• Loading stock data...
Saturday, April 26, 2025

Ryan Smith Sees Salt Lake City As Next Vegas-Like Sports Town

  • The billionaire owner of the new Utah Hockey Club tells FOS that hockey in SLC is poised to become a booming business.
  • “So far, everything that’s been promised has been delivered,” says Utah’s head coach.
Exclusive

Fox, Shannon Sharpe Settled Physical Incident With Female PA

Sharpe’s reps confirm a past “physical” incident was settled by Fox.
Read Now
April 24, 2025 |

SALT LAKE CITY — The capital of Utah has Temple Square, breathtaking hiking trails nearby, an NBA team, and now, an NHL team. 

That’s thanks to Ryan Smith—and in many ways, Alex Meruelo. Smith purchased the Arizona Coyotes after Meruelo set fire to hockey’s future in the desert. Less than six months after Smith’s $1.2 billion acquisition of the financially floundering Coyotes, his Utah Hockey Club makes its regular-season debut against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. 

Smith has fought the city’s small-potatoes image—SLC is the 23rd-ranked U.S. media market—insisting there’s huge potential in the city of just more than 200,000 residents.  

In a sit-down interview with Front Office Sports the evening before his new NHL team’s home opener, the 46-year-old tech billionaire says he’s “50 or 60% sure” he can turn Salt Lake into a hockey town. 

Smith points to Las Vegas—an even smaller market known for everything Salt Lake is not. “It gives me comfort,” Smith says of the Golden Knights’ success. “We’re close [to Las Vegas] and my wife is from there. We understand the vibe down there. But we kind of have one that is not dissimilar to Nevada in a way. No one would have thought that Vegas would have been the sports town that [it’s become]. Everywhere you go, it’s Knights stuff. We have an opportunity to do that.”

The wheels are already in motion. The Smith Entertainment Group (SEG) has already seen city lawmakers approve a 0.5% sales tax increase to cover bonds that could provide up to $900 million to transform Delta Center into a more hockey-friendly venue. The arena has been the home of the Utah Jazz—another team Smith owns—since 1991. There are still lease issues to work out for the project that also include developing some adjoining real estate, but steps look promising.

The Utah Hockey Club—a placeholder name for the season—will claim the Delta Center as their home rink, where around 4,000 of the 16,200 seats have obstructed views of the ice. The sigh tlines may not be ideal, but it’s still an upgrade over the college rink the Coyotes played at the last two seasons that sat around 5,000.

“The Delta Center is such a steep arena, one of the steepest in the NBA,” Smith says about the situation. “So if something is going on below you, you can’t really see it. There are still great seats, and it will be a great environment.”


The final days of the Coyotes are an untouchable topic around the Utah team. 

There are plenty of reminders of their roots via the largely unchanged roster of both players and front office staff. But now that they’re settled into Salt Lake City, nobody wants to talk about the NHL’s failure in Arizona. When a third season at Arizona State’s Mullett Arena became untenable for the Coyotes because Meruelo was unable to find a suitable long-term home for the franchise. Smith had the means—and he’d already signaled his desire to land an NHL club in a January news release. 

A.J. Perez/Front Office Sports

“So far, everything that’s been promised has been delivered,” André Tourigny, who is in his fourth season as head coach of the Coyotes/Utah Hockey Club, tells FOS. “I think the enthusiasm around the team is through the roof. We already had a great group who was really tight. The brotherhood on our team was already second to none.”

Ryan Smith and his wife, Ashley, have already been more accessible to the news media than Meruelo was during his nearly five years as owner of the Coyotes. The Utah Hockey Club co-owners answered every question asked through the 30-minute presser at the Jazz’s practice facility Monday, including how SEG ramped its head count to 800 employees (including part-timers) in preparation for its first NHL season. 

“Things that could feel like chaos in another setting have felt fun and exciting,” Ashley Smith said at the news conference. “The stress hasn’t felt heavy. It’s just been exciting to see this whole team come together and do unnatural things and do hard things and then celebrate each other and empower each other. It’s been really cool from my seat.”


Smith says he was used to helping NBA players adjust “in a small way” since he purchased the Jazz in 2020. For hockey, he says, “We had to do that on a much larger scale, but we knew the playbook and we just tried to really bring the same experience that SEG already has and offer it to this new part of the family.”

Many of those new family members who came out of the dysfunction in Arizona say they appreciate the Smiths and SEG’s work to make the relocation process as stress-free as possible. 

“He’s a man that puts people in place and lets them do their job,” GM Bill Armstrong says of Ryan Smith. “He gives you everything you need to be successful. From the moment we landed [in April], everything we needed has been [delivered] for us. We want to be an organization that has no excuses.”

Forward Josh Doan, an Arizona native and whose father, Shane, was a star with the Coyotes, echoed his coach’s sentiments about Ryan Smith. “He’s been unbelievable for all of us in helping us get settled,” Doan says. “He takes pride in making sure everything’s done the right way and he’s done an unbelievable job. Whenever you get a chance to talk to him, it just feels like he’s one of the guys.”

A.J. Perez/Front Office Sports

Smith does have a man-of-the-people vibe. That profile was recently bolstered when he slashed concession prices for the Jazz and Utah Hockey Club games, as well as by SEG’s decision to put all non-nationally televised Utah Hockey Club games available free via over-the-air antenna to go along with its pay streaming service. 

The hill to climb toward early success—and emulating Vegas—could be more like a trek up one of the mountains that surround SLC. The Utah Hockey Club enters its first season with few roster changes from its final year as the Coyotes, a team that finished sub-.500 in 2023–2024 and made the playoffs only once since the 2012–2013 season. (Not that you can bet on sports in Utah, but Utah is 28-to-1 to make the Stanley Cup Final.) 

Regardless of their performance, they have a No. 1 hype man front and center.

“Anyone who does their homework and actually studies markets would probably choose Utah because of the way people show up and the growth and the youth,” Smith says. “You can just bet on that. You can have a market with eight million people that—because of the demographics—don’t show up or don’t care or aren’t into it. The amount of people who tell me they are Utah Hockey Club fans now has been pretty incredible. We are all getting in on this on the ground floor.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Apr 13, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays center fielder Jake Mangum (28) scores a run against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

The Rays Groundskeepers Are Adjusting to Life Outside the Dome

After nearly three decades in a dome, Tampa groundskeepers were forced outside.

NFL Draft Round 1 Draws 13.6M Viewers, Second-Highest Ever

With stars staying on the board, viewers tuned in.

Five QBs Drafted As Shedeur Sanders Slips to Fourth Round

Shedeur Sanders is still waiting after slipping out of the first round.

Ohio State’s $20M Roster Sends 7 Players to NFL in First Two..

The NIL-fueled title team had more draftees than all of the Big 12.

Featured Today

The Former NBA Agent Who Became a Pickleball Deputy Commissioner

Chris Patrick went from representing Jimmy Butler to pickleball deputy commissioner.
Apr 5, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg (2) reacts after a three point basket against the Houston Cougars during the first half in the semifinals of the men's Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome.
April 21, 2025

Cooper Flagg’s Timing Is Perfect for the NBA and USA Basketball

The projected No. 1 pick just declared for the draft.
Apr 14, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Paige Bueckers is interviewed by ESPN after being selected with the number one overall pick to the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA Draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards
April 21, 2025

ESPN’s WNBA Coverage Mirrors the League’s Stunning Growth

“I don’t think we stand still in our coverage of women’s sports,” says Rowe.
Mar 16, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) celebrates with guard Isaiah Joe (11) after score in the fourth quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum.
April 20, 2025

Unorthodox OKC: The Thunder Redefined Tanking to Become NBA’s Best

A rebuild years in the making has OKC in the driver’s seat.
Apr 14, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; a general view of the stadium during a game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Rays See Sharp Attendance Drop in Temporary Home Amid Uncertainty

Some amenities are praised, but home attendance drops at the temporary site.
Dec 9, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) watches as center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates after making a three point basket to clinch a win against the Toronto Raptors near the end of the fourth quarter at Scotiabank Arena
April 19, 2025

Same Owner, New Knicks: New York’s Remarkable Rebound

The franchise’s renaissance didn’t happen overnight.
Nico Harrison
April 21, 2025

Nico Harrison Says Luka Trade Backlash Surprised Him

The Mavericks GM spoke about the trade—in front of cameras—Monday.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

This week, Two-time Super Bowl Champion and CBS NFL analyst Logan Ryan joins us to talk the business of sports on our third installment of Portfolio Players.
April 18, 2025

High-Priced Suns Have a Frustrated Owner, Few Good Options

Phoenix missed the playoffs with an NBA-high $210 million payroll.
Monte McNair
April 17, 2025

Flailing Kings Fire GM After Losing Play-In

Monte McNair helped the team end a 16-year playoff drought. 
April 16, 2025

Leafs vs. Senators: Old Guard Meets New Money in Battle of Ontario

The Maple Leafs-Senators clash has many David-and-Goliath themes.
Apr 9, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal (3) dribbles the ball against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half at Footprint Center.
April 10, 2025

Suns Will Miss the Playoffs Despite Having NBA’s Highest Payroll

The team’s luxury tax bill exceeds other teams’ full salaries.