Millers sell Jazz to Ryan Smith (Qualtrics)

[goober]

If the Jazz were ever to sell, this probably has to be the ideal situation for us. Ryan will keep the Jazz here for as long as he’s able to and loves Utah. Will be interesting to see how aggressive the jazz will become. Hopefully he doesn’t meddle too much into the basketball operations

[babyjax13]

I have to give it to the Millers and the Jazz, they certainly know how to keep a secret and play things close to the chest.

I don't know anything about this Ryan Smith guy, and I have no idea what it means for the Jazz staying in Utah. My impression is that the Millers were hit hard by COVID and were forced to sell, they have a lot of businesses that rely on people and crowds, like movie theaters, for example, and it just looks to me like their businesses took a hit because of the virus.

I really don't know anything about the guy, what his management style is, and how many changes we'll see. I wonder if he's going to keep the front office\DLZ or if he'll want to bring in his own people. I also wonder if he'll be more aggressive and less conservative in his management approach as it relates to the Jazz.

I would assume the Smith's have had some input in what has been happening, e.g. signaling to Quin "hire the best coaching staff you can possibly put together."

[Lava Rock Kid]

My biggest fear with the new owner, since he graduated from BYU, does that mean we are going to see Jimmer in a Utah jazz uniform

[Lava Rock Kid]

The Millers look like they had to sell no matter what, what if he wasn't there? It's a scary thought.

I'm sure the family of billionaires would have been just fine. In other news, I'm still struggling to pay for my car.

Reed Larry Miller’s book “ driven “. He came from nothing and made himself a billionaire. What’s your excuse

[red4hf]

The Millers look like they had to sell no matter what, what if he wasn't there? It's a scary thought.

I'm sure the family of billionaires would have been just fine. In other news, I'm still struggling to pay for my car.

Reed Larry Miller’s book “ driven “. He came from nothing and made himself a billionaire. What’s your excuse

That's harsh for no reason......

[Lava Rock Kid]

I'm sure the family of billionaires would have been just fine. In other news, I'm still struggling to pay for my car.

Reed Larry Miller’s book “ driven “. He came from nothing and made himself a billionaire. What’s your excuse

That's harsh for no reason......

I hate it when people complain about those who have more then they do.

[Denizfeital]

Wow, that came out of nowhere.

Kind of sad to read that The Jazz was sold. At least the buyer is a guy from Utah.

Regards,

[red4hf]

Reed Larry Miller’s book “ driven “. He came from nothing and made himself a billionaire. What’s your excuse

That's harsh for no reason......

I hate it when people complain about those who have more then they do.

I don't know, you never know what situation someone else is in...... Saying, "Well, you can just do the same thing as somebody else did" doesn't always fit the situation......

[sip]

This is great news. Finally an owner with some deeper pockets and hopefully one that will hold management accountable to some the incompetence that we have seen.

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

Does he have deeper pockets?

Not really. After doing a little more research I would say his net worth is probably about the same as the millers or maybe a little less.

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

[goober]

This is great news. Finally an owner with some deeper pockets and hopefully one that will hold management accountable to some the incompetence that we have seen.

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

Does he have deeper pockets?

Not really. After doing a little more research I would say his net worth is probably about the same as the millers or maybe a little less.

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

i assume this is a family affair, with his father and brother they have a combined net worth of around 3 billion

[babyjax13]

Does he have deeper pockets?

Not really. After doing a little more research I would say his net worth is probably about the same as the millers or maybe a little less.

Sent from my SM-G988U using RealGM mobile app

i assume this is a family affair, with his father and brother they have a combined net worth of around 3 billion

Plus the Millers still have minority stake, so there is still money beyond theirs, too.

[babyjax13]

I do hope Ryan cuts his hair, it looks terrible.

[Inigo Montoya]

The Millers look like they had to sell no matter what, what if he wasn't there? It's a scary thought.

I'm sure the family of billionaires would have been just fine. In other news, I'm still struggling to pay for my car.

Reed Larry Miller’s book “ driven “. He came from nothing and made himself a billionaire. What’s your excuse

I was too busy moderating this board and putting up with this kind of crap, which makes me severely underpaid if you ask me.

As for my original comment, I was simply making the point that a bunch of billionaires will be just fine even if they encounter financial trouble because...they are billionaires. At worst, they just sell a team for $1.66 billion. They'll be fine. I wasn't complaining that they have more than I do, only stressing that those aren't "real world" problems that would make me worried about them. Of course, KqWIN later explained what he meant in the post I responded to, which kinda makes the whole thing moot anyway.

[bkohler]

Ryan is a good guy and has invested millions in helping build and bring Tech companies to Utah. He's as safe a bet to keep The Jazz in Utah long term as nearly anyone you could find. He's had opportunities to purchase other NBA teams but passed because he wanted the Jazz. He is one of the few Jazz fans you'll find at every summer league game.

You'll notice Ryan with Joe Ingles and Steve Starks in a picture I took during the last summer league in Utah:


Ryan is one of the original founders of Silicon Slopes which is a large nonprofit dedicated to bringing more tech companies and talent to Utah. He also happened to have one of the largest strokes of luck imaginable as he sold Qualtrics to SAP and then the CEO of SAP left the company. The new SAP CEO decided they no longer wanted Qualtrics and are spinning it back off into a private entity with Smith being able to buy back majority ownership for a fraction of what they paid him originally.

To get an idea of what Culture the Jazz will have check out Qualtrics culture page: https://www.qualtrics.com/qualtrics-life/tacos-at-qualtrics-a-history-of-culture/

[bkohler]

Also a Note on the Legacy Trust: It appears, after talking with some people who know a bit about the details, that the legacy trust was really to keep the Miller children from selling the team in the event of Gail's death. Gail feels very satisfied that the same goals are met in selling the team to Ryan and Ashley.

Another interesting thing to note, the Millers family fortune comes both from the car dealerships (which are doing pretty well during COVID) but also from their entertainment holdings (the Jazz, the Bees (baseball team in Utah), their movie theatres, Arenas and sports network). The entertainment side of the business has been rocked by COVID. They've had massive layoffs and there are concerns about whether they'll be able to recover. Besides the Jazz purchase, Ryan essentially is buying most of the entertainment business in multiple transactions, including the Sports Network the Bees, and the Arenas (notably Vivint but others as well).

The 1.66 B he's paying for the Jazz is just the start of what he's spending on the infrastructure around the team as well as other community assets. You don't buy all of that just to flip the team to someone that is going to move it.

[babyjax13]

Ryan is a good guy and has invested millions in helping build and bring Tech companies to Utah. He's as safe a bet to keep The Jazz in Utah long term as nearly anyone you could find. He's had opportunities to purchase other NBA teams but passed because he wanted the Jazz. He is one of the few Jazz fans you'll find at every summer league game.

You'll notice Ryan with Joe Ingles and Steve Starks in a picture I took during the last summer league in Utah:


Ryan is one of the original founders of Silicon Slopes which is a large nonprofit dedicated to bringing more tech companies and talent to Utah. He also happened to have one of the largest strokes of luck imaginable as he sold Qualtrics to SAP and then the CEO of SAP left the company. The new SAP CEO decided they no longer wanted Qualtrics and are spinning it back off into a private entity with Smith being able to buy back majority ownership for a fraction of what they paid him originally.

To get an idea of what Culture the Jazz will have check out Qualtrics culture page: https://www.qualtrics.com/qualtrics-life/tacos-at-qualtrics-a-history-of-culture/

Great info, thank you!

[DelaneyRudd]

This is good news for the Jazz. He’s basically a Utah Mark Cuban it seems. A super fan with existing connections, and someone who cashed out big and can focus on what he prefers to involve himself. He won’t move the team unless he gets old and jaded once the mortgage is paid off and it’s an old stadium again.

[SoCalJazzFan]

After reading several articles, I am actually more comfortable with the Smiths owning the Jazz than the Miller kids and grandkids.

While it could be exciting to see what he does and how much he is willing to spend, I also hope that he doesn't get overleveraged by overspending to the point of having to sell the team in the future, ala Prokhorov of the Nets.

[bkohler]

I think any assumptions that Ryan will spend lavishly is probably misguided. One of the cultural foundations he's built into Qualtrics and shared with other startups is the value of doing more with less. My assumption is that he'll spend on staff, analytics teams, scouting, etc. but not necessarily poor good money on top of bad money just to acquire middling talent.

I think he'll be willing to go into the tax on occasion but I expect much of the Jazz's spending habits to be untouched. What will be interesting is how he handles his personal relationships with the Jazz players. He's close to a few now and is much closer in age and interests to the players than the Millers ever were. Do those relationships influence his decision-making process?

[@ndrew]

After reading several articles, I am actually more comfortable with the Smiths owning the Jazz than the Miller kids and grandkids.

While it could be exciting to see what he does and how much he is willing to spend, I also hope that he doesn't get overleveraged by overspending to the point of having to sell the team in the future, ala Prokhorov of the Nets.

Prokhorov sale was pure business. He was offered good money and it seems he just lost interest in sports in general (it happened to his Russian projects too) .