Ryan Smith is going to give new meaning to the expression that there aren’t enough hours in a day.
“Ah jeez, Day 2 is definitely different than Day 1. The work starts!” the new Utah NHL owner said enthusiastically Friday morning in an interview with The Athletic.
“I’ve been through this before.”
Indeed, the NBA owner of the Utah Jazz understands the work involved in taking over a team, although trying to jam-pack what normally would take a new team three years of preparation into about four or five months ahead of puck drop next fall is bound to be hectic.
When NHL commissioner Gary Bettman approached Smith about this unique “hybrid” transaction with Arizona, it wasn’t exactly what his group had envisioned when they originally eyed NHL expansion. But they jumped at the opportunity.
“I mean, look, we were convinced we definitely wanted an expansion team,” Smith said. “It was kind of one of those, ‘Well, this is going to take a lot of work, but we’re in.’ No one shied away from it.”
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It’s pure excitement and adrenaline right now for his group, no matter how daunting it may be. Smith already has relationships with NHL owners like Tom Dundon (Carolina Hurricanes), Tom Werner (Pittsburgh Penguins) and David Blitzer (New Jersey Devils), which helps as far as integrating himself in his new surroundings. Smith wants to be the kind of owner who helps elevate the NHL.
“Let’s give more than we take — that’s what you want in good partners,” Smith said. “That was kind of the whole spirit of this, to be honest with you. There’s no question I’d love to have three years to roll out a brand and get everything set up and get all these arrangements done early.
“But good partners help out. And that’s what we’re doing.”
Smith wasted zero time getting going Thursday after the NHL’s Board of Governors approved his hybrid acquisition of Alex Meruello’s hockey-related assets. The Utah owner was immediately in Arizona meeting with Coyotes players and front-office people. That was critical for him, especially sensitive to what those players have been through emotionally the past few weeks.
Clayton Keller says goodbye to fans in Arizona. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
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“It was a chance for me to get to know them and for them to get to know us, and we’re going on this journey together,” Smith said. “It’s obviously no secret that they’ve been through a lot, just from a noise and distraction standpoint. This has not been easy, with the whole world kind of on them.
“So it’s really just a time for them to see who we are, what we’re about, talk to them about Utah. And this opportunity to go create something brand new together that’s never been done before. It’s such a unique process, such a unique deal. It should be a massive opportunity for these guys to put their mark on something and be leaders, to be honest with you — to have a lot of say in it.”
The key message in that meeting with players? Smith didn’t want to get into specifics because it was private, however he said generally speaking his message was: “`Hey, I’m Ryan. This is (his wife) Ashley. This is who we are and what we’re about. This is what Utah is about. This is why we’re excited and why you should be.”‘
The immediate response has been dramatic in the Utah market. Our interview was conducted around 10:15 am MT Friday, at which point Smith asked Caroline Klein, Chief Communications Officer for Smith Entertaining Group, where their season-ticket deposit count stood.
“We crossed 20,000,” Klein told us, adding there’s a large percentage of those that aren’t season-ticket holders of the Jazz.
And by the time you read this story, that number will be outdated.
“Look, we’re trying to build a movement and so the way you would definitely go around that is different,” Smith said. “We want as many people in the top of the funnel as possible to get a hockey experience. And so whether it’s partial game packages or whatever else, that’s a big benefit.
“We know when people come and see live hockey, they get addicted to it, right? Like, “This is unreal. It’s different than anything we’ve ever experienced.” We want as many people to have that experience as possible.”
The Delta Center was built for basketball and will require some hockey-specific renovations to improve sight lines for seats at both ends of the building. Smith said they will do work on one end of the arena this summer, and then the other end of the rink next summer.
Once those renovations are fully done, hockey seating capacity will be fine.
“We have a plan to get 17,600 in there, or 17,300, right around there,” Smith said. “Which I think is really good. And I think it’ll be super unique.”
But to start next season, there will be 12,000 or so unobstructed seats for hockey.
One piece of news that set social media ablaze Thursday was that the Utah NHL team would not rush into deciding on a nickname. Smith Entertainment Group wants to take its time and get it right, which means potentially even starting next season without a nickname. The only thing that’s decided, Smith said, is that it will be Utah and not Salt Lake City in the team name.
“This is a community asset,” Smith said. “It’s for the community, and we want the community to have a say in what the name is. It’s not more complicated than that.”
Getting the fan voice is paramount, he added. So it’ll happen when it happens, and perhaps that’s sooner than they project, but they just don’t know that yet.
Smith also confirmed that general manager Bill Armstrong will remain in place. SEG wants continuity in the front office.
“Our goal is to keep everything together,” Smith said of the front office. “Let’s go.”
So much to do, so little time. But SEG is embracing it head-on. For the doubters out there wondering about Salt Lake as a market?
“My wife grew up in Las Vegas,” Smith said. “No one would have thought that Las Vegas could handle an NHL team.
“We’re not a small market at all. We’ve got the third-largest tech ecosystem in the country. Our market isn’t just Salt Lake.”
It’s Utah. And it’s ready to try and prove the naysayers wrong.
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(Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
