Utah Jazz Owner Ryan Smith Approached Miller Family About Partnering Jazz With Real Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The newly appointed owner of the Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith, approached the Miller family about partnering Real Salt Lake and the Utah Jazz in the summer of 2020, he told Adrian Wojnarowski on a recent episode of The Woj Pod.

Smith admitted to the Millers that he had been in conversation with Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor as it related to potentially purchasing the Timberwolves. However, Smith’s wife, Ashley, talked him out of further pursuing the negotiation knowing that he would miss spending valuable time with his family if he constantly had to travel to Minnesota and back.

Smith was relentless.

“Something happened in July, where I just kept pushing a little bit and one thing lined up. A soccer team became available and I talked to the Millers and asked them if they wanted to be in it with me, and the reality is they were like “well no”. I said, “well how about I buy the soccer team and we put it together with the Jazz?”. They responded with “if we are going to sell the Jazz we are going to sell the whole thing,” Smith said on the podcast.

Full audio of new Jazz owner Ryan Smith on The Woj Pod: https://t.co/B6RhegNucK pic.twitter.com/9jbL9LLao1

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 6, 2021

The Millers Are Not Interested

Major League Soccer will reportedly take over the sale process of Real Salt Lake from Dell Loy Hansen tomorrow.

However, the quote above from Smith would suggest that the Miller family will not be purchasing RSL. The Millers are departing the sports ownership world and focusing their attention on their other assets.

Smith, on the other hand, has long been rumored to have an interest in the purchase of RSL.

KSL Sports reported on December 18th, 2020 that Smith was patiently waiting for the league to take over the sale. Smith would rather negotiate with MLS and not Dell Loy Hansen, one can assume.