32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Ryan Smith on Bringing the NHL to Utah

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

Join Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman as they chat with Ryan Smith, the NHL's newest team owner, about bringing NHL hockey to Salt Lake City, Utah. They discuss the process of acquiring the Coyotes and how hockey will fit into the Delta Center. Smith shares his thoughts on potential branding and invites the fanbase to help choose the team's name. Marek and Friedman also ask about the fate of the Coyotes' club records and Smith's first impressions with his new players. They touch on Smith's love for the NHL and his wife Ashley's involvement in the new club. Marek wraps up by asking about Smith's plans to grow the game in Utah. Join us for an informative conversation about the future of hockey in the Beehive State.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Charles Barkley texting saying hey if you need a goalie I'm available on the chief. That would be fun to watch. I'd watch that. Welcome to 32 Thoughts the interview podcast presented as always by the GMC Sierra Elevation. I'm Jeff Merrick. Monday afternoon Elliot and I had a chance to catch up with NHL Utah owner Ryan Smith. Yes, that's right, the headline machine. He's young, he's energetic, he's enthusiastic. And while there are skeptics if the NHL can actually work in Utah, Smith, as you're about to hear, has zero doubt.

You know, last June, Elliot and I sat down with him and he told us, quote, we're here and we're ready to go. And less than a year later, Ryan and his wife slash business partner, Ashley, are about to test that. Here's Ryan Smith on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Ryan, if I told you last June when we first spoke here on this podcast that within 12 months you would be the owner of an NHL franchise. You would have said what? And welcome to the podcast again, by the way. Yeah, welcome, man. It's good to be here. Look, I probably would have said that that's the way it was supposed to be in the way that we planned it, but reality is like, that's not right. Um, no, I think, I think timing is everything on all of this with sports

and with business and everything else. And like, sometimes timing works out. Sometimes it doesn't. Um, I'm still kind of waking up going, all right, we're doing this. So, so we're still a little bit in like digest, digestive mode, like, okay, how do we digest this? How do we set this up for success? How do we show that Utah is a fresh start and something that these guys get to go do for the first time ever. And then they'll probably never do something like this again in their entire careers.

that probably never do something like this again in their entire careers. And that's an exciting thing. So we're all just kind of working together on it. So I haven't taken a lot of time to inhale and say, hey, we've got this team. Like, oh, my word. It's been much more like, all right, how do we go make it be everything we thought it would be when we asked for it or wanted it? Ryan, I was watching you on Pat McAfee earlier Monday, and you said something very interesting, which, and that is that in early March, Gary Bettman and Bill Daley came to you about this,

and your philosophy was, don't say no. Say yes, you can can do it and then figure it out two questions for you can you take us through the timeline and secondly i love that philosophy but did any part of you say we can't do this this quickly? So the timeline's been pretty well articulated around, you know, really it came down to a couple weeks before then saying, hey, could you guys play and how many seats are in there? And for us, it was really like, okay, how many can we start with? And then can we run a full reno on the arena and not ruin the basketball experience? Because the basketball experience is incredible in Utah. It's one of the steepest sloped arenas out there.

And then how do we actually do something different that we think has not been done in an arena for both basketball and hockey? Typically, the way to accommodate both is you kind of make the bowl wider. And what if we were able to like innovate around that? And so when that came back as yes, then it was like, okay, everything else is around, you know, really just execution of landing the team, starting the team, branding the team, putting this up. And even as we got down to it, it's like, OK, really, what is this? Is this a reload? It's not an expansion.

And it's like neither. It's legitimately like we're starting a new franchise. And we're doing it with this group of people. And that was a deal. And that's really what we've acquired. And so I think that's exciting because we all get to kind of put our hands in the middle and say, let's go do this together and build up from here. So it is unprecedented.

It's not anything I've ever seen in sports. So it is unprecedented. It's not anything I've ever seen in sports. But at the same time, you know, we've got a hot market. We're only an hour away from Arizona. And so it's worked out about as well as we could so far. Now it's just, okay, we've got four months to get ready to go. I want to follow up on that.

You said that on the weekend or last Friday about how you were going to do this with the bowl. I'm really curious about it. How are you going to go from, I guess it's 12-5 right now unobstructed, and eventually you're going to get larger, and without changing the basketball experience, do you seem excited about something you're going to do that, as you said, is new? How are you going to do this?

I'm really curious about it. Yeah, so if you look at technology, I think most bowls and arenas were built. This is a 30-year-old arena, but it's got great bones. And, you know, I think the bottom half of the arena is built with risers that kind of push forward and back. And I think what we're trying to do is look at new riser technology and say, hey, you know, are you able to push forward and back? Are you able to elevate and lower?

And then, you know, why does it have to just be the bottom? Why can't it be further up? to just be the bottom why can't it be further up and so on one side I think that we can take out a bunch of sweets and and really what it is it's just it's very steep behind the goal and so if you're right above the goal you can't really see that corner if you're looking straight down and those corners right there that's really what it is I mean you can see a lot of it so it's not like all you know this the other 4 200 seats which would be 16 2 are bad seats and a lot of times people are watching we have an incredible screen where people can watch their um so it'll it definitely, we'll try to fill those up.

The thought is though, how do you make it so it can kind of, I don't know, be configurable for both without ruining the experience? And so our preliminary look at it is to keep one side really steep and almost put a bunch of suites in and make it kind of this cool wall. straight rows of of seats unobstructed just down with standing room only and some stuff like that I think that that's a that's a really cool way to think through this where you know maybe with basketball it's it's 51 or 50 or 60 rows and with hockey it might adjust and come down to 30 or 40 um just from how we do it and i've seen it looks pretty it looks pretty amazing and renderings so um and it's a little different um but i actually think we don't want to give up on the sides how close our fans are to the court and to the ice because that's that's really you know and I've been in

a lot of multi multi-use facilities and you know they always kind of optimize for the for the largest area and then kind of fill everything in we want to actually keep it the same and then figure out how to do it and so so I think we've got a good plan. And that's probably hard. I'm kind of dancing around a little bit because, you know, it's changing constantly. I know a name and a logo and all these things are going to come eventually. I am curious, when you close your eyes and you think about this team and what they're going to visually look like on the ice,

is there going to be a symmetry in your mind between your hockey team and your basketball team? Do you want them to look profoundly different? How, in your mind, does this team look, whether it's, you know, the sweaters, the helmets, the socks, the pants, all of it? What does it look like in your head? Yeah, I mean, we brought back purple and we're going to continue to do that for basketball. I think there's a mountain component

that that we authentically kind of own, especially in the NBA. If you look at the mountains on the jersey um and i think that kind of breeds a little bit of a color palette naturally you know of fresh ice the whole the whole setup um blue skies like you see that and so i think i think that there if you were to if you were in a dream scenario there's a venn diagram where you've got the jazz and this team and like there's a little bit of a venn diagram where things could and look i mean we've hired double day and they're the ones that are going to come up with this but like kind of overlap and then i think both teams given,

given like the NBA jerseys and the sweaters and the helmets and all this stuff, like there's a lot of innovation being done around those. And so you've got to leave a little room for teams to get out and do special stuff. That's not going to be part of that diagram, but I think there could be a really cool symmetry. And I don't think it has to be just like, you know, Pittsburgh or everything else where everything's the exact same color. That's my thought, though.

But, you know, we've hired the best in the world to go do this. The goal is we want it to be by Utah for Utah and let our fans and our people and our players come and like, you know, take part in creating. That's part of the beauty of this is like I was telling the guys last week, I said, you know, you'll probably be in a spot where you're going to be asked a lot of questions and your opinions maybe for the first time ever in your careers. And I think if we already had an established franchise, I'm not sure we'd be asking this much input. Um, but we really want to know what you care about because we're going to build it all

out from scratch. And, you know, rather than guess on everything or assume on everything, like we want all of your input and you get a chance to kind of craft like the perfect setup. And that's the benefit of being able to start a new franchise. So what kind of feedback have you got so far i know it's quick from who like just like in the first couple of days like what kind of feedback have you gotten about what you should do or what you maybe anything that was suggested to you by anyone that you said that's not a bad idea we might do that so i think i think if we look at the overall experience we say hey like what would be a really cool hockey experience um in utah um and then you break it down by also like the players and the coaches and the staff.

Like on Wednesday, you've got 80 people coming into town and you're like, OK, what does that experience look like? And so I think it starts with the travel experience. I think it starts with the health and wellness experience. I think it starts with the facilities. Some of these things are a little slower and are going to take some more time than others. And then I think it also starts with our fans, what we want that experience to be like and how they want to interact and the naming experience. So really what we're doing is we're taking every little experience that is out there and trying to help and turn it up as much as we can and involve as many people as we can. I think we've got a community of people who all want to help. I mean, just watching real estate brokers, moving companies, sponsors, people who are like, hey, you know, when the players get

here, can we do a little swag bag for the rooms, like just to welcome people. And like, I think that your natural reaction is someone in my position is like, no, no, no, no, we got it. And I think in this case, it's more like, no, absolutely not. Like we want the whole community involved. And that's like, it's for them as much as it is for us where someone feels like, hey, we're a part of this.

We want everyone to feel like they're a part of this new franchise and almost start a part of this. We want everyone to feel like they're a part of this new franchise and almost start a little more open. And so, you know, the in-game entertainment or the run of show that we've got to set up within the NHL, it's different than hoops. Pre-game, how we're going to do it. All of it plays into it. And by the way, if you ask me in two weeks from now,

I'm probably going to have a total different story. Okay. Because we are, you know, Gary's like, you're going to be drinking out of the fire hose. And it's like, it's true. Like every hour people are reaching out, people are calling me. What's crazy is how many like inbounds I'm getting from people all over the world being like, oh my gosh, I want to be a part of this. And so I think they feel a little bit of momentum.

We're now up to 27,000 as of Monday, like 27,000 people who have pre-ordered season tickets. So we'll figure out how to slice and dice it in a way that works. And then I think we're going to do a bracket when it comes to the naming. So we have like six or eight names that seem to be the ones. And then we've engaged Qualtrics to do it from a survey standpoint, to grab all the feedback and run like the bracket so it's right and then we'll get them down and then we've got to grab mascot and color scheme and all that. So Gary was pretty adamant and I think it's right like, all right, you're not going to get this done in three weeks or a month.

Don't rush it. It's a total one-way door. The NHL does not want us to just go throw and slap some name on there and be like, all right, this is a forever name. You only get to do this once. And so that's kind of where we're at. Okay, so as if by fate, about four minutes before we started this interview, I got one of those just emails that you get in this business with the Utah NHL franchise naming odds.

Okay. So I want you to tell me which of these names I should put some money on. Utah Blizzard at plus 275. Utah Venom at plus 300. Utah Black Diamonds at plus 1500. Utah Yetis at plus 300 Utah Black Diamonds at plus 1500 Utah Yetis at plus 700 or Utah Golden Eagles

at plus 3000 if you were me which one would you put some money on geez it's a good question look I have my opinion, but this is part of the reason why I want to do it with the fans is because like, unfortunately or fortunately, my, my opinion weighs pretty heavily.

Yes, it does. And, and that's not what we're trying to do. Like I want, I truly want this organization to this fan base to be able to name it. I mean, I think there's three, whether it's the Blizzard or the Yeti or the Outlaws or Venom. Like there's there's a bunch of those who that like depending on the week, like seem to trend higher. And it's kind of interesting because what's happening is the community is kind of digesting one. Right. And then they're like, like nah i like this one better i could get my head and they fall in love with it and then like yeah like i so so i think taking people through like the bracket will be actually really cool so like you have a face off and and then we'll get down to them but

i mean if i were to say one of those on the list, probably has a good chance. I think it's way better than 50-50. Okay. And I didn't help you at all. No, you didn't. I actually couldn't believe you humored the question, to be perfectly honest.

I thought you were just going to laugh me right off. No, I pretty much am an open book. That's good. i like that let me um elliot and i have have bantered this one back and forth a couple of different times and i'm i'm really like i'm genuinely curious about this as someone who's followed hockey my whole life um i think we looked at this and said okay what is it is it expansion is it expansion? Is it relocation? There's an Arizona Coyotes team that right now is dormant. But one of the questions that Elliot and I have bandied about is, where does the history go? And essentially what I'm asking is,

is Shane Doan your leading scorer or does your leading scorer not exist yet? or does your leading scorer not exist yet? That's really difficult. You know, you want them to feel like they have a spot in it, but, you know, I think the better question is, you know, I'm assuming the Coyotes are going back. So in that case, it seems like they would carry that history with them. If they don't come back, like, I don't know.

Speaker 1 So that, that, you know what I mean? I'm just, Speaker 2 I'm with you. Like I keep going back and forth in my own head about it as well. So you haven't been told either way or had discussions about, you know, your, your, you know, your, your, this organization has gone from Arizona to Utah and along with it, you know, with, with the purchase here, the history comes along with it too. No, it actually isn't. And I understand this. I remember playing golf with a Hall of Fame NBA player who looked at me at the first round and said, hey, you know you inherited all the DNA when I took over the Jazz. And so the history comes with it. And he's like, the good, the bad, the ugly, it's all you. I know you're like two months on the job, but like you're now carrying all of it. And so I understand how the history is a big part of it.

I think it either comes or it doesn't. I don't know that you organically be like, yeah, I want those boxes. Yeah, give me all the history. Give me the skate sharpeners. Give me everything. Like I don't think you choose that in a way i think you just kind of let it gotta let time bear it out um you never get a second chance to make a first impression it was set up so that after the sale was official you could meet with the coyotes players players in Arizona. I heard you did very well.

How did you prepare for that? What was the most important message that you had to give to them? Look, yeah, I don't know what you hear. I imagine you're pretty well connected. Look, there's no way to really prepare. I mean, my first message was just like thanking the leadership because it seemed like it had been pretty noisy around the team and the uncertainty of the situation. And I'm one that always says I think people can handle change pretty well. I think handling uncertainty really takes a toll for a long period of time. And so I think that they handled a lot of uncertainty, right or wrong, like whatever it was. And so I was just grateful that they could do that. And the next was just trying to introduce myself and my wife, Ashley, and just this is who we are and this is what you can hopefully expect.

And that we're real people and like, you know, we're not we're not perfect at everything, but we'll try hard and we'll try to listen and be collaborative and actually just create a good experience for you all and for everyone else. And I think that's just kind of it. I mean, there's only one story with me. You know, there's not multiple stories. This is who I am. Kind of, you know, this is who I am kind of you know this is how I roll and you know I just wanted to look everyone in the eye and dap them up a bit so they could just realize like one by one that like I care I care about them personally and you'll get a chance to see that over time so first of all

i heard that one of your key messages was whatever we build we will build together can you talk a bit more about that well if you think about this deal like all we have is the people it's all we're getting you know it's super unique. Like in business and sports, you hear it so much where it's like it's all about the people. Like it's all about the people. Everything's about the team. But like, is it really? Like, is it always in this case? It is like.

100%. We're getting a new franchise with a new name. We got new facilities that we've got to move everyone into. Like when that plane gets here Wednesday, that's what we've actually run towards. Whatever's on that plane. And so the idea is is truly just like authentically we're gonna go do something and we're gonna do it together because this is what we have you you said you dapped everybody up that's another thing that was told to me you introduced and you and ashley introduced yourselves to everyone individually i think that's a small thing but a big thing where did you get that philosophy because i knew that really impressed people i don't know i'm just sitting on the chair looking around the room looking at so many people that had so many questions and you could tell that like it almost wasn't really the setting for everyone to like ask everything and

like it it was just like we got the basics out of the way but like we would have been there for a long time and so so I was just like, maybe they can just feel it a little bit. Right. And so I just got up, dapped up the first dude and like went around and said, I'm not leaving until every single person I can at least look in the eyes and be like, we got you. What was the question or maybe the request that surprised you that maybe you said, I wasn't expecting that one. Um, nothing was surprising to be honest with you.

Like nothing was super crazy. Like I, I probably, if anything, I was probably expecting a lot more. I'm sure there was a lot more thoughts. But once again, like you're in a room full of people. Those are things that are coming, are going to come over time.

You know, a lot of these kids are younger in their career. And they're just, there's just a little more, I'm just trying to say, Hey, look, like once again, the uncertainty can hopefully stop. Now there's going to be a little anxiety as you're coming into a new situation, but also that there's an, a new opportunity to create something that's never been done before. And like, they're never going to get a chance to do this again in their career. Like, I don't think. And like, that's cool. Like, I love that. And last one here.

I understand you took a bunch of them golfing after. And I have, I know myself that my best chance to absolutely chunk a golf ball is the first time I'm about to hit in front of all these new people that are checking me out, these elite alpha male athletes that are checking me out to see, can this guy really hit a golf ball? How'd you hit? And were you nervous to hit in front of them? and were you nervous to hit in front of them? I wasn't nervous. There's some good golfers on that team. Yes. Goodness.

Keller. Hockey players can play golf. Yeah. Yeah, Keller's great. Like, these guys are good golfers. I played a lot of competitive golf, so you can't get nervous in that situation. You just kind of get up.

That doesn't mean the ball's going to go straight, but I played okay. I mean, we were talking a lot. We had a lot going on. And I hadn't been playing a lot recently. We've been pretty busy. But it was all right. For me, I was like kind of B.

Definitely was on my A game. But I didn't embarrass myself. Good to hear. Good to hear. The last time we spoke, one of the things I think that people took away from the interview was this guy really loves hockey. You can tell that, you know, emotionally invested in it, now financially invested in it. I'm curious, what happens when you become an NHL owner?

Do you watch the game differently? Like what are the things that run through your head when you watch a hockey game previously as a fan and now as an owner? Yeah, I, I have a long way to go. I think it's a similar as like when you're a player and you watch a sport. I've even seen that in the NBA. Like the way I look at it two years in, three years in, is very, very different than I even looked at as a fan.

You're just seeing different things. You know the back story on every player. You know the league. You know the coaches. You know what they're trying to do. You know what league. You know the coaches. You know what they're trying to do. You know what the tendencies are. Sometimes as a fan, you're just kind of innocent to all the variables that go into that team even being on the ice or on the court. And then, you know, you almost don't care because you're just like, this is what they should do.

And it's like, well, actually, the reason why that can't happen is because of X, Y, and Z. Like, so I'm looking forward to seeing the day to day, seeing the practice, understanding the dynamics, you know, understanding who's the next up and comer or who, who, you know, what lineups have to be in there because of the makeup of veterans versus young guys. And like, those are the things that you, you really truly get a chance to look at. And then also being more familiar with the league as well and being able to compare like, okay, we're here on purpose and this is where we have to go from here and here's why we would or wouldn't want to do this and all those decision

makings around play all those decision making processes around players and the league in general in that marketplace is um also goes into how you watch a game. You said that Bill Armstrong, you confirmed that Bill Armstrong and Andre Tournier are staying. Will you add to your front office staff? You know, that's tough to say. I think, you know, we've kind of got to get everyone here and like see what we've had. I think the worst thing I can do is probably just have some

knee-jerk reaction and, like, go at a bunch of people. You know, we're not opposed if it makes us better to do stuff, right? I think, but that'll be a conversation that we all have together to say, hey, this is where we want to go. Is there anyone over the past year that you've leaned on used referred to talked to who's acted as a essentially for lack of a better term hockey consultant for you um yeah there's a couple people you know I won't probably mention them just because it's, you know, I think it's, they've kind of done it, just being gracious. And I mean, to be honest with you, in the hockey community, I know, every single person I've talked to has been like, call me as much as you want. Here's my cell. Like, let me help you, including like other governors, you know, whether it's up in Winnipeg or like or Leonsis or Tannenbaum or Blitzer, like everyone's like whatever you need, whatever you need. And I think that's pretty cool. Like, I think that that's been a pretty cool kind of culture. What was the best note or call or text message you got in the last 72 hours?

I'm not even sure. I'm going to look through them. I don't know. I'm not even sure. I'm going to look through them. I don't know. It's probably my daughter asking me every five minutes if we have a name yet. Everyone at school wants to know. Every Canadian basketball player we've had, whether it's Kelly Olenek or everyone's saying, like, congrats. Like, I don't know.

I'm just cruising through stuff. A few CEOs, like, who follow hockey. Surprisingly, some folks in Arizona saying, hey, sorry it didn't work out, but we're cheering for you. Hmm. I don't know. Charles Barkley texting saying, hey, if you need a goalie, I'm available on the Chief. That would be fun to watch. I'd watch that.

I thought that was pretty good. watch i'd watch that i thought that was pretty good last one for last one for me ryan is um you always take pains to point out that you are not the sole owner of smith entertainment group it is ryan and ashley smith and i know with my wife whose name is stephanie the most important role she plays with me is look you, you're being an idiot. Take a deep breath and figure out how you really want to solve this problem. What is Ashley Smith's role and how will she be involved in the formation of Utah's hockey team? Yeah, we don't have a big group. It's me and Ash and a couple of our partners that we've been in business with for a long time, Ryan Sweeney and Excel Partners and a couple of my other friends.

And it's just kind of like a family, and it's really cool. Ash provides just a different view for everyone. Like she knows when I mean, she's probably she's she's kind of been writing co-pilot on my business endeavors. And I've been doing that with hers for a long time. And she's she's definitely talked me out of two or three of what looking back would have been horrible mistakes, which I think is like what you want in a partner. Like you want someone who's there like kind of sitting in the passenger seat going, hey, you're going to hit that mountain if you don't change course, right? And then I feel like if she can't get her head around something, then it probably causes me to pause a little bit. And so watching her at the press conference like stand up saying hey like we want a stanley

cup here i was like all right we're doing this you know like like i thought that was cool i was like first of all like like what do you know about the stanley cup like because like i had never talked to her about any of that like but she's been following it and like she's interested I mean it's hard because we got five kids under the age of I mean under the age of 16 like we're in it like we're in it right now and so adding another like 42 nights a year plus to the schedule is not something that like I could easily I could easily see her being like dude we're maxed out like we're not doing this but I think she she gets it she understands the what it does for Utah she understands like what it does for other kids who can grow up and find a passion and another team

sport that like everyone who plays it is like an evangelist about it going hey this is incredible i learned so much um so i think i think for me it's just you know i don't think when you know we we met each other that like i would ever thought that this was in the cards where we'd both be sitting up there going hey like how do we how do we operate and i also believe like the amount of feedback i get from fans and entrepreneurs and women out there going you don't know you don't understand how like refreshing and inspiring it is to see ashley up there like and that's cool like i, I think that's like, cool. Cause I know that when she woke up on Friday and like ended up, cause I had to

go up to the arena early and ended up like pulling five kids up there and like doing that, it's like, she doesn't want to go sit up on a stand and talk to the media for two hours. Like she's not, that's not her jam, but she's like she doesn't want to go sit up on a stand and talk to the media for two hours like she's not that's not her jam but she's like i'll do it in school like and so it's just kind of the role she's a true leader and like she plays that leadership role um in a bunch of parts of her life. And I think everything goes better when she's around. Ryan, last one for me. I know you have a lot of things right now around this new team that you're trying to find, you know, safe landings for here. I do feel obliged as a hockey dad to ask you about youth hockey. I know you have, again again you have a lot of things going on and a lot of things to do to get this thing off the ground where does youth hockey in Utah fit

into all of it yeah I think there's like 17 rinks in this area um we've gotta like turn that up um I was on the phone this morning um with a group talking about like what they've done in San Jose and they've created like the largest adult hockey league, kind of the way they've done that. And, you know, imagine doing that for our youth. I mean, we have the most, the youngest demographic in the whole United States here in Utah. I mean, you got a lot of big families with young kids. I mean, I have five kids and not everyone has five, but, you know, there's a lot of family. I mean, there's 60 kids on our streets, right? And if they do play hockey, most of the time they're starting on rollerblades here, right?

Just because of ice time. And so that's something that everyone's kind of messed around with. You know, and that's where I first started skating. You know, we play we play roller hockey in the in the cul-de-sac and it was so much fun. Right. But like, OK, how do we take that where there is ice time? How do we build all that? And so part of SCG and part of like what gets people excited and my partners is like kind of creating this new movement because the fact that we got people like going to play

games at 1am, cause that's the only time they can get on the ice. Like we have to, we have to increase that. And the cool thing is, I mean mean we're five hours from vegas like that's where ashley grew up um like they started with less than we did we have 5 000 registered junior hockey players like in the state like they had less than that they had less arenas and like i think that you're gonna start see that seeing that movement. We also have 70,000 junior jazz players, which are kids who are playing in our junior basketball program. It's the largest in the United States. And so we know it's there.

We know it's going to work. The question is, is like, OK, who's building all these? Are we or someone else? else like what does it take and and i believe that you know there's so many entrepreneurs here in the state of utah that hopefully we get some of these folks that you know want to build out these warehouses that are a side of the free freeway or industrial districts and say, hey, let's just put some ice down. That's great. Listen, you spend a lot of time with us, and I know you're really busy.

We really appreciate it. Best of luck with the new team. Yeah, wish us luck. Hope you enjoyed Ryan Smith, owner of NHL Utah. Now, you can tell that he wants to get going, but he isn't going to be rushed into anything. Hope you enjoyed the pod. We'll talk to you again soon.