On ownership’s vision for building the roster:
Owner David Blitzer
“This incredible franchise just played in the Western Conference Finals, so we think they are doing a great job. Look, Ryan [Smith] and I, this is our first day here as stewards of the franchise. Of course we have had discussions with the management team and were super excited that we were able to have Pablo [Mastroeni] stay and extend his time as the manager of this great Club. The reality is that Ryan and I are extremely competitive individuals. We want to see Real Salt Lake win the MLS Cup. That is abundantly clear. We haven’t figured out exactly like ‘we’re going to spend x on that player from that team in two weeks from now,’ but overall, we just made the Western Conference Finals, we have a great team, we have incredible infrastructure and we’re extremely competitive. We are going to be proud of the team that we put out on the pitch and as we grow this business over time.”
Owner Ryan Smith
“We are also looking at it over time. It takes a little bit of time, but if you look at both the Jazz and the Sixers, we are fifth and sixth or so in payroll in the NBA and people still criticize us for not spending enough. So I think our track records are pretty good here.”
On the next few months:
Owner David Blitzer
“As you all know, preseason is starting really quickly given the dynamics of the World Cup being in November this year. Everything moved up quite dramatically. This is a long-term play for Ryan [Smith] and myself. It’s not a 100-day plan and it's not a one to two year type plan. We have a terrific group of individuals that we are working with at the franchise that we are continuing to spend more and more time with. We are going to continue to learn. I always say, I invest in a significant number of companies and a number of them are sports teams. Don’t try to figure it out in a day. Don’t try to figure it out in 100 days. Learn and don't just knee-jerk react. We are doing things and working with the management team to gear up for this season. Opening game is February 27 I think and I certainly know our home opener is March 5 and we’re going to be ready. But exactly what we are going to do is kind of premature. There are some things we certainly know, but we are going to learn and we’re going to take our time and we’re going to continue to grow and invest in this team in the right way.”
On the Utah Royals:
Owner David Blitzer
“Ryan [Smith] and I talked about it in our early conversations about this community and Utah and the passionate fan base and how incredibly well the Royals did in Utah when they were here. We are huge believers in women’s soccer and in the NWSL, especially from a standpoint of this market and the fanbase. So from our perspective we both agreed very very clearly on day one that we want to make that happen. Without getting into too much detail, just like anything, there are dynamics that need to occur and timing, but we both said it last night. This is a when, not if. We are very excited to bring the Royals back to Utah and to this Club.”
On how the Jazz and RSL will be connected:
Owner Ryan Smith
“We created a new entity so first and foremost, this is a separate entity entirely and we’re actually excited about that. But the synergistic opportunities are many, absolutely. And hopefully you’ll see that. The most important thing here is that the vision is lined up. I’ll just tell you, David [Blitzer]’s vision and my vision for not only the state of Utah, but for soccer, MLS and the platform are 100% aligned. We’ll just take everything else as it comes. That’s the most important thing. That’s when we both really start getting excited. Whether that’s with the Royals or with the investment in the team, once that vision is locked in - and I’ll tell you it’s around Utah, it’s around building - we’ll see. We have a lot of soccer fans who play on our team. We’ve always had a bunch of European players as well as American players that are passionate about it. There’s a lot of synergies, especially between arenas and fanbase. There’s also an opportunity to pick up new fanbase on both sides. That’s where anyone sitting out there can say ‘hey wow this is a unique market with a unique opportunity with two sports teams and they are both connected for one of the first times ever,’ and that’s pretty powerful.”
On anticipating a local partnership among the ownership group:
Owner David Blitzer
“100%. Having taken the view that I was really excited to invest in the MLS, it was about the right market and right partner and I got hugely lucky here. Because the reality is that Real Salt Lake came up looking for new ownership about a year ago. I had been very interested in investing in the league, and I love this market. This market is incredible. But no, if I hadn’t found the right partner in Ryan Smith, I might still be looking for what makes sense. It had to all come together.”
Owner Ryan Smith
“I think that’s on both sides.”
On any indication that the team may have had to be relocated:
MLS Commissioner Don Garber
“No. We were committed from the very beginning that this team and all of the assets around it would stay in Salt Lake. A year’s period of time is relatively short when you start thinking about what you need to do to ensure you have the right ownership group with the right dynamic together both locally and in this case in particular, a great partnership. This is a dream ownership group and it took a while to put it together, not just because of who the two guys are, but the uniqueness. There probably isn't another market in professional sports that only has two pro teams and now those two pro teams are connected. The day that we knew we were taking over the sales process we spoke to Ryan [Smith] and as he said, a couple of weeks later he bought an NBA team and it took us 10 years to convince David [Blitzer] of the right opportunity and this was the perfect one. We had been very hopeful we’d get it done in a year and we were able to do that.”
On the early conversations with each other:
Owner David Blitzer
“I talk to Ryan about all sorts of different things because he’s a great person to learn from. I talk to him about business, I talk to him about Utah, I talk to him about this marketplace and the potential and the growth and the community and the fans and how the teams interact within the communities. We talked a lot about the Academy and what else can be done with the Academy to serve more and more people in this region and different things that we can do over time. Again, this isn't a short-term dynamic. This is a really long-term partnership. So I was lucky enough to be able to link up with someone like Ryan who could, frankly, explain a great many things to me. Again, I understand about investing in sports teams. I understand dynamics in the communities and I know how to use sports for the greater good. But to be able to spend a ton of time with Ryan as it related to some of the more local aspects of that and his vision and how much Ryan cares about culture and how much Ryan cares about the interaction with the community and bringing people together. He said it early and I think he said it well, nothing brings people together like sports. And frankly, we’re all getting pulled further and further apart so we want to be bringing people back more and more together and this is just a fantastic way to do it. I am really thankful to Ryan for spending that amount of time with me and getting me as up to speed as I am, but let’s be clear. I’ve still got a ton to learn and I’m looking forward to that too.”
Owner Ryan Smith
“The only thing I would add is that both of our conversations started, well Don had talked to both of us at some point independently. But we’re on the NBA calls together so it became easy. There’s a lot of commonalities, we know a lot of the same people. So getting to know David, everyone we talked to was like ‘oh my word, if this could happen it would be perfect.’ Fortunately enough we both have great partners and groups that are all in on that same mission. I go back to the mission of building the community and what David said to start off, we are stewards of these franchises. We’re happiest when we’re winning and bringing people together and that’s the goal, that’s where the magic happens and this organization has seen that before and felt that, the state has felt that and we felt it recently and that’s exciting, so how do we keep doing that.”
On each individual’s ownership style:
Owner Ryan Smith
“I’ve said this for a year. I am Ryan, I can’t be someone I’m not. I get involved in things that get me excited and that we feel like we can move the needle on. If there’s better people that are more qualified that work in the organization, we are always empowering first and I think this organization has phenomenal people. From a hands-on standpoint, we’ll go and focus on where can be value add. That’s how I operate at the Jazz as well as here and any other business that we are a part of. The reality is that David [Blitzer] has done a great job at creating teams over time that operate efficiently and more effectively than any single individual and that’s always the goal here, but also on the field.”
Owner David Blitzer
“I’ve heard that question a lot over the years, and it’s really tough to categorize people that specifically. The world is just not that simple. For whatever it’s worth, I am a big believer in empowering excellent people to do their jobs really really well, and we have excellent people here and that makes things a whole lot easier. The reality is again that I invest in businesses for a living, my entire career, and it's always been about finding incredible people and letting them do their jobs. That doesn't mean you don’t get involved, particularly in major decisions. I think on key decisions, of course, Ryan [Smith] and I are going to be talking amongst ourselves, and with our partners and with our management teams on those. But kind of on that gritty day-to-day, I let the management teams do their jobs. The fan side is a little different. I’m a passionate fan and that’s complicated when you are an investor and steward of these teams. People are yelling at you about why so-and-so isn’t in the game and I’m like ‘talk to the coach, don’t talk to me!’ But the reality is that separating that out on the fan side of the equation is always a little bit complicated. But again, we have great people, we let them do their jobs, and we’ll certainly be engaged on key decisions.”
On the plans for the leadership team:
Owner David Blitzer
“We think the management team has done a very good job in not the easiest of circumstances. I come back to results tending to speak for themselves as it relates to on-pitch performance and it doesn’t get a whole lot better than that. Obviously it would’ve been nice to win the title, and that’s our goal to win the MLS Cup. Starting to go person-by-person across the organization doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. We are pleased with the management team, we’ve enjoyed our interactions with them throughout this process and this will be the team that is here.”
On potentially being a pioneer in MLS:
Owner Ryan Smith
“I agree. When we think about innovation and analytics, we are looking at three or four different areas. I come for the experience management world where we’re looking at fan experience, play experience and how can we make that experience prevalent all the way through. The good news is that we are very up to speed on analytics in all sports. It’s not that clear that we’re in the analytics game. There’s stuff that works, there’s stuff that doesn’t work, there’s stuff that’s wasting time just like in business. So I think we have a good idea of where we can innovate and really kind of go to where the ball is going to be around the fan experience as well as the player experience and the community experience that we have. I am really excited and looking forward to jumping in on that front and watching. And I think we can learn a lot from both sides here. If you look at the globalization of soccer, it's different. And it just got way more advanced within RSL and the Academy with connections that are strong and a part of the same portfolio with what is going on with the teams in Belgium and Germany and everywhere else. That’s exciting. You start looking at analytics and teams and building teams and that’s fun.”
Owner David Blitzer
“There’s two camps. There’s the data and analytics camp and the I hate data and analytics camp. And the reality is that neither of those are correct, the reality is in the middle. Data and analytics are incredibly important, as are the culture of your team, the cohesiveness of your team, how one plays, etc. And soccer is very different from basketball, in the sense that there are 11 players on the pitch in a continuous 90-minute game. Which is very different from other sports. For example, baseball. Every pitch is a single event that can be analyzed in a very different way. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years talking to Billy B, who I think is amazing, but even Billy will tell you that it's not all just popping out of a computer. Billy looked for inefficiencies in the system and he did a phenomenal job at that and continues to to this day. So I do believe in data and analytics and I think soccer is at, to use a better analogy, the 10th minute. That is a tool, it is an important tool, but is by no means the only tool. Taking that and expanding that, as that grows we get better data. And working with your management team and your coaching staff and bringing that team together to look for inefficiencies, that is something that we are going to be absolutely focused on, but it isn't going to be A or B.”
On the way the MLS ownership group has changed and the growth of MLS:
MLS Commissioner Don Garber
“It’s not unintentional. It’s smart for any business to think about succession of leadership and the concept of future thought about where your business is going and how all of the various stakeholders work together to help you achieve where you want to get to. Our league was founded by the traditional sports industrialists in 1995/96 and has now transitioned to a whole new generation of owners. David [Blitzer] and Ryan [Smith] represent the future of Major League Soccer. Listen to the discussion that’s going on and how they are thinking about culture that might be different than was thought about generations ago. Thinking about technology and innovation as well, all of that comes in many ways from a future vision. So I am very excited about the new owners that have come into the league. I am very excited about the future of our league. We are going into a very important phase for the sport over the next number of years leading up to the World Cup in 2026. This year in particular will be an interesting one. We had a new team in Charlotte, we had a new stadium in Nashville and another new stadium will come on in St. Louis. All of that is about momentum, and I think momentum is driven by commitment and vision and a real desire to continue to move forward and not rest on where you were, but really focused on where you want to get to. This is the future of Major League Soccer and the sport of soccer here in this city, in this state and in this region. As both of them said, owners are really caretakers of clubs. And we’ve had two caretakers of the team since the team was launched by Dave [Checketts] and then was taken over by Del Loy [Hansen]. All who have contributed greatly to where the sport of soccer is in both the city and in this region. I want to thank Dave for what he did in the early days and I want to thank Del Loy for how professionally he managed this transition over the last year. This was a difficult time and Del Loy managed it with a very focused and professional commitment to ensure that Real Salt Lake would end up in good hands and would take this team and this sport to new levels in the many many years to come. I also want to thank John Kimball, who was the man behind the scenes and was carrying this club on his shoulders over the past year. A lot of really great things happened with Real Salt Lake, including getting to the Western Conference Finals. Something that most people didn’t expect, and it wasn’t easy. So I want to thank all of the stakeholders that believe in this team for everything that they’ve done to get us where we are and I really thank the guys to my right and my left for where it is that we are going to get to.”
