Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz, engaged with 98-year-old Venice Bitton during '90's Night' at the Delta Center, celebrating Jazz fans over 90. The event took place before a game against the Toronto Raptors on March 23, 2026.
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Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz, shakes hands with Sarah Horsley, of Lehi, as the two talk along with Horsley’s grandmother, Venice Bitton, 98, of North Ogden, during “90’s Night,” which celebrates Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, before an NBA game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 23, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Thirty minutes before the Utah Jazz tipped off against the Toronto Raptors on March 23, Ryan Smith entered the Delta Center’s Toyota Club. Dressed in a black hoodie and Smith Entertainment Group-branded hat, the Jazz and Utah Mammoth owner walked over to greet his soon-to-be-99-year-old guest.
Venice Bitton started to stand, but Smith asked her to sit. He sat down next to her, placing his hand on the back of Bitton’s chair. “How are you?” he asked.
The two chatted as Bitton’s granddaughter smiled and watched her grandmother get the Jazz owner’s full attention.
“We’re so glad you could come,” Smith told Bitton, who was attending just her third Jazz game.
Venice Bitton, 98, of North Ogden, holds up a jersey made for her during “90’s Night,” which celebrates Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, before an NBA game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 23, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
'90's Night' celebrated Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, highlighting the team's connection with its long-time supporters.
Venice Bitton, a 98-year-old fan from North Ogden, was honored during the event, showcasing the Jazz's appreciation for their oldest supporters.
The Utah Jazz faced the Toronto Raptors on March 23, 2026, during the special '90's Night' event.
Ryan Smith is the owner of the Utah Jazz, actively engaging with fans and promoting community events like '90's Night.'
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Bitton, of Ogden, Utah, was one of 15 Jazz fans in their 90s invited to the team’s third-annual 90s Night, a tradition recognizing some of the team’s oldest fans. They were treated to a pregame dinner and custom Jazz jerseys.
Following his conversation with Bitton, Smith spoke with the rest of the night’s special guests, including Joe Hatch.
“You’ll feel like a champ once this thing is on,” Smith told Hatch as he helped him put on the custom jersey.
The owner then began to tell Hatch about the decade-long run the Jazz are about to go on when Hatch matter-of-factly said, “Depends on how good they are.”
Smith defended his team. “We’re young,” he said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Ryan Smith, right, owner of the Utah Jazz, talks with Donald Giacomo, left, 98, of Springville, as they’re joined by Giacomo’s grandson, Colby Groneman, center, of Elk Ridge, during “90’s Night,” which celebrates Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, before an NBA game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 23, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Smith has made big headlines over the years. The company he co-founded was acquired for $8 billion in 2018. He and his wife, Ashley, purchased the Utah Jazz and later brought an NHL franchise to the state. Smith Entertainment group is investing $3 billion in a new entertainment district around the Delta Center, backed by $900 million of public funds. And while Utah Mammoth had a breakthrough season, the Jazz have been criticized for “tanking” to secure a better draft pick — with the NBA even fining the team in February for benching key players.
But if you’re paying attention to social media, you may have noticed Ryan Smith finding smaller — and sometimes unorthodox — ways to connect with Jazz and Mammoth fans, from choosing a team name to jersey swaps to giving away seats in his own Delta Center suite.
It’s by design.
“We talk about this being a little bit of a stewardship,” Smith told the Deseret News that night at the Delta Center. “We just want the community to enjoy this, and we can never do enough. But I think part of having this platform is to do as much as we can with what we’re given.”
Ryan and Ashley Smith, center, co-owners of the Utah Jazz, pose with attendees during “90’s Night,” which celebrates Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, before an NBA game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 23, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
It’s a few minutes before the Jazz tipoff. Now in another room leading to the Delta Center’s court, Smith sits on a cushioned bench and tells the Deseret News that he doesn’t think of himself as a typical owner.
“I look at myself probably a little different,” he said. “Like, I was a Jazz fan before all of this. I grew up a Jazz fan.”
As a kid, Smith watched his first Jazz game with his late grandfather. He had posters of Adrian Dantley and Rickey Green on his wall. The owner admits that he still gets star-struck meeting the two Jazz greats.
“To be able to share that with these people is — it’s just the right thing to do,” he said.
In October 2020, the Smiths purchased the Jazz from the Larry H. Miller family, who had owned the team for 35 years and saved it from relocation in the 1980s.
Three and a half years later, the Smiths acquired the players, coaches and staff of the Arizona Coyotes and established a new NHL franchise in Utah. Smith Entertainment Group had six months to put a product on the ice — a process Ryan Smith anticipated would be “pretty gnarly.” It happened, and the team competed under the name Utah Hockey Club.
Ryan Smith, center, owner of the Utah Jazz, talks with attendees including Earl Halvas, center left, 90, of South Jordan, and Elaine Ensign, center right, 92, of Bountiful, during “90’s Night,” which celebrates Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, before an NBA game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 23, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
On Friday, the Utah Mammoth will host the franchise’s first home game in the Stanley Cup playoffs — three days after securing the franchise’s first-ever playoff win, a 3-2 victory over the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
The Coyotes last made the playoffs in 2020 during the pandemic’s expanded 24-team playoffs — eight years after their previous playoff appearance in 2012.
At the unveiling of the Mammoth’s new name in May 2025, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman praised Ryan and Ashley Smith for doing “more than we ever could have expected.”
“You have the ability, both of you, to have an incredible vision, to motivate people and to execute beyond anybody’s expectations,” Bettman said.
Ashley Smith speaks while joined by her husband, Ryan, both co-owners of the Utah Mammoth and Smith Entertainment Group, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman during a press conference announcing the Utah Hockey Club is changing their name to Utah Mammoth held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. | Photo courtesy of Isaac Hale
When choosing a permanent name for Utah’s NHL franchise, SEG enlisted fans.
Bettman admitted the NHL “thought it was crazy” to have the fans weigh in on the team’s identity, but he was pleased with the result.
The organization asked fans to participate in a series of surveys. Fans narrowed the name down from 20 options, which included Squall, Hive and Venom. SEG even swapped out the name Wasatch for Outlaws in the survey of the three finalists, citing fan feedback and data from Qualtrics, the company Smith co-founded.
In four rounds of surveys, there were approximately 850,000 responses from fans.
“From day one, we committed that this team would be built with and for the people of Utah, and we are excited to celebrate today’s launch with the entire state,” the Smiths said in the May 2025 press release announcing the name. “The community chose the Utah Mammoth brand, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we’re building together.”
Before the Mammoth’s first playoff game Sunday, Smith walked around T-Mobile’s plaza high-fiving Mammoth fans who had made the trek to Las Vegas.
“He’s the only owner that I can think of, certainly in the National Hockey League, that sits on the glass for every game and is so positive and energetic and motivating for our players and develops real relationships with them, and they really know that he has their backs,” said Chris Armstrong, Utah’s president of hockey operations.
One of the factors that made the move to the Mammoth most exciting for Armstrong was the Smiths’ commitment to the fan experience.
“I knew we would be able to be successful because of Ryan and Ashley’s commitment to making sure that everybody who interacts with our brands, who comes into our building, leaves feeling better than when they arrived.
“Everything is about experience, and Ryan and Ashley have set that and made that very clear. ... The center of everything is, how do we make people feel? What experience are we providing? Are we able to bring some positivity into their lives? Are we able to make them feel better than when they arrived?”
Armstrong emphasized there isn’t a “holier than thou” mentality at Smith Entertainment Group, noting that there are “owners across the league that are extremely gracious and generous with their fans.”
But he thinks SEG has “a unique approach to doing it.”
“Ryan is as accessible to the fans as any owner I’ve ever seen working in professional sports, and I think that’s maybe a big point of differentiation,” Armstrong said.
“His communication with the fans via social media, his time spent with the fans in the arena on the concourse is really consistently soliciting feedback about how we can be doing things better, what they like, tailoring the experience in the arena and their experience with our brands based on feedback that he’s collecting himself, which I do think is truly unique.”
Fans celebrate after a goal by Utah Mammoth left wing Michael Carcone (53) during the first period of an NHL game against the St. Louis Blues at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 16, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News
Ahead of the Mammoth’s first home playoff game, Ryan Smith announced Wednesday on X that Golden Knight fans in Utah could exchange their jerseys for a Mammoth home jersey for free at noon Friday at the Delta Center plaza.
The first-come, first-served event is the first jersey exchange that the Mammoth have offered, but it mirrors similar swaps hosted by the Utah Jazz this past season.
To kick off the 2025–26 season and to celebrate the Jazz’s new look, the team hosted a jersey exchange at the team’s home opener in October. The first 500 fans could exchange any official Jazz jersey for the new Mountain Basketball-themed Icon, Association or Statement jerseys.
The Smiths then hosted another — and bigger — jersey exchange five days before Christmas, purchasing 2,000 of the Mountain Basketball jerseys to exchange with fans.
“I think this is the largest jersey exchange ever, but we’re super proud of the fan engagement on choosing these jerseys and love our lineup of jerseys that we have,” Ryan Smith said in a video on X.
If you’re scrolling on X during the NBA and NHL seasons, it’s not unusual to see Jazz and Mammoth fans tagging Ryan Smith in posts, asking for tickets to a game. Smith will sometimes respond himself and ask for an email address.
It’s also not unusual for Smith to post on X that he’s giving away tickets, which leads to fans flooding his replies. He’s given away 20 suite tickets at a time before.
“Live events are everything right now,” Smith said of fans messaging him for tickets. “We all want to recreate, we want to get out and we want to do stuff with our family.”
Fans of opposing teams also reply. One Calgary Flames fan asked if Smith had “any siblings that want to buy the Flames? Just curious for no apparent reason.”
Teijzia Bautista was one of the lucky Mammoth fans to receive tickets from the Smiths. Bautista had upper bowl tickets for the Mammoth’s game against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks. She replied to Smith and said she’d love to sit in the lower bowl.
Bautista told the Deseret News that she didn’t think the Mammoth owner would respond. She’d already vied unsuccessfully for previous ticket giveaways, but still found herself refreshing her timeline and email inbox for a response.
Smith responded and gave Bautista the email address for a team representative to claim her ticket, but he made Bautista promise to pay it forward by giving her original tickets away.
(Bautista’s $15 Smith’s grocery store-sponsored tickets weren’t transferrable, but she found friends to take to another game.)
Bautista and her friend ended up 10 rows from the ice, close enough to hear the players “chirping,” she said.
“I think it’s really awesome that Ryan does this pretty consistently,” Bautista said. “I think it shows that he’s trying to grow the game in Utah, it still being so new. Giving a lot of fans like me who have never had the opportunity to sit low, I think it’s just really great for him to do that for a bunch of people.”
Tusky and fans cheer atop the Zammoth, a Mammoth-themed Zamboni for fans, as it is unveiled between the first and second periods of an NHL game between the Utah Mammoth and the Edmonton Oilers held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
The Mammoth debuted the latest fan experience this month — the Zammoth, a Zamboni retrofitted by the Diesel Brothers to resemble a mammoth.
The Zammoth can hold up to eight fans as it drives across the ice during pregame and both intermissions. Like the team’s existing single-rider program, the lucky fans to ride the Zammoth will be selected at Mammoth games.
Ryan Smith came up with the idea for the Zammoth, according to Armstrong. It was one of his earliest ideas to make the Mammoth identity more tangible for fans and provide “another reason why people want to come to the Delta Center.”
Smith wanted to turn one of the functioning Zambonis into a mammoth, but that proved problematic for its path on the ice, especially in the corners. So they retrofitted the Zamboni used at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
SEG sees the Zammoth being part of Mammoth festivities for the next 20 to 30 years.
“We’re going to try and get as many people on it as possible,” Armstrong said.
During the NHL playoffs, the Zammoth will be parked in the plaza in front of the Delta Center for fans to take photos with.
“We just want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to interact with it, and then next season obviously, it’ll be part of our regular game presentation and we’ll try to get as many people on it throughout the season as we can,” Armstrong said.
Ryan Smith, right, owner of the Utah Jazz, helps Earl Halvas, 90, of South Jordan, put on a jersey made for him during “90’s Night,” which celebrates Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, before an NBA game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 23, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Earlier this season, Ryan Smith brought his 96-year-old grandmother to a Jazz game — “and I just know how much it meant to her,” he said.
On March 23, the Smiths gave that same opportunity to 15 families at 90s Night.
“I was so excited when they called and invited me. It was wonderful. What a thing to happen to me, this old lady,” Wilma Stewart, who just turned 96, said. She hadn’t been to a Jazz game in “quite a few years” and was nominated by her grandson Robert Stewart.
Emily Carlson, who brought her grandmother Verna Richardson to 90s Night, said the Jazz “should just do this all the time.”
“Being able to celebrate with grandparents is so fun. I would bring you to every game,” she tells her grandmother. “I love being able to just see everybody’s grandma and grandpa. You can’t mimic this kind of stuff, you know? It’s special. I feel like this will just be a special memory that we’ll be able to look back on for a long time.”
Ryan Smith smiled as he reflected on the 90s Night dinner.
Elaine Ensign, 92, of Bountiful, walks with Jazz Bear during “90’s Night,” which celebrates Utah Jazz fans over the age of 90, before an NBA game between the Jazz and Toronto Raptors held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 23, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
“Just a second ago, we were sitting in line taking a picture,” he said. “One of the ladies who was there turned to the other one and said, ‘We’re best friends now,’ and she’s like, ‘All my best friends aren’t here anymore.’ I just thought that was pretty cool.”
It’s a moment that will stick with the NBA and NHL owner.
Watching grandchildren make those memories with their grandparents made Smith emotional.
“Because I know how that felt when I was with my grandmother,” he said. “They know that that’s a memory they’re probably never going to get again.”