that you’ve got NHL players right there next to you on the ice with two sheets back to back and so what we’re doing is really starting the initial phases of an infrastructure to build ice sheets where um this becomes something in the community I mean people are playing playing hockey and using ice time trying to get ice time at 5:00 a.m. and at 1:00 in the morning right now in this state and the ability to kind of set up a hub and say Hey you know when the team’s on the road you’re on the you’re on the ice and this is the beauty where you know the players locker rooms next to it has Junior locker rooms so Junior Hockey is a big big component um and probably the way to explain it to people is it’s the equivalent of having like the junior Jazz Hub with courts right next to the jazz or inside the Jazz practice facility wow and this is an incredible incredible opportunity that people will realize as we as we start to do this um because the demands here we the youngest State um you know Sports is is something that kind of ties everything together here and and people actually want to get out and do stuff here and families and siblings and and it’s uh it’s actually going to be this moment where you know you’re skating there and when you’re not skating you’re just sitting there watching practice I walked into Chicago Blackhawks facility I’m looking at their ice and there’s a whole restaurant everyone just sitting there watching people skate and hanging out and work parties can go rent it out it’s it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen and and part of me is like you know why aren’t we why aren’t we making that more inclusive on the basketball side as well you know we’re kind of parked off and and privacy is a component but you know building a culture of hey we’re we’re truly about the community and and and kind of creating something new and so I’m excited I’m excited to to kind of bring that new thought in community aspect to to our state Ryan last thing for me and just quickly before we let you go how how incredible is it for you to watch what’s happening with BYU basketball and I know a lot of people think that you’re probably a m part but how much do you get involved as we see kind of the growth in the building and what BYU basketball is becoming and and I’m getting a little bit worried Ryan because I do call the football games and it’s like wow wow I mean the basketball has taken over every story line but what does that mean to you well so KY I mean it’s incredible that he chose BYU because you know he would definitely after we’ve seen the movement in the NBA would definitely be in a in a head coaching job um yeah and I think there’s a lot of questions on how involved I get I mean also I think there’s probably a lot of misconceptions around you know why I’m involved and you know in 1978 or 1980 my I lived in I was born in Eugene Oregon I was actually born in the same hospital as da and we’re both there in Eugene and my father was a professor at University of Oregon you know they lived in you know my my siblings were born in Pennsylvania and State College Penn State and then he moved to Oregon and Oregon had you know what ended up being this this business professor ship that two Nobel Prize winners came out it was a little bit of the mecca then but it was also probably the The Grateful Dead Capital at that point as well so it was a very different culture to go so to go from U ofo to BYU to say it was probably a culture shock was is is an understatement but my parents probably similar to KY they decided to that this is probably best for the kids and the family right now and they took a bet on I’m going to BYU and so you know all five of us kind of came out here and I was having this conversation with someone yesterday where um you know as I as I kind of go through my childhood you know I grew up kind of roaming those Halls of BYU and being there and and The more I’ve gotten older The more I’ve realized that as life happened you know my parents split up I think my dad took a year off to kind of be with us kids because we were at a different phase of life and it very critical one and and BYU kind of supported it through that and you know you fast forward you know 10 years after that and my dad gets stage four throat cancer and BYU supports him all the the way through that include kind of working from home resting keeping everything there and you know we end up starting qual tricks together and it was really in that moment where I was kind of just spending time with my dad and then you know I wasn’t the type that would go to BYU it was probably I never viewed myself as a BYU like student type kid whatever that was but the profile wasn’t me especially growing up and then as I went on my mission I came back and said you know I want to go to BYU and that was you know and I had to go to I went to UVU first but I wanted to go to BYU and I had no college experience nor qualified to get in and had to go prove myself and I got there and then met my wife and and started qual tricks and kind of the rest is history so me supporting BYU is very very um not about sports it’s about you know they’ve supported my family when we were going through our craziest times like probably no employer I’ve ever seen and it would be really weird for me to be in the spot I’m in and not support them especially and this is probably a call out to anyone listening who’s an alumni of any University University and Academia including Athletics they all need their alumni right now more than they’ve ever ever ever needed this sorting out this world not only on the academic side and everything that’s going on and the disruption that’s happening in their space but sorting out the sports side and everything else um if you’re an alum I have the you like and call Taylor Randall right now and just say I want to help like especially if you’re like me where when I needed that school they helped me and they they all need everyone if you’re at Weaver I just I mean we had we’re working out a kid today from Weber and you know I saw the whole Weber team there and I sent a text to one of my friends Justin Nelson if you remember played a UVU played a weaver and I said dude your crew’s here go supp your your Weaver they need you right and it’s it’s everyone needs to do that in this moment and and it’s because there was especially if there if if if you needed them at some point well now’s the time that they all need you yeah and so that’s probably a little PSA for everyone but I I think I I encourage it I love when my youth friends are 100% in on the youths it makes our state better especially here like we need everything to thrive and and it it doesn’t take much there’s there’s powers and numbers and so um that’s that’s my that’s my reasoning for why I I try to help and so BYU knows that they’ve got my help if I if I can be helpful and there’s a lot I can’t be helpful on but if I can be helpful I will and um that’s how it should be everywhere in this state whether it’s you U whether it’s and and I’m helpful to UVU as well I mean my my family we just did the engineering my dad just did the engineering building down there um you know I remember my mom working there growing up um and so that’s a big part of my life as well and so um that’s that’s how I think through that’s how I think about it well Ryan we’ve kept you way too long man we appreciate it thanks for carving out some time for us we know you’re incredibly busy but uh good luck with the rest of the summer let us know what we can do to help I know it’s crazy for you and your staff I do know you have the best group of people out there I’ve known those guys for decades and they’re they’re good dudes man thanks for sharing the stories too Ryan the stories were great any time guys hey congrats on congrats on 10 years I’m serious like that’s that’s incredible especially in a world where with media there’s so much disruption going on and and everything’s changing I mean we’re seeing in the NBA I’m on the media committee um and and it’s a it’s a new world and so for you guys to be able to get 10 years under your belt and hopefully go a lot longer is is is pretty specially you’re doing something right well I got to tell you this NHL thing is kind of reigniting that passion Ryan so thanks for bringing the NHL because Scotty and I have gone all in we’ve watched as much postseason and talked to as many insiders like we we are we are bot I cannot wait until the the mammoth drop Puck hey look at that hey hey I literally I literally like I I should be sharing this but my uh because my daughter doesn’t know but the other day we’re just driving in the car and she’s seven and she she goes when does spicy tuna get here and I was like this is awesome I was like we’ve officially arrived like I just likeed him I was like I didn’t even know you were she remembered it from the Prescot I was like that is so cool so so the one thing I would say if we look at our October in the state of Utah in downtown Salt Lake I I’m not joking I’m gonna pull this up right now because I think a lot of times you can say stuff and and people understand it but sometimes just visually seeing it we’re Learners that way as well um to understand what it actually means for our downtown on the second there’s a concert on the third there’s a concert on the fourth it’s NBA preseason on the fifth it’s UFC Hans be there bring in the fighting crew I’ll I’ll figure something I’ll figure something out for you there um on the on the sixth it’s NHL preseason on the seventh it’s NBA preseason on the eighth it’s NHL on the 9th we’re blank on the 10th it’s NHL on the 11th it’s a concert on the 12th it’s NHL on the 13th there’s a concert on the 14th it’s blank on the 15th there’s NBA preseason and on the 16th there’s NHL wow so I I hope like the the gravity of what’s coming in and the excitement um is it should be around that in curating that experience and trying to say Hey how do we how do we accommodate in in our city that type of flow oh man I love it I love it because I was just in Miami and the Panthers were in the postseason I went to a Queens Reich concert because you know Ryan Queens Reich Queens Reich uh you know you got you got to catch a little bit of Queens Reich and then you got the Panthers that were playing and you got uh the heat that had just wrapped up their postseason and it I see your vision and I love it man I can’t wait for October to get here oh my goodness that is that is crazy we love it thanks Ryan we appreciate it thanks Ryan bye

• Utah Jazz, NHL & RSL Owner Ryan Smith