Ryan Smith walked onto a podium in the Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28 in front of a good handful of reporters and started his conference by saying “Hi, I’m Ryan.” Most of the time when NHL personnel have media meetings, they’ve done it dozens of times and are recognizable just by their face. Although Smith has only had one big media conference before his draft media availability, his face and name are well-known around the league already.
However, Smith isn’t like any other owner. He’s the type of owner that sports needs more of. With a go-getter ambitious energy and a creative mindset, the 46-year-old billionaire is building something in Salt Lake City unlike anything else and he’s doing it in an impressive short timespan as the self-proclaimed host of Utah.
Utah Was Inevitable
The name “Utah” has been a word commonly said in the hockey world for a while now. Even before the Arizona Coyotes played their final game and their players headed to the beehive state, it seemed like all the NHL was thinking about was Utah. It felt like it was two sides that would eventually match. It’s fascinating given the fact that Salt Lake City and Utah had only one of the major four sports within their borders.
However, if there’s something the NHL has been good at recently, it’s finding good sports markets that almost no other league has made its presence in. The prime example is Las Vegas. Many saw the NHL’s admission to expansion for Vegas in 2017 as a poor move citing the Coyotes as an example that hockey doesn’t work in the desert. Fast forward to the present day and the Vegas Golden Knights are one of the league’s most profitable teams. They have routinely sold out games, made the playoffs almost every single season of their existence, and won the Cup in 2023. Las Vegas has hosted almost every single one of the NHL’s marquee events like the All-Star Game, NHL Awards, and the Draft. The city now also has the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL and possibly soon the MLB’s Oakland Athletics.
Speaking of Las Vegas and the Golden Knights’ success, Smith looks at their history as a blueprint for how to start up an NHL franchise. It’s easy for him to do. He’s visited the city a ton since his wife is from the area.
“I think when you think about Vegas, at least the people that live here, those people aren’t the ones that are on the Strip,” Smith said. “They’re outside the Strip and it’s been a really cool thing. I think the most surprising is when you go around, you see Knights stuff everywhere. It’s almost like you can’t make it up. I think they’ve done a really good job building rinks around the city for the youth. We’re not starting from zero, we have more people, more youth playing, and we have more rinks than they had when they started. But you look at what they’ve been able to do and it’s a really good model to follow. I think the demographics will work similarly.”
Youth sports is a big focus for Smith. With the other team he owns, the NBA’s Utah Jazz, he has helped build nearly 24 community basketball courts for the youth of the area. The team also supports the Junior Jazz which is the longest-running youth basketball program in the NBA, impacting 60,000 youth every year.
Related: Utah Continues to Prioritize Size With Kevin Stenlund Signing
Going back to the NHL’s talent of finding good sports markets that don’t have a lot of major sports teams in the area, it’s no wonder they were so keen on getting a team in Utah. It is one of the fastest-growing states in the country. Salt Lake City is one of the youngest cities in the country as well. It’s a reason why Smith keeps saying “Utah Utah Utah.” It all goes back to youth once again and the metrics mentioned.
“I think why Utah is also becoming really clear,” Smith said. “We’re the youngest state in the country, in the US. In my career, you always bet on youth. We’re also the fastest growing. If you look at those two metrics and it’s been that way for a while, that’s something that the NHL is going to be able to look at and say, wow, we made the right move.”
The Hockey Side
Smith was at the draft for a bigger reason than to talk to the national media. He was also there to help select the first-ever Utah Hockey Club player. Even before the team took to the stage, Smith knew how big the moment was for whoever would be drafted.
“It’s gonna be surreal,” Smith said. “I think you know what it means. Everyone can kind of visualize that it’s the first moment (for our team). But more than that there’s, there’s a family, there’s a kid who’s worked his entire life to get to this moment, he gets to be the very first draft pick in the Utah franchise history. That’s pretty incredible. That’s something that no one else is ever going to be able to say. I’ve learned in life that so much of it’s about the story you get to tell. That’s a pretty cool story to be able to tell. I think for all the kids that are coming out (to get drafted), today and tomorrow, they’re gonna have an incredible story to tell.”
The Utah Hockey Club selected Tij Iginla sixth overall with Smith and his wife, Ashley, making the pick. It’s almost poetic that Iginla got drafted by Utah. His dad, Jarome, was a legendary player for the Calgary Flames. Now Iginla gets to pave his own path potentially just as legendary with the newest team in the league.
Outside of drafting Iginla, Utah swung some massive trades to acquire top-tier defensemen like John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev. It shows the trust that Smith already has in general manager Bill Armstrong despite not knowing him a couple of months ago. It has been helpful for Smith considering that he had two drafts to focus on during that week.
“Bill is phenomenal at his job,” Smith said. “They’ve been keeping me informed. They were in Salt Lake operating for a couple of weeks, I was able to go over there and I was able to watch them kind of bringing me in and bringing us all into the process. They have 100% our full support.”
Smith knows that he acquired a talented group from Arizona. A team filled with established players like Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Lawson Crouse, and Sean Durzi. It’s also loaded with incredible young prospects and players like Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and Josh Doan. He knows that last season was hard on the group due to relocation rumors swirling through the locker room culminating in a 14-game losing streak. However, he also knows how resilient this group is and that it’s time for them to have some fun.
“I think we came into a really good spot,” Smith said. “If you were thinking about the position to take over a team, this is pretty ideal, especially coming into how we’re doing this. From a cap space standpoint, and going into the season, I’m very aware of where we’re at. I’m very aware of where the market is at and the opportunities we have. My message the whole time and our actions will show that my job is to back our team and to back Bill. If you think about this group, they’re incredibly resilient. I was watching them lead through a lot of uncertainty. I saw them build and kind of stick to what they could and make it go and keep morale high. I think they’re gonna have a little fun now and figure out what it is that we want to go do together and have that optionality and there’s nothing I want to do more than just to support these guys.”
The Host of Utah
It has officially been three months since the birth of the Utah Hockey Club. There are now officially almost 100 days until the first puck drop in Salt Lake City. It hasn’t been a long period for Utah to get its footing. Everything has been done at lightning speed. If there was one challenge for Smith, it’s been time.
“We’re dropping a puck in less than 100 days,” Smith said. “It’s insane. Like no rational human beings sign up for this. I just don’t think we’re very rational, so it’s okay. I’ve also known that no matter how much time you have, it’s hard to be ready. You always say it’s about the people. I remember sitting in that ballroom in Arizona when the announcement came out looking out at 70 people and saying, I don’t think we get much more than the players and the staff. So let’s go because that’s all we’re buying. We’re really acquiring the people.”
Armstrong’s job is to manage the hockey side of everything as the team hired Chris Armstrong who will help manage the business side. For Smith though, he is one of the only people a part of the team that has lived in Utah for a long period of time. Due to having that honor, his job is to make sure everyone makes it to his home safely and comfortably. He has self-dubbed that title “the host of Utah.”
“I feel like my job right now is being the host of Utah,” Smith said. “So everyone coming in, do you have a house? Are you good? Where is your family? When are they coming? Where do you want to play golf?”
There’s a reason why Smith is so passionate about making sure everyone feels at home in Utah. It’s the place he fell in love with. He started his company Qualtrics there. He met Ashley there. He went to school there. Now he wants to show others that Utah can be a special place.
“Utah has just become something that I’ve always wanted to fight for and help build,” Smith said. “You can’t choose that, it’s got to be in you. It’s super fulfilling. I think being in the spot where we’ve been able to operate tech, and now sports. It’s kind of all playing out that way. It’s becoming a pretty fulfilling mission. I get a lot of chances to either invest or participate in sports outside of Utah. I’m just not interested. I think that being able to go and build your state, and actually just give something that everyone’s always wanted, which is championships. It’s probably something we’re going to be dedicating the next 30-40 years to, and I think it’s a worthy cause.”
Outside of the Jazz and his new NHL franchise, Smith is revitalizing the downtown scenery as well. His plan to build a plaza, hotel, high-rises, and businesses around Delta Center was approved in July.
To sum it up, Smith just wants Utah to be enjoyed by everyone. The sports teams and the downtown plans are to make sure Salt Lake City becomes a premier destination.
“Anyone who’s stayed in Utah, they’re like wow, this is wellness,” Smith said. “This is where I need to go to heal. You wake up every day, and you’re looking at those mountains. You’re going, this is good for the soul. It’s always been that way. Now there’s places to work and things to do. It’s gotten a little more up-tempo. It’s easy to get around. It’s just a nice place to live. I’m fortunate enough to have a couple of places outside of Utah and I can’t wait to get to Utah and get home every chance I get. It’s just a phenomenal state. People in the state can disagree, but they actually can agree on one thing: to help the state and move it along. If I look across the US, we just don’t have that everywhere. I think a lot of people are kind of sick of that and are saying, hey, I want to go to somewhere where whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or whatever else, we can still be one. That’s pretty exciting.”
What a Time to Be Alive
Between Smith bringing NHL hockey to the city and receiving the winning bid to host the 2034 Winter Olympics along with the proposed redevelopment around Delta Center, it’s been an exciting year for Salt Lake City residents to say the least. It’s insane to think that only five months ago, the only hockey the city had was the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies.
While Smith is always looking forward to what comes next including puck drop in a couple of months, he sees the numbers of the fans that will be supporting the team this season and is blown away. While maybe a little bit of him expected a high amount of residents to register for season tickets, it’s still incredible for him and his ownership group to see it blow through the roof.
“It’s a big moment,” Smith said. “There are so many people who probably never thought that this was possible. I hope you’re all there on opening night in Utah because we’re going to be sold out this year. We’ll be in the top 15 in tickets in the entire league in year one with 7,000 seats that aren’t quite set up for hockey yet. People will be watching on the Jumbotron and they’ll be happy. We haven’t even gotten through the 30,000 list of people who have registered for season tickets, which 63% of them haven’t been to an event in our arena in a year. 90% aren’t Jazz season ticket holders.”
It’s insane to think how far the 46-year-old billionaire has come and how far he’s brought Salt Lake City and Utah with him. Not only does Smith manage the Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club, and is about to renovate downtown Salt Lake City and reconstruct the Olympic Oval to be a practice facility for the new team, but he also has a family. His five kids along with Ashley have been sharing this incredible journey together.
Smith is also sharing this journey with his business partners who were eager to join him from the NBA to help purchase the new NHL team. It’s going to be a hectic couple of months for the Qualtrics owner whose arena will be hosting a hockey or basketball team every other night but for Smith, there’s not a lot of fear or stress going around his mind but rather excitement to put on an epic season-long show for all of Utah.
“The best part is we’ve got incredible people and our ownership group is all in,” Smith said. “It’s the same group that came in on basketball that is now in on hockey. There’s no one new and it’s been pretty incredible. I think there’s probably more excitement than there is fear.”
For the host of Utah, this has just been part of the plan all along since he moved from Eugene, Oregon, and fell in love with Utah. Now with his infectious energetic personality, he’s got Salt Lake City on the map as a major sports city and it has the whole hockey world watching.
