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NHL Team Valuations - Utah Mammoth - Jan. 2, 2025 – Vol. 78, Issue 06 - Austin Facer
Ownership
Ryan & Ashley Smith
The NHL's newest owners, Ryan and Ashley Smith, wasted no time introducing themselves to the hockey world. Since buying the Arizona Coyotes in April, they’ve pulled off the near-impossible – getting a team relocated, ready to play and competitive within a few short months.
Energetic and passionate about putting Utah on a larger stage, 46-year-old Ryan Smith built an experience-management company called Qualtrics while attending Brigham Young University in 2002. He and Ashley met as students at BYU, married in 2006 and now have five children. Ryan dropped out of BYU to focus on building the company, but he later returned to school and graduated in 2016. Just three years later, Qualtrics sold for $8 billion.
Smith is still Qualtrics’ executive chairman and largest shareholder, but he has parlayed his wealth into building an ever-expanding sports-and-entertainment powerhouse, Smith Entertainment Group. SEG’s portfolio also includes the NBA’s Utah Jazz, which Smith purchased in 2020, and MLS club Real Salt Lake, acquired in 2022.
On the philanthropic side of things, the Smiths have long been passionate about cancer research. The story goes that Ryan, his brother and their father all founded and worked on Qualtrics together while the Smith family patriarch was battling cancer. As a result, 5 for the Fight, a cancer-research charity Smith founded on a promise made to his father, who survived the illness, was the Jazz’s first jersey sponsor even before the Smiths bought the team. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the charity involved in some way with the Utah Hockey Club brand.
Ryan is known as much for his big ideas as he is for his signature backward flat-brim hats, which he wears while sitting rinkside or courtside at Delta Center. He’s very much a modern tech entrepreneur with enough money in his pocket to collect local sports teams like hockey cards. Ashley has been right by his side as the co-face of the new team. When the duo took the stage at the NHL draft in June, Ryan set her up with the first part of the pick announcement, “Utah selects,” which Ashley finished with “Tij Iginla!”
The Smiths are willing to put major financial support behind the Utah Hockey Club. Not only have they purchased the franchise, they’re also funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars into a project to renovate the currently less-than-perfect Delta Center, and they’re converting a local mall into a state-of-the-art practice and training facility.
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Top Business Executive
Chris Armstrong
While his title is president of hockey operations, Chris Armstrong works on big-picture projects rather than the day-to-day operations of the on-ice personnel. Brought over after years working in marketing and athlete representation, Armstrong also carries the title of alternate governor, putting him second-in-command behind the Smiths.
He has a pulse on the fan base’s sentiment and speaks extensively about the experience the team wants to create. Referring to the fan vote on the team’s permanent nickname, Armstrong made a big promise. “It’s been very clear to us what our fans would like us to be called,” he said at media day in September. “So, now, it’s a matter of trying to explore exhaustively all avenues to try to deliver that to our fans. I’m not in a position to tell you what that is today, but as we go through that process, we’ll have more to say about it for sure.”
Utah Yeti certainly has a nice ring to it.
Governor & Alternate Governors
Ryan Smith
Alternate Governors: Chris Armstrong, Ryan Sweeney
Top Hockey Executive
Bill Armstrong
Bill Armstrong, no relation to Chris, heads up all hockey-personnel decision-making as the club’s GM. Armstrong has gotten new fans in Utah excited about the current roster while also managing expectations.
Armstrong, who hails from Richmond Hill, Int., was drafted in the third round in 1990 by the Philadelphia Flyers. He played 543 games in the AHL and IHL but never laced up for an NHL contest. But Armstrong has made a name for himself as a front-office executive after a stint coaching in the minors. He worked his way up through the Blues’ scouting ranks, eventually becoming St. Louis’ Assistant GM, a position he held for the team’s 2019 stanley cup win.
Hired in 2020 to run the Arizona Coyotes, Armstrong inherited what he has called the “worst roster in the NHL.” He’s made great strides to rebuild and create an eventual winner, now one state north in Utah.
Above all, Armstrong preaches patience when speaking to the media. This team hasn’t arrived yet.
Utah Mammoth Announce 2025-26 Home Opener
The Utah Mammoth have officially announced their 2025-26 home opener.
Inside The Arena
Nestled in downtown Salt Lake City, Delta Center opened in 1991 and underwent major renovations in 2017. The problem is that the building was built perfectly suited for the dimensions of an NBA court but not for the larger footprint of an NHL ice sheet. The sightlines can be awkward, to say the least.
A large chunk of the seats in the upper bowl are limited to seeing just one goal. Those seats are given away to local charities or organizations so that fans can at least experience the thrill of being in the building.
Still, Utah Jazz fans, including Smith, have long touted the building as the loudest in the NBA. Thanks to a metal roof that reflects sound back to the playing surface and steep rows of seating packed with raucous fans, Delta Center can cause basketball opponents to feel like the whole building is right on top of them when things get going.
So far into the Delta Center’s first year as an NHL venue, the place has been electric, something center Liam O’Brien predicted back in April. “I can’t wait to get this buzzing,” O’Brien – who is affectionately known as ‘Spicy Tuna’ by both his teammates and Utah fans – shouted into a microphone at the NHL welcome party shortly after the relocation was made official.
The issues with subpar sightlines are known and expected to be remedied. As part of an ambitious plan to reimagine the area surrounding Delta Center, the building is set for a massive reconfiguration. Each off-season over the next three years, Delta Center will be rebuilt section by section. The plan is for renovations to be completed by the 2027-28 season.
NHL Valuations
$1.2B Forbes
$1.2B Sportico
$1.4B Roustan
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