Ryan Smith grew up rooting for the Utah Jazz.
He played Junior Jazz basketball as a child.
He dreamed of one day suiting up for his hometown team as a pro.
“That part didn’t work out,” Smith said with a grin.
But on Wednesday morning, Smith, the Utah entrepreneur and billionaire founder of Qualtrics, realized a different dream, as he acquired majority ownership of his state’s NBA franchise.
“There’s not another team or another opportunity that we would do this with,” Smith said at a press conference at Vivint Arena.
The announcement marks a new chapter in the franchise’s history—a history that had been written by the Miller family for more than three decades.