By Brice Wallace
For all of the obvious economic activity tied to the Utah Jazz — player and staff salaries, ticket and merchandise sales, advertising — the most prominent professional sports team in the state offers other benefits that are difficult to quantify.
Steve Starks, president of Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment, making him president of the Jazz, last week spelled out those impacts during the “Newsmaker Breakfast” at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. His appearance came the morning after the Jazz completed a successful season with a second-round playoff loss in Houston.
While the local economy benefits in part by visiting players’ salaries being taxed — “LeBron James pays tax to Utah because he’s working here,” he said — other impacts are tougher to measure. One example is brand awareness. Starks noted that during a trade mission to China, Jazz basketballs were coveted items for the Chinese dignitaries Utahns were visiting.
“It’s hard to put a value on the branding that the Jazz provide for Utah, but it’s worldwide and it’s significant,” Starks said. “There’s a global awareness that the Jazz brings to the state that’s really important.”
Another incalculable benefit is the growth of business around Vivint Smart Home Arena. What was known as the Delta Center when constructed a quarter-century ago has been “an anchor to development on that side” of the city, he said. Built in what once was a relatively undeveloped area, the arena has seen The Gateway come along, is served by mass transit on two sides and is amid various restaurants, hotels, shops and parking areas busy on game nights.
“It’s been a really significant contributor and anchor to that part of the community,” Starks said.
In addition to the dollars-and-sense elements, the Jazz have added “a richness to our community,” he said.
“It adds a rallying point where people gather together and watch the team, feel the pride in it, and we identify with that. There’s something about sports that’s really tribal — when they represent us and we represent them, in a weird way. And that adds a richness.”
Admitting he probably shouldn’t say it, Starks recalled someone saying that “if the Jazz aren’t in Utah, then Salt Lake perhaps is Boise or Albuquerque. Those are great cities but they’re not Salt Lake City, and part of the reason why Salt Lake City is what it is, is because of the Utah Jazz.”
Starks quickly added: “I love our fans in Idaho!”
Responding to an audience question, Starks described Utah’s overall sports scene as healthy, with “incredibly passionate fan bases.” That applies to sports teams at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University at the collegiate level, and for the Jazz and the Real Salt Lake soccer team at the professional level. Starks was asked whether more professional teams might make Utah home, given the recent additions of the Utah Royals women’s soccer club and the Utah Warriors rugby team.
“From my perspective, it’s great,” he said, acknowledging that a prominent narrative in the early days of RSL was that the Jazz didn’t like having the new soccer team around. “And if we had an NLF team or an MLB team, it would only add to the richness of the state and the experience of living here.”
The Jazz love having RSL as well as the Salt Lake Bees baseball team, its ballpark and its relationship with the Los Angeles Angels, he said. But landing a Major League Baseball or National Football League team is “a little ways off.”
“You need a corporate sponsor base. You need a population base. I think we’re getting there. I don’t know that we’re totally there yet,” Starks said. “If you’re just looking at our projections over the next 10 to 20 to 30 years, it wouldn’t be surprising if we’re a city and a state that’s becoming attractive to more professional sports just because of the dynamic growth in the economy and what’s happening there. So, we’d love to see it.”
Like the Jazz, other elements of the Sports & Entertainment group are doing well, Starks said. The arena is getting revenues from concerns, family shows and other non-basketball events. The Bees are contributing culturally and financially. The Megaplex Theatres are benefiting from “a really good year for Hollywood so far” and also because its theaters are large. “People in Utah love going to the movies and our theaters provide a big venue to do that,” he said.
“The Automotive Group really is the engine that, over the years, has driven everything and allowed it to be possible. But each of those entities on the Sports & Entertainment side fortunately are really healthy.”
During his talk, Starks also delved into organizational philosophies that have worked for the Jazz. The Miller family has provided a commitment to resources and an emotional stability “to do things the right way.” The management shares those values and has stuck to a process during the team’s rebuilding over the past few years. Coach Quin Snyder has contributed creativity and intellect, he said.
“The Miller family creates values. They’ve surrounded themselves with people that buy into those values and are aligned philosophically. And those values, I think, produce a culture that the Utah Jazz has enjoyed for many, many years,” he said.
“And now we have the benefit of seeing some of the fruits of those labors and values hopefully bear out, and we want to do it in a consistent fashion, where we’re good for a long time and that we do it the right way and build an organization that attracts that type of talent — on the court, off the court.”
Despite the Jazz’s second-round loss, this year’s feel-good story — with the team exceeding fans’ expectations — likely isn’t over.
“It feels like the start of something. It doesn’t feel like the conclusion of an effort,” Starks said. “People are feeling like this could be really special moving forward.”