Ryan Smith’s task of getting NHL franchise off the ground

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – Ryan Smith and National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman will be on stage Friday evening officially announcing the beginning of a new NHL franchise in Utah.

There is obviously a lot to do, but as owner of the Utah Jazz and part owner of Real Salt Lake, why did Smith want to venture into hockey?

“I’m bullish on hockey,” Smith told SportsNet Canada. “I’m bullish on where the sport’s going. If you look at Utah, and you look as a winter sports market, almost every Olympic sport and winter Olympic sport trains here year round. There’s a long history of hockey, and then just the rise of hockey. Everyone knows going to a to a live hockey game, there’s nothing really like it.”

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The biggest question is what will the name of team be? There have been rumors swirling about the Utah Blizzard, Utah Yetis, Utah Outlaws, even just Utah Hockey Club. Smith will take his time to make the decision.

“We know it’s going to be in Utah something,” Smith said. “We have a lot of really good names. I mean, the internet’s full of them. But we also don’t want to rush into it. We want to go through and and really engage the community, the fan base and go do this together. We get one shot at it, so we’re going to announce the second part of the name when that comes up.”

While there is so much new about this NHL franchise, the fact that a young, up-and-coming team like the Arizona Coyotes is coming here should get hockey off the ground pretty quickly.

“We’re starting a new franchise in Utah and we’re going to start fresh,” Smith said. “But we get this incredible team, and this young team with assets and incredible people. That’s what we’re most excited about, and that’s really what we’re what we’re acquiring.”

Since at least initially the Jazz and the new NHL team will be sharing the same home in the Delta Center, as well as the same owner, there will be a lot of synergy between the two teams.

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“Having it all within one group has a lot of consistency,” Smith said. “We can learn from each other if we want to do something unique in the arena, because we have one of the most intimate NBA arenas in the league. “To be able to play hockey there and do it in an intimate way, we’re super excited about about creating this.”

So what’s first on the agenda after today’s press conference? He has a multitude of issues to deal with.

“We got to go get a practice facility ready,” Smith said. “We got to get all of our players introduced to the local market. We’ve just got to get ready. Schedules, housing, I mean, it’s a big list, but we’re not afraid of it.”

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