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SALT LAKE CITY — On the outside, it appears Ryan Smith is living a childhood dream.
He was in the Utah Jazz draft war room. Quin Snyder has pulled him into meetings to give him a personalized chat about defense. For someone who grew up a Jazz fan with daydreams of suiting up for the squad, the last six weeks have been unsurprisingly surreal.
But while it's all been a whirlwind of excitement, it comes with a weight of responsibility. He knows how important the Jazz are to the Utah community; he knows because they've always been important to him. First as a kid growing up in Provo; then as one of the world's premier entrepreneurs using it as a way to spend time with his family and uplift the community.
"I think that people really want something to cheer for and they want something to smile about right now more than ever," Smith said. "And I think I think everyone feels that responsibility."
In many ways, Smith sees owning a sports team as a duty to a city and a state. But this fact still remains: He is the owner of a professional team — and that's pretty awesome.
"We're gonna have fun. If this gets to the point that it's not fun, then something went wrong," Smith said. "It doesn't mean it's not gonna be hard. It doesn't mean there's not gonna be ups and downs — I mean, it's the NBA and that's just the way it goes. But at the end of the day, we're just going to have fun, and that's what I'm excited about."
Smith has gotten a crash course over the last six weeks from the Millers about the Jazz and life in the NBA. He's talked with Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban — both fellow tech entrepreneurs turned NBA owners — about the transition. He's walked away from those conversations with one clear bit of advice: be yourself.
So, yes, he's still going to sport the flat brim hat and the casual clothes — it's how he reminds himself that he is Ryan Smith, the person, not Ryan Smith, the billionaire. He's still going to try to innovate; he's still going to try to win.
"I'm just gonna be Ryan, and this is who I am," Smith said. "I've already run a pretty large organization for a long time, and trying to switch off from being a different person there to a person here that just really doesn't fly."
What exactly that looks like as the owner of the Jazz, Smith admitted he still wasn't sure. But he offered plenty of hints.
Will he pay the luxury tax?
"Well, we're in the luxury tax so that answers that question."
What about paying a large contract for Rudy Gobert?
"I see everything he does and have so much respect for him and we definitely hope he's gonna be here for a really long time."
Will he be involved in basketball decisions?
"It's not like once I've learned something I'm gonna go in and chime in to what the basketball side of the house is really doing."
What's his take on the NBA's social justice stance?
"It's not that we're going to be anti-racist; we're going to be actively anti-racist as an organization. And that means we're going to take our time and our energy and we're going to use this platform to help make our communities more equitable from education to health care.
"This is going to be one of the things we do and it should have been done a hell of a long time ago. I don't know why we're in this spot. I'm unapologetic about it and I stand with our guys."
How will he compete being in a small market?
"I just don't view (Utah) as technically a small market comparatively to the way that we've looked at it before. I look at the All-Star Game coming here, I look at how this has got to be the place for the Olympics in the future and I look at what we have here with Don (Donovan Mitchell) and Rudy and Coach Quin and this organization. I think there's probably a lot of big market teams that probably wish they were in our spot."
Smith won't be doing it alone, either. Two minority owners — Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Atlassian, and venture capitalist Ryan Sweeney, partner at Accel — were announced on Friday. Smith said Cannon-Brookes was the "Elon Musk of Australia."
"I hope that the Jazz are Australia's team from here on out," Smith said.
Reaching a wider audience is something Smith will get to help with now, too. The team has been in a frustrating television contract that has left many fans who have cut the cord looking for an affordable (and legal) way to watch their favorite team.
"We have younger fans, or digital-first fans, or fans who just want to sit in their La-Z-Boy and watch. And you know what? All of those are perfect. We want all the fans," Smith said. "I do believe that we can do better, not just one size fits all."
Smith said he hasn't had a chance to really sit down and discuss the television and streaming options but he's looking forward to being able to help. Smith, after all, has built his career and his company on experiences. Qualtrics created an entire market to help create better customer and employee experiences. He plans on bringing that same mindset to the Jazz.
So he'll be stressing over what it's like to play for him, what it's like for opposing players to play in Vivint, and what it's like to be a fan at a game or watching from home.
"We have such a great foundation to start from but there is and there always will be a continuous improvement cycle on that," Smith said.
