Rumors have been swirling around Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith’s interest in buying the MLS team Real Salt Lake for years. On Wednesday, Major League Soccer approved the sale of Real Salt Lake to David Blitzer and Smith Entertainment Group.
Smith Entertainment Group is led by Ryan Smith, who owns the Jazz, his acquisition of the soccer club was approved by the NBA’s league of governors on Wednesday.
Smith joins David Blitzer on the deal who also has ownership stakes in NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and the Premier League’s Crystal Palace.
The deal includes Rio Tinto Stadium, the RSL Academy, the MLS Next Pro team Real Monarchs and the club’s Zions Bank Training Center.
On Thursday, Dwyane Wade who also owns part of Utah Jazz with Smith, revealed he is part of the deal on Twitter.
After a sale of Real Salt Lake was imminent for some time, how did this come together?
“This was clearly the market that I wanted to make an investment in,” Blitzer said, “but then it came to, I wanted to do this together with somebody who I just felt would be, frankly, the perfect partner, and luckily I was able to get together with Ryan Smith and his team and we came together over the last few months and decided that to partner in and do this and invest in Real Salt Lake would be an amazing experience.”
As for Smith, the 45-year-old said Thursday that his interest in buying the club dates back when it became available in the summer of 2020, but the opportunity to buy the Jazz quickly followed and he took elected for that instead. So when the opportunity to team up with Blitzer presented itself Smith said:
“Our love for what RSL brings to this community and the state of Utah has not wavered at all,” Smith said of him, his wife Ashley and his Jazz ownership group. “I just hope Utah understands the benefit we just got for Blitzer choosing to be here as someone who probably could have gone anywhere.”
Ryan Smith has proven to be committed to building a winning team and the success of the Jazz, and mentioned this commitment he and Blitzer has for putting a winning team on the pitch.
The club won the MLS Cup in 2009, and after a 2021 run that ended in the Western Conference Finals the new ownership hope to bring on field success back to the Wasatch Valley.
