During the Utah Mammoth’s recent playoff appearance, team co-owner Ashley Smith witnessed 18,000 people “who don’t know each other, high-fiving and hugging and all holding their breath at the same moment and cheering at the same moment.â€
“You can feel that it matters,†she said.
It’s a stark contrast to the modern reality of people in isolation on their own screens getting their own feeds.
“Everyone’s living an alone life, a lonely life,†Smith said. “We’ve kind of programmed loneliness into our world, and sports bypasses that, and we’re all there, and we’re all in it.â€
Smith, along with her husband Ryan, discussed the value of live sports in the modern era Monday with Atlantic staff writer and Deseret Voices podcast host McKay Coppins. The conversation was part of the Atlantic Across America Utah event, presented in partnership with the Deseret News, at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City
The Smiths brought hockey to Utah in 2024 when they purchased the players and personnel from the Arizona Coyotes, establishing a new NHL franchise in the state.
The Smiths had purchased the Utah Jazz in 2020 from the Larry H. Miller family, which had saved the franchise from relocation in the 1980s. Former Jazz owner Gail Miller was in attendance Monday.
“Gail sat us down multiple times and was … little bit like buyer beware, are you guys sure you know what you’re getting into?†Ryan Smith said. “There’s so many Gail moments where she was handing that off, it was very much like, ‘OK, I know you’re going to do it different than us, but you care about Utah and you’re going to keep it here.’
Ryan Smith said he’ll never forget when Miller told him: “I hope it’s as good for you and your family as it’s been for us.â€
“There’s moments of time where I’m like, OK, this is what she was talking about,†he said. “ … It’s really the first thing that Ash and I have been able to do together. And that’s really cool.â€
Before purchasing professional sports franchises, the Smiths were on what Ryan called a “20-year tech journey together.†(The company he co-founded, Qualtrics, was acquired for $8 billion in 2018.) He said the couple is always asking what their new “why†is.
Promoting the state of Utah is one of those.
“It’s not by accident that Utah’s on the jersey,†Ryan Smith said. “This was all thought through to the ‘why’ for us. … We’re not perfect by any means. We’re going to make a lot of mistakes, but hopefully a little bit of luck, like we had yesterday (in the NBA lottery) and some other things, get us through it.
“So, I think that’s why we’re into sports. It’s got to be a means to an end for everybody because if it’s not, you’re not going to last long because the wins and losses are going to kill you.â€
Coppins observed that almost overnight, Utah had a “huge, energetic fan base†for hockey and had become a “sneaky good sports town.†He asked the Smiths if they were surprised by the “amount of energy†around the teams.
“I mean, it doesn’t feel sneaky at all,†Ashley Smith said. “This state loves hockey. So, (it’s) really cool to be a part of figuring that out. But also … I didn’t grow up a hockey fan, but now I have Mammoth pride, I have NHL pride, I have East Coast pride because I feel like I can connect on a new level with people from the East Coast who grew up loving hockey.
“It’s just a whole new door of ways to connect with people, and ways to unify and things to cheer for, and things to be mad about together. And hockey — Utah was just ready.â€
