FULL SHOW | Utah Jazz Owner Ryan Smith | NBA Finals Was A Blowout | Get Your NHL Season Tickets
hey this is JJ an [Music] Alex as you wrap up your day it’s time to get your fix of the teams you live for and the sports you love this is JJ and Alex presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone [Music] all right welcome back it’s another edition of JJ and Alex 975sl Sport Zone we are committed to being the radio version of what our parking garage looks like downstairs full th for a Friday it was Heavy yeah there was at least 80% of the uh spots were there feels like 2020 again in the building right now where is everybody what Friday turned into you what Happ I’m going to do that on the radio I’m gonna go uh working from home hit me up if you need something I’ll just be home I’m air quotes remote working today hey got that got that client lunch going to dip out for the next 17 hours here just but I’m available via text okay see you later national donut day by the way JJ how’s that going for you and I who are watching our figures I’m uh holding strong no donut for me today no donut don’t even put one in front of my face can I tell you something that I was one mortified by but also kind of proud okay my son brought home a bunch of uh bunch of Crispy Cream Donuts children are very unsupportive of dieting parents no they no they’re in their own world they’re in their own world and they do not so my son shows up and I’m like uncharacteristic that he’s generous and has well one I’m like don’t spend your money on Donuts I was like no no we had some extras and blah blah blah he okay he just started this new job he’s a lifeguard and I was like lifeguards a Donuts doesn’t make sense smash cut to me finding out a couple hours later was because he and his friends went in the dumpster behind the tongue behind the freaking crispy they that they had thrown out and look here’s the thing I have I have no did youat no no no good no no cuz here’s the thing they’re rattling around in the box like I go these aren’t fresh I can Telly creams are not supposed to Rattle inside the box and then he comes out so he didn’t tell me my other son was like hey yeah he got these out of dumpster and I was like oh come on I got buddy come on and he’s don’t you know you have a family you can always come back home son we’re here for you you can always come back home but it’s this weird weird thing that kids are like dude we found the found the donuts in the dumpster I had a friend who told me they threw them out this is what I the okay but here’s the thing I have no leg to stand on when it comes to this and I’ll tell you why you P castanza I lived behind the Provo Bakery when I was oh no when I was in college we made a standing appointment to watch out the window when the guy would throw the donuts away and we would freaking go back in and we would be and we were there man don’t you love college you dumpster Dove for Ste Donuts here’s the best part the if anybody knows what the Provo Bakery is all right this is this these were lean times all right clearly not really though cuz like I was eating awful right here’s the worst part so the Provo bakery is budded right up against not just the house living in but also the one like like a l and Mortuary is right there too yeah so we’re like digging in the dumpster people go donut no no people are looking and they’re looking at us and we’re like oh sorry for your loss I’ll just take these it was awful you’re like watching people and they’re watching you open they’re watching you open the dumpster and you’re like you’re passing along condolences to strangers die for Grandpa would have wanted it this way oh my God he wanted me to be resourceful there’s so there’s a story for better than roben I guess there’s a dut day story for you it is National Doughnut Day we’re not going to respect it but I was I I couldn’t say anything I wasn’t going to go how dare you D dive for donuts in the dumpster they were in the packaging still with with the seal on them you know with the little yeah but they were made and thrown out don’t act like you guys are too good for dump dumpster Donuts like when you’re 16 you’re fine with it no all right just you just me I was 20 something I don’t even know I wife know what I would do I never had that opportunity no no we knew they were because they were kind of the the pro Bakery people were kind of like this they’re like hey here I go and they knew and they were like basically it was basically a handoff to us all right wow welcome to the program on a Friday yeah hey have a little yourself a donut no have a little bit more self-respect you know what you should do go grab a G2G bar all right there you go much better no preservatives can’t say the same about the donuts no preservatives they’re fantastic for you their protein bar doesn’t quit they’re a local company and you will not have to rely on dumpster nutrition with a G2G bar all natural ingredients like I said Costco holiday oil Maverick Associated Foods you get all of it and you can get yourself uh you can get yourself right with the G2G bar in the refrigerated section all right let’s kick the show off we’ve got tons to jump into if you did not hear Ryan Smith uh he’s the owner of the Utah Jazz he is the owner of the Utah National Hockey League team also am I getting those things right anything else Royale Salt Lake the Utah Yeti Utah Royals oh the yeti now Hans has been pushing the mammoth and you know what I know what was the Tweet he had today it was the uh Siberian unicorn did you see that one the Siberian unicorn because there’s an actual an actual prehistoric animal that they found that was in the mammoth family that has a horn that is basically from here to the end of the building like it is massive the elas merium yeah don’t smoke that but then the Siberian the Siberian unicorn right yeah I’m looking at it right now too much to handle there it is extinct it is extinct but plus Siberian not not part of our world unicorn I don’t know if it’ work here don’t know if it’ work here my daughter would love itan unicorn Siberian unicorn pretty dope alas merium is what it’s called don’t smoke it alas stay away from the alasan kids all right essentially a woolly rhinoceros a woolly rhinoceros massive Mammoth woolly rhinoceros so there you go let’s kick the show off as we always do with the cut we’ll jump right in here and let’s get into some of those conversations that they had with Ryan Smith we’ve got so many things on un pack that he talked about uh NHL the finals the Stanley Cup finals firing up uh and so yes it’s on top of our minds hockey NBA basketball all of it let’s get to the cut right here it’s time for the biggest story of the day this is what made the cut with JJ and Alex a 975 the KSL Sports Zone that is the most BYU story ever free donuts man all right all right here’s what we got again like I said you can go I’m assuming it’s probably up the podcast’s probably up to hear the full interview with Ryan Smith let’s play just a couple of the hits here and we’re also in the five o’clock hour going to play a broad chunk of it uh just to be able to make sure we get all of it in there because there was so much there were so many things I don’t know if you know this about Ryan Smith the guy could Moonlight as a uh as a talk show host because he goes and he goes and he gives you answers that you weren’t even asking for and it’s awesome he’s fun to talk that’s what you want to get out of your owner and by the way what owner is makes themselves that available I’m gonna put a caveat on this who’s not annoying so Jerry Jones is out all right just because Jerry Jones calls into the ticket every five seconds Dall not making Personnel decisions can just he’s like hey it’s me can I get on you know that’s that’s that’s Jerry Jones out of Dallas Ryan Smith goes in and we just have questions right and so so Hansen Scotty did a phenomenal job asking those questions and here’s one of the things that was brought up because uh I want to talk first about the Rebrand okay so we’ll start NBA a good I would say 75% of what he talked about was hockey buying the hockey team all those things but I want to make sure we talk Jazz because we’re three weeks away from the freaking draft JJ we got we got to figure some things out here here’s what he said about the Rebrand particularly uh and what Jazz basketball kind of looks like and the the mountains the purple all those color things because he has a lot of input when it comes to this it seems like so take a listen trying to find something that we authentically own in Utah 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 I think it’s a box that we can color in for a long long time and we’re excited about that you know what that is that’s a slide at Denver right there isn’t it there are no mountains there are not in Denver there are mountains near Denver but not in Denver we are a legitimate Mountain NBA team that’s our brand all right get bent Denver or at least get some real elevation the mile high city flat is a freaking field all right it’s basically West Kansas now what about the purple this is something that he’s talked about and this is something that and I heard Jake and Ben talking about this too I think they made a promo out of it even where it’s like look purple was something that nobody really liked but uh now the hipsters are coming around one of those hipsters is Ryan Smith who owns the Utah Jazz and purple is always going to be a part of what this team is the purple is something that’s tricky but you know it’s what a lot of people want they know with 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 in 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 very different genres of folks when they think of the Jazz it’s tough you don’t really want to describe your color schemes as tricky but I think that what he’s really talking about is is that it might be tricky but it’s what we are David lock talked about it with us right yeah what did he say pale people don’t look good in purple yeah I think I probably that category but guess what I think I look all right in lavender I grew up in the Pacific Northwest I was a husky fan and my high school was all purple and black and so I this is something I love I I’m I’m gonna you know what I’m gonna do I’m GNA start rolling out I’m gonna start coming to work in my letter jacket it’s the only time I can wear purple and feel good about it bring your Donuts bring the donuts so it’s interesting because the purple is like it’s a specific choice we are making this choice we’re leaning into it we thought about something else we tried it and there’s no freaking way we’re going to do highlight or yellow it’s not going to happen black and yellow we’re not doing it it’s not part of what this team is and so I love that he leaned into it I love that that’s kind of part of what look it is tricky but that’s part of what this uh history is of this team we’re going to give a nod to the team that’s what this whole Rebrand is about it’s about making sure that people still feel like there’s a history part of this but still looking pretty freaking cool I hated the Rebrand the last Rebrand I mean I just just was like what is this I didn’t identify with it it didn’t look like the Jazz it looked like it just wasn’t good and I’ve been publicly I I mean people people on that side of things with the Jazz organization probably didn’t like my comments but I’m going to say the complete opposite now I love this re the mountain basketball thing the uniforms the colors it all looks really sharp that black Jersey is with the Jazz logo in front of the mountains is chef’s kiss the the that’s the Jordan jersey too yeah I know I like it I know man that’s Unfortunately they have to have a Jordan one but if you’re going to have a Jordan one you better make it look darn cool and make us forget there’s a Jordan patch on it oh yeah I get it see the differ like like 20-year old jazz fan doesn’t understand what I’m why that’s a problem remember when they tried that they tried to roll that out last year with Jordan BR they tried to’s awesome remember they tried to roll that out in the team store last year they had that shirt they had a Jumpman shirt in the team store I was like uh-uh Jumpman it was huge Jumpman and then said Utah Jazz get that the Jazz were under him and so it was all everything felt wrong everything felt bad you don’t understand those of us that are like 4ing up like we have we still wake up in the middle of the night terrorized by everything he pushed off you know what I mean like that has never left that’s part of the history though but that’s what that’s and that’s what I love about the free rent is like your as your point is valid and what he’s saying is valid is there are some fans that grew up in in love that team in the 80s a team with heart in 1984 that that wore the Marty gr colors all the way into Carl Malone and John Stockton and then there are people who fell in love with the Jazz during the finals years and then there’s the people that fell in love with Andre kolinko and Darren Williams and Carlos Boozer in that era of Jazz basketball where they were wearing the light blue so they Incorporated everything throughout the history including the node and the mountains and brought them together and I think it’s great so at the final part of the conversation about the basketball side of things uh he brought up the the draft that’s coming up in uh 21 days and he talked about where he is with the front office and you and I were just talking about this with Lloyd like and it was almost like a little bit of a side joke like ah yeah you know he wants to be a little bit more hands off at the basketball side of things because he’s got so many other things going on right now but you know what he has to have it that way here’s what he said about the draft and here’s what he said about you know being a part part of some of those decisions that the team’s going to make you know you you really don’t bring Danny a in and not let Danny a do Danny a things so 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 want to win and I want to win now and I want to win always and want to you know have that goal for our franchise to be able to do something we haven’t done which is win a championship it’s really really important to me I’m going to be doing this for 30 Years love it thoughts yeah um we made the jokes earlier about Jerry Jones being in the War Room in the draft look Larry Miller had too much input in personel decisions I thought it would I thought it hurt the Jazz I I don’t think he I think his input was obviously taken into more consideration than should have been and they made Personnel decisions that Larry W had done and they weren’t the Right Moves how many babies does uh does Ryan and Ashley Smith have right now we’re was like oh no that’s my baby oh the RSL and the Royals that’s my baby oh new NHL team that’s my baby all the Jazz that’s my baby there’s probably non sports stuff that they’re very involved th% and so in the end you can’t be as spread thin as Ryan Smith is and make the types of decisions that need to be made at that level where Danny a and Justin zanic are at let them these are these are basketball administrative Geniuses so let them do their thing Ryan Smith bu builds companies Ryan Smith creates a software he he he’s in Tech that’s his expertise he doesn’t understand basketball Personnel we all think we do but do you really do you really understand what Justin zanic and Danny a have had to do in their career to be good at what they do they’re the experts I’m sure he Lear highest level yeah you don’t want Ry and Ryan Smith doesn’t want Ryan Smith making player decisions and Personnel decisions he’s got to sign off on stuff yes but you don’t want Ryan Smith deciding who they draft that’s insane it happens with the Dallas Cowboys Jerry Jones makes those decisions yeah think about that so you absolutely respect that Ryan stays off stays away from that stuff he just builds companies he makes these things happen he per he he takes care of the business transactions he establishes the business relationships and that’s where that’s why he’s been so successful and that’s why he now has this fairly large Sports um portfolio portfolio yeah yeah right mhm he doesn’t he doesn’t have to do all the the the those things that’s what Danny Ang is for that’s what J Justin zanic does let those guys do their job that’s what I I respect him so much because he understands personnel and he understands how to how to do that he doesn’t have to be in control of everything he hires the right people and he lets them do the right make the right decisions and then you’re judge based on how you perform uh let me roll something out here because the thing that the exercise that they did by the way this wasn’t like a the the questions that Hance and Scotty were asking like I said were phenomenal because they they dipped in was like hey what’s your relationship with BYU we’ll get into that a little bit later what’s your relationship with you know kind of making these decisions on the hockey side of things the Rebrand on basketball getting in the front office and all these different places and then he was like you guys can I just pulled us up while we’re here he brings up in front of him during the interview what October looks like in the in the actual you know at the Delta Center right here’s what he here’s what he said about that October and what that looks like for a busy downtown Salt Lake City and he spoke specifically about that downtown Salt Lake part of it if we look at our October in the state of Utah I’m not joking I’m going to 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 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 on the sixth it’s n NHL preseason on the seventh it’s NBA preseason on the eth it’s NHL on the ninth 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 so let me let me add something on the schedule that’s crazy let me that’s just the Delta Center this is a new world for us this is just the Delta Center how are we going to do this in October okay on top of all of that let me roll out what the rest of our world also looks like Utah football on October 11th or sorry excuse me uh on September 28th is hosting Arizona so two days before that wild October kicks off or three days before that wild October kicks off and then their October looks like this Arizona State down at Arizona State Utah State I mean uh Utah hosting TCU October 19th that’s a pretty freaking big game yeah uh BYU in Utah November 9th by the way October’s crazy November will be wild here in the state of Utah also because you’re going to be into fullon NHL fullon NBA fullon college football season uh all of the concert schedule like he had rolled out too at Delta Center all of this is going to be I mean just we’re going to be hit in the face with the amount of sports we’ve begged for and we never thought that really would actually happen and here we are October November is going to be one of the most insane times to be a sports fan in the state of Utah and if you’re not ready for it it’s G to be crazy BYU that very same time frame is at home three of the four weeks of October and that is a phenomenal thing thing to look at and go man this is going to be quite a a a big time this is going to be a big two months I I’ll throw November in there because that’s when we’re going to be full regular seasons for basketball and for NBA uh NHL uh college football season going to be in full swing we are going to have a lot on our plate and I will tell you everybody here is doing everything that we can to make sure that everything is in your ear or in front of your face on the TV BYU has Arizona and Oklahoma State at home in October in October okay this Saturday and a Friday night this is a phenomenal time to be a fan of sports in the state of Utah all right so that gets you pumped up it gets you extremely pumped up for what’s going on uh down there and it’s just is it’s such a cool thing uh to be able to be a part of it from just the witnessing it part you know not like we did anything right we get to cover it be a part of it this is the reason we got into the careers that we got into but none of us ever thought that it it would get to this level did we no me my Heavens stay right here with us 975d K Sports Zone ladies and gentlemen bigest you’re locked in to JJ and Alex with the insight and analysis on the teams you can’t live without presented by G2G bars this is 975 the KSL Sports Zone we played well tonight a lot of things we feel like we could do better but uh it definitely does feel good to win the first game but we know that two years ago we won the first game in you know the outcome of that Series so we still have a lot of work to do what can we do to build on the positives uh we’ll talk about that tomorrow understanding the Small Things um the physicality um we have to be better um at that but um um just looking at the positives um look at the things that we can control um and then we’ll build from there I was so freaking excited to watch this game one I think I think a lot of people were but by the end no one no one was watching it when it was six when it was 82 to 64 I tuned out yeah you you hung with it longer than most I put the youngest kids to bed and went eh and it didn’t turn around uh I was actually shocked that chrisa porzingis came in and made the impact that he did as soon as he did he’s fresh I guess you could say that that’s why he’s got the energy playing it against his he’s playing against his former team too you know there’s that whole dynamic so is Kyrie I don’t know if you heard that story line hey JJ Kyrie played for the Boston Celtics earli in his career I don’t know if he knew this yeah breaking news so Kyrie 12 points six of 19 from the field 05 from three if you want to look at the score 10789 what was missing it was Kyrie was missing and the also the fact that Luca is just absolutely getting cooked like he he he can’t guard a chair against the Celtics team I I don’t that’s something that they’re going to have to make an adjustment to and the Celtics are going to try to continue to exploit that so if in order for the Mavericks to win this series you’ve got to have donic and Kyrie scoring a lot because the other guys didn’t really pull through either PJ Washington had a decent night 14 points but that’s it nobody else really did anything offensively and you look at the Celtics and nice balanced effort all start all five starters uh were in double figures and porzingis coming off the bench with 20 that was that was huge what’s really interesting to me too is the is watching the way that Dallas had success the last two series was they came out and punched their opponents in the mouth like shocked them right they came out and just absolutely in the games that they I mean they had because I think it was so remember they lost game one to the Thunder 117 to 95 and then they came back and one four the next five maybe there’s going to be something this right where the Thunder now they went up 2 against the they lost game one to the Clippers 10 9 to 997 in La came back to win what four the next five we have a pattern here we do but the last round in the Western Conference Finals yeah that was just a m they just that they own that matchup that was a tough match up for the Timberwolves and the Thunder or sorry the Mavericks were all right so and that G and that could have gone either way that game one was close I don’t know I’ve changed my attitude then cuz my whole thing is I see a game like that you really you you were you’re going to you were going to come in here doomsday for the for the Mavericks I’m say are you that concerned one I don’t care that much about either of these teams well of course none of are that invested but I want a series and so in my head when you don’t even get to 90 points in a 2024 NBA finals and you have one of the most prolific scores of the moment in the league and he doesn’t show up cuz what was what was Luca from three four 12 four of 12 yeah not great as a team they were seven of 27 I I don’t have it I I don’t have it in front of me sorry I’m not prepared but 25 I bet it’s been a while since the Mavericks only made Seven threes in a game yeah it’s probably been a minute yeah the Celtics on the other hand went 16 to 42 from three 38% they shot the ball well I mean Jason two threes man yeah I mean Jason Tatum made three Horford two Drew holl two Derek white three Jaylen brown two Sam Hower two Sam porzingis two everybody was making threes except for uh pton Pritchard who missed he went 0 for five everyone else was knocking down threes it it was a bad combination for the Mavericks Kyrie didn’t get anything going offensively and and and Luca couldn’t guard anybody and the Celtics couldn’t miss for a while so that there you have it 3720 first quarter good night I had hope before half time oh they might they might try to figure this thing out so as it goes along here as the rest of the series I’m taking you know what now that I look at it you’ve giv me that little tidbit of insight there JJ I like it I like it the Mavericks lost their previous games in the opening round of the playoffs to the Clippers on the Clippers floor right yeah what was the what was the uh Point what was the point differential that one let me go give me one moment what was he over under on I told you last night I go if I have to see a wallberg and there was like going Clippers Mavs Clippers game one point differentials that’s what you want yes yes uh 12 points 109 to 97 okay so you lose by 18 you’re kind of right there what was the Thunder one tell me the Thunder was a bigger 17 to 95 that was a 22o loss game One S I think we’re seeing a pattern here I think we are very similar all right they got the they put they put The Feelers out there but man Chris AB sport this is a nightmare because that could be an X Factor for the Celtics he’s a he’s a nightmare because he plays defense too like he is three blocks including that one who was on that Breakaway very in that very first quarter and they go up and it looked like an easy dunk and porzingis gets back and is uh is two feet Above the Rim with his reach and knocks that ball off of the off of the line I want to see I want to say it’s PJ Washington well either way bottom line is is he made an immediate impact Chris a porzingis played 21 minutes off the bench Josh Green Josh Green did you see the do you remember the play though yeah it w I couldn’t believe it I could not believe it and I went there’s a problem for this Mavericks team and that’s why they needed to get Christ porzingis back he comes off the bench 21 minutes plus 13 on the night for him when he’s on the floor just a mere 20 points off of the bench like you said 50% from three with two for four crazy all right but I have hope game two is gonna be what is that on uh sat Sunday Sunday night Sunday Sunday Sunday let’s hope the Mavericks figured out all right we’ll take a break we have a we have a fun would you rather around the corner all right so I’ve got some things I threw in there I’m gonna throw it at JJ it’s a fun it’s a fun Friday okay I promise we’re gonna have some fun uh we’ll also dip in down at the uh Larry H Miller Utah Summer Games coming up in just a few minutes as well nominate your youth’s Youth Sports volunteer that you know for the Hercules hero of the week have you heard us do these submit your nomination KSL sports.com contest and listen every Thursday uh Thursday afternoon JJ and I are gonna read those off every Thursday we did it yesterday we get a winner every week we want you to nominate that awesome Youth Sports volunteer that makes a difference in your community and is unsung and we will sing them okay Hercules hero of the week sponsored by Hercules Credit Union and beehive meals all right we’ll come back we got more to go around the corner would you rather next 975d KSL Sports Zone everybody real life hypotheticals to get your brain churning as JJ and Alex asked would you [Music] rather all right what would you rather goes like this I give you a scenario JJ and you tell me what you’d rather do uh National dut day I was uh I got a text from a friend that says that’s kind of stuff you don’t share on the air by the way oh really this was one of the participants in the dumpster diving for oh no now they’re I mean I didn’t him you didn’t use their name no I didn’t out him you didn’t you didn’t implicate anybody else in your crimes you know what one of my uh roommates in college is also from Wyoming J also a giant freaking Broncos fan Chey hard he’s from Cheyenne okay that might as I mean you know how far away Star Valley is from Cheyenne uh it’s Wyoming it’s like from Denver to Salt Lake City there’s 11 people between you basically yeah uh you know what’s funny is I don’t like I’ve met a lot of really intense Bronco fans in my day some of whom work here at this very station this guy’s sells out so big time to this to the Broncos love it good for him yeah good man so there you go uh let me see here no but he wasn’t the and the Wyoming guy wasn’t one of the dumpster divers so don’t worry okay it was just me it was just me everybody okay would you rather don’t miss your chance every week here on the KL Sports Zone every Wednesday in fact we give away some stuff this coming Wednesday family four pack of tickets to The Suite the KSL site for comedian Theo Von at the Mavericks center on June 30th that’s not freaking bad you know you know what comes with the S usually there’s some snacks and some popcorn oh yeah all right take advantage of it man how about M&M’s in the popcorn I have never done that I should promise that no I haven’t never done that’ be a good idea Maverick Center no no’ be good uh KSL Sport Zone all day long that’s where we do it every Wednesday wi ticket Wednesday uh we were just talking about the season tickets went up for sale for Utah’s hockey team right did we find out any prices or anything oh we didn’t dip in yeah Jay Steven’s going to talk to us next hour but it’s out there 40 something starts at 44 per game for upper bowl lower bowl starts around 120 per game that’s not bad it’s not a ter that’s a pretty good value well especially considering like I I don’t know what the uh and the Jazz tickets must be comparable right there’s probably some I don’t know because I’ve NBA is a little more expensive yes the lower b lower bowl at the NBA level is an expensive ticket yes so but maybe if you own season tickets I don’t hate that I love it so would you rather have season tickets to your college football team of choice and you’ve got to transfer your mind into a sports fan not just a guy who covers the sports okay JJ okay your college football team of choice which here in the state of Utah season tickets for BYU just got way more expensive uh Utah is always a waiting list now right so college football team of your choice NHL hockey or Jazz season tickets you only get one of those season I got to pick one I’m going NHL hockey here’s why number one the Jazz aren’t good right now so NHL hockey’s probably a better value as far as quality of play Lots energy quality of Team uh college football is incredible every game as an event but there’s only six games a year give me the 41 home games for the NHL hockey team okay don’t hate it that’s a great I think that’s a good choice Sound Logic that’s a good choice college football fan right now is laughing at me but well I’m sure there’s some people who are like that but guess what um it’s just one of those it’s one of those things it’s one of those things man I I’m the same way NHL hockey right now unbeatable in terms of the it’s new fresh exciting yes the energy around it crazy the ja to build some excitement for this fan for the fans here to get them back engaged in in what the team’s doing I’m I’m all in on that uh would you rather be a serviceable kind of 10-year NBA player no championships but you know you’re that guy played for three teams in 10 years and or you’re a good player or would you rather be a Hall of Fame head coach player Hall of Fame JJ don’t care all right do you know how hard it is to make the NBA I do not there’s only 450 people currently on the planet that are good enough only half of those are in the rotation and only half of those start yeah but there’s only 30 head coaches in the NBA in the entire nobody cares about them and they get fired every two or three years you get to tell people you made it to the NBA that’s incredible yeah I’d rather be in I I’d take 20 game NBA career over Hall of Fame head coach well 10 10 who cares like 10 year NBA career is still what that’s incredible and that’s a career earnings of 19 who cares about the fame I give you the money oh wait what that too I love it all right don’t hate that how about this one uh since it’s National Doughnut Day yes an amazing doughnut like just that Airy still hot you know my move was when we lived up in Salt Lake here we lived pretty close to bambury the original bambur I would go in and I would say hey what do you have that’s warm right now that’s Brant that’s a move that is give me I and if it’s like even if it’s not something that I would pick normally it’s hot and that’s ridiculous it takes everything to the next level okay you tell I haven’t had a dut in a minute an amazing doughnut or an amazing slice of pizza pizza all day every day I am a pizza guy big time again jry say pizza too again we haven’t had a lot of P New York slice over an amazing dut I love love love I cannot tell you how much I love pizza the one of the reasons why I had to go to Salt Lake City fat loss was your love of pizza was my love of pizza uh oh I might have gotten you off and I I like bad pizza too like so what’s a bad Pizza I probably shouldn’t mention anybody by name but you bring home a Little Caesars I’m still EA half of it I know and I go going say no my wife and I do this all the time we’re she go pick up little sear for the kids and we’ll get something night we’ll get something good and I will definitely have four slices of the kids pizza that I pretended like I was po pooing I was like no no no no you tell him to put the garlic sauce on the outside of it with the buttery they do it oh yeah the same stuff they put on the uh sticks don’t hate it put it on the crust uh last one last one so Oklahoma pulled it off they won their fourth National Title yes D in uh in softball your daughter wins four straight softball NCAA titles or your son wins one college football title daughter wins four straight that’s special that’s a dynasty yeah but the college football playoffs JJ yeah I know but the college football playoffs you know what that means and they’re going to show you in the crowd periodically says his dad is his inspiration right well if if I’m an inspiration that explains a lot of my household all right let’s jump out to uh Stephen mer sad dad right now we’re we’re jumping down to see CER City we’re of course talking about the Larry H Miller Utah Summer Games Steven Meredith associate VP of enrollment online at suu uh first of all Stephen describe the vibe going on as you guys celebrate these Utah Summer Games it’s an awesome thing down there in Cedar City first of all how are you second of all how amazing is it down there we’re doing great and hello from Cedar City there you go uh the vibe is awesome down here uh we’re just to the west of the football stadium and Things Are setting up for what it promises to be an amazing U kickoff tonight for the summer games uh Stephen I’m going to have to ask you why you came on why you question why you came on and had to show us up with the radio voice oh sorry about that I I do the I do the sports down here for suu along with my day job as uh online and uh and yeah I also have the face to go with it if that helps we’re the we’re the guy do listen we we appreciate a good radio voice when we hear it that was I heard it and it was I was like this dude’s a pro uh let’s talk a little bit about what suu means to the community down there how big of a deal have online uh degrees become now that you’re you’re I mean you’re one of the people who obviously heads this up and I right now a way to get a college degree in 2024 is much different than the way that my dad got a college degree yes and you know I should say we just celebrated our 125th anniversary last year here and and a lot of people don’t know this about suu we started as the branch normal school which was a branch Campus of the University of Utah so we’ve we’ve had distance education built into our DNA from the very beginning um but uh as you pointed out uh online wasn’t really a thing until the pipe got big enough to get to people’s houses and really deliver high quality education and that’s happened within about the last 5 years 5 years ago we had 200 uh online onine students today we have uh about 3,200 online students here at suu and um you know uh it’s it’s a way to extend the opportunities and the blessings of Thunderbird education to people that can’t join us here in Cedar City we love Cedar City but we know it’s um you know a little bit out in the woods too so uh there are a lot of people that join us and become uh become suu Thunderbirds from a distance whether it’s online or or on campus what makes southern Utah such a great option for people to get a college degree well I think we’re focused on people here and on success I mean the the campus itself of course is beautiful we’re known as the University of the parks and we’re surrounded by by uh as many national parks as you can shake shake a stick at but I I have to say that that I’ve worked in highered for about 35 years now and the difference for me at SU U is that we put people first and that starts in the president’s Suite with President Mindy Benson and goes all the way down uh to every employee here we love our students and we put their needs and desires first uh hold on a minute can I get 100% of an MBA online through you guys is that a thing for real you absolutely can at a price that’s about uh about 25% of uh of my Elma moer up on the hill there wow so that’s but see again and then I don’t have to now I like going down to Southern Utah I’m down there quite a bit during the year so but that’s a that’s a crazy thing to be able to do that’s an awesome that’s an awesome thing to be able by the way you can go online and find all of these different programs that they do uh online education including master’s degrees including uh all sorts of education so this is fun this is fun for us I love that the community is so plugged into those Summer Games down there as well Steven Meredith associate VP of enrollment online at suu we appreciate it Stephen we’ll chat with you guys again and thanks for uh thanks for hanging out and representing the Thunderbirds man thanks guys there you go thanks Stephen gosh why does he have to have a better voice than us I’m gonna go home I we’ll let Stephen do the show was awesome it was awesome it’s good I’m going to come back with my Steph Meredith impersonation next all right we’re going to come back we got more to go J Steven is going to join us uh of course if we are talking about hockey uh one of our hockey insiders right here uh at the KSL Sports Zone is Jay Stevens and of course with Ryan Smith joining Hansen Scotty today had a lot to talk about and we’ve got to ask him about those season tickets about the Stanley Cup Playoffs the finals that are that are firing up tomorrow so uh let’s get going we got tons going on around the corner stay right here with us 975 K Sports Zone your home for the best coverage of the Jazz Boot and cougars is right here on the Zone this is JJ and Alex presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone [Music] [Music] welcome back JJ and Alex 975 bkl Sport Zone thanks for being with us everybody our program is always brought to you by G2G bars all natural ingredients and no preservatives make the G2G bar perfect for anybody who needs a protein packed quick tasty and nutritious boost uh they got they they had a flavor a new flavor I had it’s not a new flavor I just haven’t had it but maybe because I’m so desperate for for tasty things right now there was one that had like a banana it had banana in it chocolate banana H have you had that one yet Jeremy I don’t know what are you talking about again chocolate peanut butter banana G2G bar that looks like not sure yeah you do they have a pizza flavor G2 G bar not yet that’s my new dut when I get off of when I get off of the full I mean I can have a I can have a protein bar come on that’s GNA be my cheat I’m go get a G2G bar all right if I’m cheating I’m cheating better than that no off no offense to G2G well no you don’t go I’m gonna cheat with a protein bar no no come on right I get it that’s the donut uh also we’re going to kick off this part of the show it’s the front end of the hour we’re going to talk with Jay Stevens he is one of our amazing uh hockey insiders now our NHL insiders he’s of course the host of the puck report uh right here on Utah Puck report on uh on on on the podcast side of things you can take a listen uh let’s jump in here with the cut top of the hour it’s time for the biggest story of the day this is what made the cut with JJ and Alex on 975 the KSL Sports Zone this portion of the show also brought to you by an incredible selection of Kia Subaru Chevy Jeep Dodge or Ram visit Doug Smith dealerships in American Fork and Spanish Fork great service starts with knoow and nobody knows like Doug Jay Stevens joining us on the program like I said Utah Puck report and our good hockey friend now that we are trying to figure out uh the world of hockey it’s uh becoming more and more into Focus for us the Ryan Smith interview uh Jay that Hance and Scotty had earlier today phenomenal to be able to dive in and almost all of that conversation centered around hockey man yeah it’s it’s about time right isn’t that what you guys have been thinking this whole time absolutely absolutely especially now and look when you’ve got your fingerprints all over it when this is your legacy bringing a team here to Utah you would have that type of of vibe like it would be very hard to focus on anything else when this has been something you’ve been focusing on for so long oh yeah yeah and uh man I listened to that interview and I’ve got Ryan on my show next week and they asked all the good questions I got come up with a whole new Sate yeah well uh you can cheat off of them you just cheat off some of those questions see if they see if they match up see if uh if he stays true to what to what he was bringing up the team names are up and uh the votes are coming in is is it going to be the Utah Puck report for much longer is it just going to be the yeti Puck report at some point yeah uh I’m down for whatever and it’s Yeti the you know the mammoth report I’m I’m down for whatever and yes we have six names we’re down to uh everybody’s jumping online and voting again they had you know half a million votes before so no reason to think we’re not going to get the same kind of turnout people are starting to get really passionate about names they really love some and really hate some and it’s uh I don’t know a lot of people really vested in it Jay I’m disa pointed you’re not here in person cuz you’d see me wearing my saw Lake golden eagles t-shirt he does he’s rocking it it’s the green it’s Kelly Green too it’s old school it’s like you know the early 80s not the 90s uh golden eagles but and and I’m disappointed that golden eagles isn’t an option but I get it the golden nights are just down the road but we know what we have to work with so I have to ask you what’s your favorite what would you like to see what would you least like to see uh I would least like to see Utah Hockey Club I would Le and then next to that was Venom I don’t want either of those nobody likes venom how is it still on the list I have no idea that one really that one really surprised me um I’m I’m really into the mammoth thing I’m uh I’m liking that quite a bit I like the Outlaws I just can’t see that actually being a thing and I you know the kids really want Yeti when you talk to all the kids and the youth around here they seem to really want Yeti and I you know it’s it’s it’s for them more than it’s for me they’re going to be going to these games forever too and and you know I’m just I’m happy that I get to go to an NHL game so call him a Yeti call him whatever just you know start selling me some tickets let me go well that’s just started that’s starting today right yes it did it started today so so it’s pretty pretty intense too like people going over there and checking out their the sight lines and and putting down money on or you know buying their tickets started today yeah take people through the experience what they can expect if they haven’t already or or what the experience has been for people trying to purchase those tickets cuz you had 34,000 people make a deposit but there’s only 10,000 unobstructed seats yeah and they’re going right down the list so the first person that jumped online and made that $100 deposit is the first person that gets to go to the Delta Center and pick their seat they’re going to go right down the line and so they’ve reached out they’ve started calling people saying hey uh be on at this time and you know you come here you got a two-hour slot to come sit in some seats you can buy a maximum of four so like my my men’s league team did a uh did a Buy in get they were going to buy 10 tickets now we’re only going to get eight tickets because we have two guys that made deposits under different names so yeah they’re and so yeah then you put your money down tickets start at 44 bucks for upper bowl and then you know if you’re if you’re filling like your Club level it’s $500 per game for 41 games huh well look uh the 34,000 what’s the reality going to be then it’s just the 10,000 plus the I mean what are the what are the number of of seats that are going to be actually designated as season tickets in that in the arena is it is it between 10 and 13,000 what what was the actual number that they’re going to settle on for actual season ticket holders they didn’t tell us exactly what they settled on they said they’re GNA you know there’s probably about 11,000 seats that’ll be unobstructed that you’ll be able to see you know they they’ll have in and that’s it’s going to be dependent on whether or not they had to tear down the night before um for a jazz game or whatever but they’re going to cram as many seats in there as they can and the corners and stuff to make it as many good seats as they can they’re anticipating around 16,000 um or 17,000 and they didn’t say the limit on who’s going to have season tickets they did say that they’re going to break them up they’ll have season like 10 game tickets full season package half season package so they’re really going to try and make sure that all 34,000 people that put in get something out of it and then you get to stay on the list too you stay on the list and as more seats become available over the next few seasons you’ll get more opportunity to buy those seats as long as you on the initial list and then if you buy the partially obstructed seats they going to try and make that worth your while by giving you other access to stuff so they’re really working hard to try to make sure everybody gets some kind of Engagement out of it season tickets available now makes it even more real uh you’re interviewing players which has been great if you’re listening right now go to KSL sports.com check out the puck report Jay’s been talking to uh exclusive interviews with uh players for Utah’s NH hockey team your latest was Shawn dery what what did you learn from Shawn what have you been learning from these interviews about this team uh Shawn dery is an amazing person like he’s been one of my favorite interviews I’ve ever done and he’s just he’s just dialed in he’s excited the main thing I’m getting from all these players is they’re excited to come to Utah and they’re excited to have all this stuff behind them and to just they’re feeding off the energy that they got at our big pep rally the meet the team pep rally at the Delta Center and everything they got right when they got off the plane they’re just in love with the idea of being here now and they know that they’re in a in a better situation where that now they can just focus on hockey and play they’re going to get some new free agents this year and everybody just seems to be relieved and excited and and they love Utah they have really good things to say about Utah when you see these you know the the the the NHL has the best the Stanley Cup playoffs are the best is best playoffs you can get in all of the big Sports and so that’s one thing that I think has been easy for people if they’re just getting into hockey watching playoff hockey is I think how a lot of people enter the doors of of watching hockey because the excitement is so there and and these and these games can can get so crazy so let’s talk a little bit about this matchup uh the Florida Panthers a really really exceptionally good team and only getting better it seems like and just mowing down those Eastern Conference teams that I think a lot of people had uh you know in the Stanley Cup Final but of course just like every Port it’s wherever you know that team who’s hitting their Peak and certainly on the Eastern side of things you’ve got the Florida Panthers and then on the other side the Edmonton Oil is trying to get their first cup for the for the Canadians uh for the the entire country of Canada for the first one since 1993 so let’s talk a little bit about that matchup uh who’s got the edge in this one and why is it the Florida Panthers you already knew what I was going to say uh I’ve been saying this since December and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody Florida was there last year too and they’re a really good team and they have really good goal tending and they have a couple players that just turn it on during the playoffs I mean kachuk does what he does year round he is he is what he is he’s going to get out there grinding and he’s going to play right to the line and he’s going to make everybody on the other team forget what they’re supposed to do because they’re so worried about what he’s doing and it just get throws them off their game and then you got you know Sam Bennett and barov like barov being one of the best players in the n and nobody’s talking about how good he is and he just kind of tips the scale Edmonton stacked I mean we can’t can’t say they’re not you know with a guy like Conor McDavid and dry sidol and Heyman I mean they they just have an amazing lineup and I think they’re great but Florida was there last year they learned from their loss last year they’re going to come out just physical and they’re going to make it a grind for Edmonton the one thing Edmonton has going for them is that Dallas did not take the body the way they should have that whole series so edmonson’s going to come in a little more refreshed but their back end and their goal ending is not where it needs to be to win a Stanley C I think that may be the difference I mean there’s the sentimental favorite is Edmonton I think those of us who remember the 80s and remember the Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier teams would love to see uh Edmonton win it I think we’d finally like to see Canada suffering come to an end and 31 years without a cup but uh what I think is really important from our perspective here in Utah is watching these two teams battle for Stan the cup and I’m going to be looking saying okay what can Utah do to be like these teams and and I’m sure you’re doing the same is there anything that this new Utah franchise can learn from these teams as they play the Stanley Cup Final that’s going to help their success moving forward yeah 100% well the first thing the Utah team can do is grab Reinhardt off Florida because he’s an unrestricted not the first person that said that everybody we interview is talking about you know what Ryan’s got money they probably need to go get Reinhardt because he’s unrestricted free agent that’s that big name that keeps coming up over and over again that’s interesting sorry to interrupt but that you’re you’re not the first person that’s thrown that our way no and it’s I mean that’s because he there’s there’s only one bigger name than him that’s an unrestricted free agent right now and that’s stamp Co and everybody knows stamp Coast isn’t leaving Tampa Bay like he’s just going to stay that’s his home he’s been there his entire career ryanard on the other hand like he deserves a raise Florida’s doesn’t have the space to give him a raise there’s going to be a lot of guys after they win this cup they’re going to want to raise too so I can see Ryan H picking up a cup that makes him worth even more because now he has that and then you just bring him over right and but yeah besides that watching how these teams play Bill Armstrong he was on my show uh last night that episode drops next week he he talked a little bit about the intensity and what it takes to win a Stanley Cup and it takes a lot of physical play you know the game’s always changing and during this regular season it’s it’s not as physical but once the playoffs hit playoffs are playoffs it’s physical everybody finishes their check the rest kind of bury the whistles a little bit and you got to have players that can play through that and that’s that’s what Utah is going to look for that’s the kind of player Bill Armstrong was and that’s what he’s going to get I think in this free agency Jay Stevens joining us of course Utah P reporter is this podcast you can hear it uh by just going over to the KSL Sports Website KSL sports.com you can click on podcast find it right there uh Jay getting uh all these exclusives like we’re talking about and being able to get Bill Armstrong obviously on and we’re talking about how these hockey guys they love to talk about it they love to talk not just because it’s like oh I guess we got to promote this new team this is like Bill Armstrong likes to get on and talk about hockey it doesn’t matter what Market he’s in it just so happens to be that they’re here in Utah now and they’re leaning into it but this is the way they are yeah I’ve been telling you guys when you guys you know everybody’s asking me what’s the difference going to be when the NHL gets here and it’s going to be that you have a lot more access to the team and they’re excited about it they told me I had 15 to 20 minutes with Bill we went 40 plus minutes wow and it was and it wasn’t me it wasn’t my like you’re right he’s a Storyteller he wants he just we all have such a passion for the game that once you get these guys talking there’s no stopping them they want to they want to tell that story and they want to finish it and then that will remind them of another story they want to tell and if if you’re lucky like me to have a show where you can sit back and listen to these guys tell these stories it’s just amazing to to listen to what they’ve gone through their whole lives playing hockey and what it took to get to where they’re at uh Jay if somebody’s listening right now and and you know maybe they’re dipping in and going oh I’ll give hockey a shot I I don’t think they need to choose between the jazz or hockey but there’s there’s certainly a lot of people who are like oh I’ve never had Jazz season tickets uh but we’re going to get hockey season tickets so let’s talk a little bit about when if somebody does and they’re in they’re on that list and they’re going to be a part of that that new kind of era going forward of season ticket holders what is going to be the best thing for somebody who uh who were we talking with last or we were just talking about about this last time was somebody was like I people are buying these and they’re going all I was listening to Ryan Smith talk about it they’re buying season tickets and they’re like no this is going to be the thing that our family does now yeah and it’s it’s great entertainment for the family and and I don’t know why it CU it’s you know it’s got something that everybody wants and they said I think uh only 8% of the Jazz season ticket holders opted in to buy the hockey season tickets so yeah it’s going to be a totally new audience seeing you know like I’ve said before hockey is everything you want it to be if you want to see beauty watch them skate you want to see something amazing watch him transition from offense to defense how quick that happens it’s beautiful like and then if you want to see if you’re a football guy and you want to see hard hits it’s there and they’re hitting you know hard and fast and they’re traveling a lot faster when they’re hitting and if that’s not violent enough for you you’re going to get the fights too so you get you get all of it and then you start to learn why things happen and when they’re going to happen and you just see that it’s just such a beautiful game and it’s so much fun to watch and it’s so fast and it’s always always always intense like even the playoffs are unreal but even just during the regular season when you’re there it’s just it’s always intense and there’s always something writing you know so you I think Utah fans that have not had a chance to see NHL live are going to be blown away by the speed and the size of these guys Jay Stevens Utah report Jay as always thanks for being with us man we appreciate it and uh thanks for keeping us like in that in the know man this is what we’re doing we’re trying to get in the know on hockey and you’re helping us man we appreciate it anytime you know I love to talk about hockey there you go STS everybody accessing when TV and radio Collide love it this is what you get you’re listening to JJ and Alex presented by G2G bars don’t touch that D on 975 the KSL Sports z e e a [Music] all right we’re all in not just on hockey but the World of Sports this fall I’m I am just I don’t know how we’re going to handle it it’s going to be too much right it’s a good problem to have it is a definite first world problem take I I’m so excited like just the excitement of taking on everything that’s new too many sports to C boohoo I I get called let’s hit me with the some first world problem music here uh Jeremy because if we’re going to complain about it you got to have some some song bird from Kenny G just to like really [Music] boohoo too many sports teams to cover Jeremiah and I’m going to lean in mostly to hockey I feel like in my personal life and I feel like that’s going to be a problem at home my wife’s going to be like we’re a hockey family now I’ll say absolutely JJ I’m a hockey family man now okay well that’s the way it is so be it another First World Sports problem you know you don’t have to pick they called me 1,1 14th on the list of the of of getting the deposit in now not me personally but you know there’s somebody out there today was like cuz they’re just going down the line well you you can’t have an you have to have an unobstructed view I mean they didn’t invite me for a 2-hour window to watch and sit around in different seats today that must be number 30,000 on the list could you imagine oh I’m only 30 I’m 30,000 on the list never going to get a call back from the ticket office boohoo going to have to buy oneoff tickets for my family during the season The Things We complain about National Doughnut Day by the way that’s something to complain about you want to complain about let talk about first world problems I how about the fact that I can’t eat a donut right multiple banberry crosses now that I have to drive by they’re like popping up now what’s the other one the deli what the fr the donuts fresh donuts in Deli right yes yes yes that’s the that’s yeah yeah no it’s it’s good checks in the mail hopefully for that little shout out checks in the mail I’m that’s what’s great about these Mom that’s like one of those mom and pop shops it’s like a it’s like a that’s why I like to mention them I’m not going to mention the well why not Crispy Cream it’s a chain but spelled with a it’s spelled with a K though yeah but I I love how the signs turns on when they’re hot and fresh the ones got the ones my son got out of the garbage were definitely crispy not so hot and fresh oh my gosh it’s not a first world problems dumpster diving for crispy creams like as a as a funny Flex too oh we got him out of the dumpster I just got back from the bin I got my retro clothes on and I’m going to go get some hot some we have some hot donuts since when do we have multiple Crispy Cream boxes in the house oh I got them from a friend is this name Waste Management oh my goodness all right we’ve got some hockey to get into with the hockey owner here in town Ryan Smith who joined Scotty today we’re going to play in its entirety or in most of its entirety uh the uh the the the 40-minute interview but we’re going to do about 28 and a half minutes of it and so you’re G to hear that at the five o’clock hour here’s what Ryan Smith said about the NHL team but also downtown and and kind of what’s going on here and uh here’s what here’s what he said about the local fans and and and taking ownership of that new team you know you don’t get to start a brand from scratch very often 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 not about Ryan Smith or my family our ownership group as much as it truly is about the community and so we want the community to be able to take part in naming it you know we’re not going to run design by 500,000 people because that would be a disaster but like I think it’s really working as far as the Outreach and getting people invested and wanting to provide ideas and you know we’ve come up with six names and it’s amazing he’s right it’s brilliant involve the community in choosing and picking the name like I’m not naive I mean I’m sure they’re going to they’re not going to have fans do all of it right and it when it comes down to it they get to choose what the name is regardless of what the fans say but make people feel like they’re a part of this right from the get-go they’ve handled this so well they they really have executed this very well I when it’s not I I can’t compare it I don’t know what was like in Seattle and Vegas clearly they’ve had they’ve been successful both on and off the ice those two franchises as expansion teams but I I can’t I can’t look at anything that they’ve done here with this and say oh what were they thinking right and we think about it from like the The Branding perspective and like you know the lead time on being able to get gear and blah blah blah what’s funny is we don’t care about that we’re not don’t understand that no that’s what I’m saying those are the things we those are the things we ask about so and that was he brought up because people were like oh why can’t you get the name this year this is what he said about getting the name like right now for this year we close on the transaction next week so naming and all that needs to come long after that and The Season’s obviously already started from the apparel standpoint and all of that started long ago so really no way to do that for this year and that was definitely pointed out to us by the NHL early on honey when do we close on that house oh awesome in a couple weeks hey Ryan when do you close on that NHL deal it’s like I love I love the idea of closing next week I just pictured Ryan and Ashley Smith having to show up at the place because we’ve all signed for our homes right oh yeah so they got to show up and they got to sign every page you got the you got the notary the notary sitting right there and you’re like how many more of these do I have to sign initial here initial here your NHL mortgage may be sold to another mortgage lender at some point during the process what’s your what’s your rate on that all right uh but no I was I was bringing up the the Stars I brought up the Stars thing before because I was in Dallas as a 14-year-old yeah when the stars came to town and I didn’t give one thought about The Branding or any of that stuff the stars came to town and they were the stars they were formerly the North Stars and they had new logos they had the colors were black and green and gold which for us was fantastic that was cool you know and as a kid you don’t think about any of that stuff all you know is that there’s a brand new team in town and we had to get tickets to go to the game like we went I remember going to the game I didn’t have enough appreciation for it too sitting in Reunion Arena watching the Gretzky Los Angeles Kings oh my gosh Marty Murley Wayne Gretzky on the ice against Barry Melrose their coach oh yeah and you know what and they were and because Wayne Gretzky had like Marty murle came as a package deal it’s like having a knuckle baller with his with his catcher you know it’s like that was Jeremy Evans to Gordon H it was his he was the he was the Goon for uh for for Wayne Gretzky and and and it was just phenomenal and you know what I remember going to that that game the Stars won six to2 so you have eight goals scored in the game wow and I was just like I was in I was in it’s it’s just crazy to think no one cares about anything else except for when that puck hits the ice it’s going to be so fun for everybody here locally it’s not going to matter that they don’t have the yeti Uniforms on yet the or the mammoth uh whatever the drop let this team go and we’re going to love them and it’s going to be a blast so all that stuff will get worked out and I’m sure it’s going to be great I mean the the Jazz just nailed their new uh uh you know scgs just nailed the new Jazz Rebrand which I think is great and so I think they’re going to get hockey right I think they really they learned a lot of lessons from that jazz Rebrand and I think it’s going to pay dividends here with the hockey team all well come back uh I’ve got more things that Ryan Smith had to talk about one was how that relationship with BYU has come along and it’s really interesting too because he calls out not just BYU fans but every College fan out there will tell you how uh he did that next right here 975 K Sport Zone ladies and gentlemen you’re locked in to JJ and Alex with the insight and analysis on the teams you can’t live without presented by by G2G bars this is 975 the KSL Sports [Music] Zone welcome back everybody JJ and Alex on a Friday thanks for being with us on the program if you missed uh Ryan Smith in his chat with Hansen Scotty today we’re playing portions of that all day we’re going to play [Music] the vast majority of it coming up in about 10 minutes you want to stay tuned he covered a lot of things one of the things he covered was the relationship that he has with uh BYU Hance asked the question too he’s like hey so how like how much do you have your hand in that whole thing because certainly basketball is starting to how can you all of a sudden afford $1.5 million for a for a player and 4.5 for a coach yeah and and part of it was is and Hance was like look I’m calling football games man I would love for some of that to turn the corner yeah and here’s what Ryan Smith said about his relationship with BYU and kind of how it got there and and and yeah he’s committed and and uh he he got into a little bit 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 grew up kind of roaming those Halls of BYU and being there 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 in a different phase of life and it very critical one and and BYU kind of supported him through that you know you fast forward 10 years after that and my dad gets stage fourth throat cancer BYU supports them all the way through that include kind of working from home resting keeping everything there 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 I never viewed myself as a BYU 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 said I want to go to BYU you know and 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 not about sports it’s about they’ve supported my family when we were going through our craziest time 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 so he kind of went on here JJ one of the things I loved about this I was like we got to sneak this in because he was like I don’t care what school you went to like they need you right now and he called out you know college grads across the country to start throwing some money at their at their schools to support 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 if you’re an alumni of the youu like call Taylor Randall right now and just say I want to help especially if you’re like me where when I needed that school they helped me they all need everyone uh I just I loved that I I loved that part I wanted to make sure we heard it because it’s it’s such a cool thing I think a lot of people are in that spot now they go hey that that’s what it is it’s ultimately just a guy supporting the school that his dad worked for and that he went to right yeah it just creates an interesting Dynamic here in our community because of well the Rivalry and then he goes oh no I have you’re doing that in Dallas for you know I’m trying to or wherever I don’t know it’s just no he said it and he goes I have friends at all these places and I call them up and I say start throwing money at the you man start throwing money at Weber start throwing money at Utah State let’s go that’s that’s it’s it’s a huge part of this and by the way college sports has never been in in the spot that it’s been in right now in the state of Utah it’s better than it’s ever been the only way you can keep sustaining it is is with that all right you see what happens with BYU now the ability to compete in basketball ball is they’ve never been able to do this and we’re going to see first of it here this next season unbelievable all right your for the best coverage of the Jazz youut and cougars is right here on the Zone this is JJ and Alex presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone [Music] welcome back everybody our program JJ and Alex right here 975 the KSL Sport Zone as always brought to you by G2G bars all natural ingredients and no preservatives make the G2G bar perfect for anybody who needs a quick tasy nutritious boost I haven’t checked in are you having fun on a fun Friday JJ I’m having a blast it’s been good it’s been good it’s flown by uh which means we are having fun and uh this will be another time if you’ve not dipped in into the conversation that Hance and Scotty had earlier today with uh Jazz owner NHL hockey team owner part own of RSL and of the Utah Royals am I getting them all in there part of a five billion dollar plus portfolio they say now of sports franchises Ryan Smith started off the conversation they were asking him about uh basically how busy things are G to start getting and yeah it’s going to be a quick turnaround and this uh this hockey team’s gonna be taking the ice and it’s gonna be right on top of us pretty darn soon yeah it’s it’s for sure I mean we’re 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 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 in 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 on the NBA and I was like well why did why are you doing hockey and are you a fan he’s like look I’ve 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 winners 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 that 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 it’s it’s not something it’s not about Ryan Smith or my family our ownership group as much as it truly is about the community and so we want the community to be able to take part in 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 in 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 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 YY 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 closed on the transaction next week so naming and all that needs to come long after that and The Season’s obviously already started from the apparel standpoint and all of that started long ago so really no way to do that for this year and that was yeah definitely pointed out just 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 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 newes 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 kid 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 Brand’s definitely a 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 pelic 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 have an asked again and I love the Jazz I love everything that we’re about I think that our new release that we we’d come up with is 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 purple is something that’s tricky but you know it’s what a lot of people want they know it’s 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 and that D will booer 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 very different genres of of folks when they think of the Jazz and that’s awesome like 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 dry 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 and 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 theme that times up all together once yellow and blue one Viet 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 diagram like what’s the overlap you know where where Utah kind of 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 ekl Sports Zone owner of the Jazz roale Salt Lake as well as the uh new NHL hockey team here in Utah 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 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’s that’s been done in in Boston and just those pieces that really matter and um 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 I want to win always and want to you know have that goal for you know our franchise to be able to do something we have 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 and that’s at least what I told Ashley I said hey this is a 30 year 30-y year calling right and so uh we’re doing it for 30 years and so um we got a 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 I think there’s there’s three people who have a winning percentage in playing coaching and being a 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 JC and Danny are 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 CBA 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 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 um 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 accustomed to you know we got the six pit in the inail 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 Sal Lake and that 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 Cooper 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 KSL 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 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 in 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 were 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 am and at 1 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’re 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 massive part but how much do you get involved as we see kind of the growth and the building and what Buu 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 storyline 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 you get I mean also I think there’s probably a lot of misconceptions around you know why I’m in 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 was 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 beu 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 him 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 them all 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 his history so me supporting BYU is very very um not about sports it’s about you know theyve 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 and including Athletics they all need their alumni right now more than they 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 alumni of the U 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 Weaver and you know I saw the whole Weaver team there and I sent a text to one of my friends Justin Nelson if you remember play the UVU play a weaver and I said dude your crew’s here go support 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 PS for everyone but I I think I I encourage it I love when my you 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 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 six it’s in NHL preseason on the seventh it’s NBA preseason on the eighth it’s NHL on the nth n 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 Ryan Smith if you want to hear that that interview in its entirety go to kol sports.com you can click on the podcast page yeah well about eight minutes more yeah how cool is that that the owner of several professional sports franchises in here would spend 40 minutes pretty cool on local Sports Talk Radio talking to you the fan well appreciate him joining Hans and Scotty today and um being able to dip in and and talk about all that all those things uh I thought it was really cool the amount of the amount of just like not just Community like Salt Lake City but like Utah Community that he and Ashley are trying to figure out for I mean it’s just it’s it’s it’s awesome we called it a what a 30-year calling right this is our this is the way we’re spending the next 30 Years right this is what we’re doing and uh we’re we all get to be along for that ride because they are taking those shots and taking those chances so it’s pretty darn cool all right we’ll take the break here we’ll come back we’ve got our uh NFL Blitz around the corner we also have our best and worst you don’t want to do you don’t want to miss any of that stuff so we all the things that we’re going to bring to you on our normal Fridays on our normal fun fridays when we realize we’re a little bit late here but we would be remiss if we did not uh chat for one minute to with Maria twitchell who’s the executive director of visit Cedar City we’ve been talking about Cedar City we’ve been talking about southern Utah we’ve been talking about the Utah Summer Games of course that are happening down there in Cedar City Maria thanks for hanging out with us today thanks for having me so let’s talk a little bit about what uh goes on in Cedar City I’m one of those people who uh is in southern Utah quite often I find myself in Brian Head skiing every year I try not to tell people about it too much because I love the the uh how first of all I’ve got a lot of kids too and so you know where I’m going with this it is it is inexpensive for kids to go ski it’s free I think 10 and under or 12 and under either way bottom line is I know what’s awesome down there Vis visit Cedar City is much more than just about driving on uh on your way through to uh St George yeah we are totally a destination that you guys really want to check out I mean we we’re called Festival City for a reason and there is it’s because there’s so much going on I mean we’ve got Utah Summer games going on but there’s just tons of things always happening Pi you know like in the summertime and you know they’re always familyfriendly but they’re always you know lots of good stuff to you know spend the day get off the interstate we’re also you know 10 degrees uh cooler than most of southern Utah so you know you’re going to have uh you know it’s going to be pleasant um but yeah we’ve got lots going on we’ve got lots of festivals going on even this weekend there’s more going on with the just you know with Summer Games competition but we also have like the P restoration Gathering uh We’ve Got a Car Show going on um it it’s just every weekend there’s going to be something that you can you know bring your family to and of course th those are those are cool events but I think obviously you got to brag about the fact that you have access to some of the most beautiful national parks in the world yeah I mean we’re called gateway to the national parks for a reason I mean Bryce Canyon’s just a like 90 minutes um uh the northern part of Zion is only 20 minutes from here uh Cedar breakes which is at 10,000 feet elevation so you’re going to be really cool up there is just like 29 minutes so you know it’s easy to H like base out of Cedar City and just head on out into the national parks come back at night uh you know enjoy some really good food um you know some great entertainment some sort of Festival uh even you you can take your wife out to the Utah Shakespeare Festival win some points that way you know so there’s just a lot going on Maria twitchell uh visit Cedar City is of course somebody a partner that we’ve had on KSL Sports this year and we really love being able to chat with you guys and talk about how great our state is and also uh the Utah Summer Games every year in Cedar City and bringing that in there and so Maria we appreciate you joining us and we’ll uh we’ll chat with you guys again thanks for being on the program thank you there you go twitchel yeah I they probably don’t love it that I say hey I try not to tell as many people about Brian Head as but I I preach the the skiing of uh of going down there and then going to to brianhead man it’s awesome Cedar City is way underrated and Cedar City’s super it’s a great college town and like we mentioned it’s close access to the parks and there’s so much to do down there and yeah if you don’t like the heat in the summer guess what it’s not as hot as that’s exactly right the other City down there come on all right we’ll uh take a break we’ll come back at our NFL Blitz around the corner stay with us 975b KSL Sport Zone accessing when TV and radio Collide love it this is what you got you’re listening to JJ and Alex presented by G2G bars don’t touch that on 975 the KSL Sports Z [Music] all right everybody Welcome Back 975sl Sports and final segment of the day on a fun Friday Alex cury Jeremiah Jensen thanks for being with us to everybody uh let me see here hey I’ve got a little college football something for you sweet I’m Allen so I oh gosh I I always forget who’s who now on the uh on because I can’t remember who the athletic directors at Nebraska now what’s this cat’s name he guy from Washington he just took the gig yeah and and it’s fine yeah I’m I’m but it’s funny when other athletic directors and it’s like they’re trying to tell on other athletic departments and I’m like and they’re not telling on them I think what they’re really doing in the in the age of nil like for example he rolled out oh what does it say oh yeah athletic director from from Nebraska says oak or Ohio State and Oregon both had nil bu for their football teams north of $23 million and I think the point of saying that is to be like isn’t that awful and the reality is is all they’re doing is telling on themselves a little bit by saying we’re not there they’re sort of asking their fan base to show up right um that is an insane number though right I mean we’re talking 88 scholarships or 85 whatever the number is now um $23 million would go a long way welcome to college football in the year 2024 and Troy Dannon knows that and he’s in Nebraska now and progr that blue blood used to be when I was a kid they were dominated I mean they won back-to-back championships when I was a teen one of the Blue Bloods Tom Osborne is college football yeah right there people in Nebraska want to return to that era they want to come back to that and what are you going to have to do in 2024 to do that you’re going to have to pay for it and so I think Troy Dana knows that and I think he’s trying to inspire and get people to donate to the program but maybe he’s also making excuses because something’s off with them can you believe that why is Nebraska struggling I know the problem is and I get it they’re trying to make a turnaround and so they’re trying to improve I get it that just having money doesn’t equate I mean ask Ohio State you know they it doesn’t doesn’t mean you’re going to be a champion doesn’t even mean you’re going to be your conf oh my goodness I that’s years of of the study of watching Texas A&M Flounder with all the money that they could ever handle coming in from boosters so I get it but $23 million I’m just trying to imagine I mean that is that’s $300,000 a kid if you were to just split it evenly across those uh the scholarship kids it’s crazy look what Utah’s able to do right now yes I mean we know some numbers on a certain player on the team and they’re in the seven figure area area so that’s what it’s going to take to compete if you want to have a quarterback that it’s one of the best in the Big 12 you’re probably have to come up with seven figures for him that’s just the new reality this is what it takes to compete at the highest level of college football it’s the halves and have knots and it’s just funny that Nebraska’s claiming to be a half notot just makes me laugh yeah it’s Bonkers by the way there’s no Sports in the in Nebraska uh except for Nebraska football exactly and if you’ve ever been to Memorial Stadium it is an insane place and people are in love with that’s 95,000 people at that Stadium on a Saturday and they are willing to pay so the question is is are they going to and can Nebraska figure out a way to to to equate that into to wins we’ll see all right we’ll uh take the break there we’ll be back on Monday o our Bonville Golf Classic is coming up on Mond nice we’re going to get some sun hopefully that’s right every year every year we seem we seem to get weather all right uh we’ll take the break here so for JJ Alex we’ll talk to you next time everybody 975 the KL Sports Zone accessing when TV and radio Collide love it this is what you got you’re listening to JJ and Alex presented by G2G bars don’t touch that on 975 the KSL Sports so [Music] all right everybody Welcome Back 975sl Sports and final segment of the day on a fun Friday Alex cury Jeremiah Jensen thanks for being with us today everybody uh let me see here hey I’ve got a little college football something before you sweet I’m all in so I oh gosh I I always forget who’s who now on the uh on because I can’t remember who the athletic director is at Nebraska now what’s this cat’s name he Washington he just took the gig yeah and and it’s fine yeah I’m I’m but it’s funny when other athletic directors and it’s like they’re trying to tell on other athletic departments and I’m like and they’re not telling on them I think what they’re really doing in the in the age of nil like for example he rolled out oh what does it say oh yeah athletic director from from Nebraska says oak or Ohio State and Oregon both had nil budgets for their football teams north of $23 million and I think the point of saying that is to be like isn’t that awful and the reality is is all they’re doing is telling on themselves a little bit by saying we’re not there they’re sort of asking their fan base to show up right um that is an insane number though right I mean we’re talking 88 scholarships or 85 whatever the number is now um $23 million would go a long way welcome to college football in the year 2024 and Troy Danon knows that and he’s in Nebraska now and program that blood used to be when I was a kid they were dominated I mean they won back-to-back championships when I was a teenager one of the Blue Bloods Tom Osborne is college football yeah so people in Nebraska want to return to that era they want to come back to that and what are you going to have to do in 2024 to do that you’re going to have to pay for it and so I think Troy Dana knows that and I think he’s trying to inspire and get people to donate to the program but maybe he’s also making excuses because you believe something’s off with them can you believe that why is Nebraska struggling I know the problem is and I get it they’re trying to make a turnaround and so they’re trying to improve I get it that just having money doesn’t equate I mean ask Ohio State you know they ites doesn’t mean you’re going to be a champion doesn’t mean you’re going to be your conf oh my goodness I mean that’s years of of the study of watching Texas A&M Flounder with all the money that they could ever handle coming in from boosters so I get it but $23 million I’m just trying to imagine I mean that is that’s $300,000 a kid if you were to just split it evenly across those uh the scholarship kids it’s crazy look what Utah’s able to do right now yes I mean we know some num numbers on a certain player on the team and they’re in the seven figure are area so that’s what it’s going to take to compete if you want to have a quarterback that it’s one of the best in the Big 12 you’re probably going to have to come up with seven figures for him that’s just the new reality this is what it takes to compete at the highest level of college football it’s the Hales and have knots and it’s just funny that Nebraska’s claiming to be a have knot this makes me laugh yeah it’s Bonkers by the way there’s no Sports in the in Nebraska uh except for Nebraska football exactly and if you’ve ever been to Memorial Stadium it is an insane place and people are in love with that’s 95,000 people at that Stadium on a Saturday and they are willing to pay so the question is is are they going to and can Nebraska figure out a way to to to equate that into to winds we’ll see all right we’ll be back on Monday oh our Bonville Golf Classic is coming up on MCE we’re going get some sun hopefully that’s right every year every year we seem to get we we seem to get weather all right uh we’ll take the break here so for JJ Alex we’ll talk to you next time everybody 975 the KSL Sports Zone
JJ & Alex take you through the day in sports.
• Get your NHL season tickets
• NBA Finals Game 1 was a blowout
• Ryan Smith talks Jazz rebrand
• Green is OK to wear in Brazil for Eagles vs. Packers
• It’s National Donut Day
