LAS VEGAS — Ryan Smith met with the media on Friday for the first time since Smith Entertainment Group inked a deal for a new NHL franchise in Utah, extending invitations to the national and international reporters in attendance.
“Hopefully everyone will come out to our opening game in Utah, we will sell out this year,” Smith said at The Sphere in Las Vegas ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft. “The first year, we will be in the top 15 in ticket sales in the entire league with 7,000 seats that aren't even set up for hockey yet. They'll be watching on the big screen and they'll be happy.”
A little over an hour later, Utah Hockey Club owners Ryan and Ashley Smith took to the stage to announce that the team had selected Tiji Iginla (sixth overall) with the first draft pick in franchise history.
During his media availability, Ryan Smith continued to tout Utah's strength as the NHL's newest market and praised the influence of the Las Vegas Golden Knights franchise on the draft city (Ashley Smith grew up in Las Vegas).
“It's really becoming clear,” Ryan Smith said. “[Utah is]the youngest state in the country, and in my career, I've always bet on young people. We're also the fastest growing and have been for a while. When you look at both of those metrics, I think the NHL can look at that and say, 'Wow, we made the right decision.'”
“When you look at what the NHL has done here in Las Vegas and how it has paved the way for a couple other sports franchises and even more to come, we will have the same kind of impact.”
Smith cited Utah's other strengths as the state's winter sports traditions, training facilities for Olympic athletes and its likely bid to host the 2034 Olympics.
“If you broaden your perspective, everything makes sense,” he said.
Smith spoke about the difficulty of meeting demand with ticket sales, saying 90 percent of people who have paid season ticket deposits are not Jazz season ticket holders and 63 percent have never attended an event at the Delta Center in the past year.
Smith has said many times that Utah will “show up” for this team. When asked if he was surprised by the level of support he saw, Smith mused.
“It's not a surprise,” he said. “We have a hunch… I mean, we're not 100 percent sure because nobody's ever done it before. But we were pretty sure. Watching and following the NHL and what it's been doing… you know, you talk about the population size and the boom in Utah, but people in Utah love to get out, they love to go places. They love to do stuff. That was incredibly exciting, and I think that helped us to be more hopeful that, 'If we build it, they will come.' And I think that's what you're seeing.”
“I think Las Vegas was definitely the closest place to what we could achieve, given my background and my understanding of the demographics here and the people.”
