Jazz owner Ryan Smith has sold a minority stake in Smith Entertainment Group, the team’s parent company, to private equity firm Arctos Sports Partners with the “intention to bring a third professional sports franchise to the state” of Utah, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune.
As Walden details, in addition to owning the Jazz, Smith Entertainment Group also owns Vivint Arena, the team’s home venue, and is a shareholder in Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. Arctos will now be invested in all three ventures, pending approval of the NBA’s Board of Governors. Arctos actually already had a minority stake in RSL, so evidently the private equity firm had its eyes on a bigger prize.
On the NBA side, Arctos holds a 17% stake in the Kings and 13% in the Warriors, in addition to numerous other professional sports franchises. According to Walden, it seems that SEG and Arctos will be trying to bring either an MLB or NHL team to Utah in the future, as NFL teams currently forbid private investment firms and are extremely expensive.
“We are excited to partner with Arctos. They are committed to Utah and to investing in this community and our sports teams and facilities,” Smith said in a statement. “As SEG continues to build out the professional sports landscape in the state, the Arctos partnership brings strong commitment to Utah sports and a deep connection across all major sports leagues.”
While the move presumably has no bearing on the Jazz’s on-court product, it certainly shows Smith’s commitment to his home state. Many around the NBA are waiting to see what’s next for the team after it traded Rudy Gobert to Minnesota and is reportedly listening to offers for three-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell.
Here come the Salt Lake A’s
Not a chance.
That was supposed to be a secret.
Or move the Marlins to SLC…then everyone can complain about Utah having another out of place mascot! Lol
Move the Jaguars to Utah
The A’s are going to Vegas and no NFL team will move to Utah at this time.
Nah…The A’s are staying in Oakland. LV can’t maintain a playing field. No water to grass. Nevada is tearing up lawns. Besides, who wants to sit a stadium in 100 degree heat. That would be miserable.
Turf is always an option.
Stadiums tore out Turf a few decades ago.
There are way less turf fields now, but there are still a few.
Marlins have turf for sure and it is HOT and miserable there too…it’s called a retractable roof
That’s what retractable roof stadiums are for.
Which Vegas doesn’t have.
LoL….you’d think they’d build an open air stadium in Vegas for MLB? Wow…..
That’s what the A’s would be moving into, a Minor League stadium. But, it kinda fits. They’ve always traded away players before they could big contracts. They are pretty much a AAAA team.
Better than that garbage they call a stadium now. Oakland doesn’t deserve a baseball team. No one shows up
@SF- Arizona has shown it’s possible to have sports teams play in the desert.
Yeah….good luck with that.
Move the Jags to Utah and change their name to “Bigamists”. Their cheerleaders can be the “Sister Wives”.
So ridiculous I actually laughed. Lol
In all seriousness, they should look into Pioneers or Frontiersmen. Lakers would be pretty funny. If we can’t have it for the NBA team then why not hockey or baseball?
Although, I’d prefer NFL football. All 3 sports are pretty popular in Utah. Football and basketball, however, are the most popular.
Just to be clear, you know those shows and polygamy they talk about is based on fringe extremist groups, right?
Polygamy in the “Mormon” church (not even its actual name) was a temporary solution because of the men that were killed in the Mormon Battalion, mobbings, etc.
They were persecuted and killed very similarly to any other minority group. Granted, it wasn’t on the same scale as Jews and Blacks. Regardless, you don’t hear them talk about it on a larger stage. Their pioneer blood just pushed them to move on and find their own place. That’s what Utah is. It almost was a separate country. Interesting to think about.
Personally, I treat everyone the same. Doesn’t matter to me what you look like or talk like. I see only personalities and if I can trust you. When I’m not in pain I try to show everyone love the same as well. Otherwise, I’m pretty direct. Not everyone responds well to that. Lol
Now tell us what’s on those tablets…
Are you talking about Moses? Lol
If you’re referring to the “gold plates” then I got news for you. There’s been plates found all over the globe containing records of ancient people of that area.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in jars in a cave. Joseph Smith found plates under a rock on a hill. Pretty common these days.
What’s fascinating is what was translated. They’ve studied it and concluded that there’s no possible way one person could’ve written all of that in the 3 months he had. There are too many different writing styles for a 4th grade educated boy or even an expert to cook up in that amount of time.
I say give him the benefit of the doubt and read it. Make up your own mind. “Mormons” I’ve encountered don’t seem like brainwashed simpletons. Get over your prejudice and ask yourself what if they’re on to something positive? Maybe they’re not full of it?
Ever wonder why some random series of events could have such a polarizing effect on everyone who talks and thinks about it? Maybe there are more polarizing forces behind the scenes manipulating you to hate them because truth is very powerful?
People with power would rather you be docile or better yet distracted, hating in other directions, not theirs. Wake up!
As for me, I have my own issues but I know truth when I see it. I can spot fake people a mile away and the Book of Mormon doesn’t strike me as fake or trying to manipulate me. I find it to be interesting and inspiring.
Definitely meant as a warning for the “latter-day”. Helps me see more clearly the “secret combinations” of our time. Look that up and you’ll see what I mean.
If you ignored all this then just take my advice. Just be careful to be moderate in your thoughts and actions. Too many crazies out there with extreme views causing too many problems. Take care! =)
Certainly appears to be a Mormon apologist,
Tell me you’re a Mormon apologist without telling me you’re a Mormon apologist
I read the headline and my initial reaction was: “Utah has more than one?”
How about you try bringing a product that can get over the hump in NBA before you get involved in another major sport.
Part of that is the lack of homegrown talent to be loyal to the team. That’s why they should push for a football team. There’s quite a bit of high school and college talent that goes all over the country for college and then other cities to play in the NFL. They would have a good sized talent pool to recruit back if they had an NFL team.
Basketball is very popular in Utah. There’s just not enough that can play in the NBA, apparently. Plenty go overseas, however. Problem is that an NBA roster is very limited compared to an NFL team roster.
Utah has a way more successful franchise than 75% of the teams out there. Just because they haven’t won a championship doesn’t mean anything…that’s the plague of being small market.
Took me a while to realize there were two. I mean c’mon, MLS is like, the 8th best soccer league in the world? Nah, not a major sport.
MLS doesn’t even crack the global top 30.
The first and second tier of the top 5 UEFA leagues (GER, ESP, ENG, FRA, POR) alone are better than MLS. Add top flights from The Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Wales, Turkey and you’re already at 25 superior leagues. Then take at least eight CONMEBOL top leagues (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Paraguay) plus CONCACAF’s Mexico and Costa Rica.
Hell, MLS franchises can’t even win the pathetic CONCACAF Champions League and frequently get stomped by Mexican squads.
German amateur players, who never made it past their home country’s fourth division, are MLS starters.
Nah, MLS is a franchise retirement circus for washed-up foreign football stars, who are being paid 50% of their respective teams’ payroll as designated players. Similar to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China.
Didn’t realize a soccer team in Utah would have to compete with all the countries in the world for fans? ;-)
I get what you’re saying. The talent in the MLS isn’t as good. However, the USA mostly doesn’t know any better. I played soccer for 2 as a kid but I never watch soccer. Was pretty good at baseball but never watch it. My friends and I played football all the time and I rarely watch football after my dad passed. I played high school basketball and only watch the Jazz.
My point is that not everyone cares about soccer or the quality. The people that go to games and support teams do so because they want to be part of something. It’s more fun to win but it’s not everything. You still have fun cheering and having an experience. That being said, I would think an NFL team would do well here.
And I even forgot about Italy’s Serie A and B.
MLS is a franchise Mickey Mouse club rather than a real football league.
Global Soccer Rankings has MLS at 15th. They weigh it pretty well, too. They’re just a bit off from being 10th, as 10-15 are pretty tight.
What you said about all of Germany, France, England, Portugal, and Spain’s second divisions being better than MLS. Lol not even close– English Championship is the only one rated above MLS. 21st, 23rd, 26th for three of those, while Portugal’s second division isn’t even ranked (and if you’ve ever watched it you shouldn’t be surprised it isn’t considered worth ranking).
Oh, and Serie A is way better than Liga Portugal… so you’re missing a top 5 league.
No one cares where some self-aggrandizing U.S. outlet ranks that joke of a league, called MLS, whose European starters consist mainly of third and fourth division players. And not to forget awful managers, who couldn’t hold a job in any respectable football league for more than a few weeks.
If MLS franchises can’t even win one of the weakest international competitions, a.k.a. CONCACAF Champions League, they are, by definition, at the bottom of the barrel.
Btw., Germany’s 2. Bundesliga is the world’s richest second division, including superior player and especially coaching talent compared to England’s Championship. In general, English managers are pitiful and nowhere to be found among the world’s elite.
But all that pales in comparison to the laughing stock that is MLS.
How can the market justify it?
3.42 million people in Utah in 2022. That’s more than Nevada, New Hampshire, Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Arkansas, etc. Had 3.3 million in 2021. It’s one of the few states that have a consistent growth rate.
It was 2.8 million in 2012. That means the growth rate has almost doubled what it was then.
Utah is getting close to Connecticut in population. Both are right near the middle of all the states’ population.
Keep in mind, Utah tends to also draw in a lot of the regional area fans because they don’t have major league sports teams in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.
The one issue you see with Florida team attendance is that their state population is not made up of “native” Floridians. Many people move there after establishing team roots in other northeasters cities. This is one reason why attendance struggles down there. If you grew up a die hard Yankees fan or Eagles fan you just don’t give up that teams allegiance because you moved.
I have never been to Utah so I’m not sure if this is also the same type of scenario. I do know a lot of people make the migration from to California to cheaper areas like Idaho or Oregon. I’m sure some of them migrated out to Utah as well. Essentially cashing out on their housing profit for a cheaper, more affordable lifestyle.
Regional fan attendance is nice for weekend trips but really hurts mid week game attendance.
Connecticut is a smaller state that has a NY fan base or Boston fan base. Connecticut would have a tough time supporting their own team (Hartford Whalers) but Dona great job supporting those NY and Boston metro areas.
*but does a great job
Good points. One of the biggest benefits the Jazz enjoy is very loyal TV ratings. They’re #2 right after the Warriors right now. I’m not sure what all goes into that but it makes sense. As long as the new team has a good TV deal then the region can support them that way.
The in game attendance hasn’t really been a problem, even when the Jazz lose. They still pull in better numbers than most teams would get. Some teams have problems even when they’re winning. Sad but true.
I suspect any new team will take time to get approvals for an arena deal, etc. Of course, a team would likely have to be moved to Utah unless there’s an expansion. That alone would take an entire off-season. Perhaps after or during the NBA all-star game they’ll announce something in the works?
Does Utah like baseball? Move Tampa!
They have the Salt Lake Bees minor league team. It does well. Lots of kids play all sports in Utah.
The Wasatch Front is one long connected chain of suburbs and cities. They’ve really improved the infrastructure ever since the Winter 2002 Olympics.
A lot more newer homes and communities on the West side now. Plenty of land still to build an arena.
There’s also the E-Center already. It could also be upgraded. Sits in a central spot on 2-15.
However, I would think an arena further South, closer to where Salt Lake County and Utah County meet, would do better.
Am I reading this guy has stake in multiple nba teams ? Are you allowed to be A minority owner for multiple teams but only majority for one?
I see Utah, then kings, warriors ?
Ryan Smith only has majority ownership of the Jazz. His company is SEG.
ASP equity firm is the one with minority ownership in 3 teams now. I doubt that’s a problem or they wouldn’t have 2 already. Different group entirely from SEG.
New team on a giant lake spewing arsenic sounds like a good long term investment to me…