If purple is back, then so is green.
The Utah Jazz are now worth nearly $2.25 billion, according to a new report from Forbes. That’s nearly 30% higher than the team was valued last October ($1.75B), the financial magazine reported.
Ryan Smith bought 80% of the team for a reported $1.66 billion from the Miller family in December 2020. Last week, Smith Entertainment Group — parent company of the Utah Jazz and Vivint Arena — announced that Arctos Sports Partners had purchased a minority stake in the team, with the hopes of bringing a third major league sports team in the state.
Forbes reports that Arctos and another partner bought roughly a 10 percent stake from the Miller family — and it would seem to have come at a premium.
Part of what is driving high values of NBA teams, per Forbes, is the expectation that the league’s next media rights deal will double its current average of $2.66 billion a year.
Arctos has invested in more than 20 sports groups, and was the first firm of its kind to have shares in teams in each of the NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS.
It currently has a 17% ownership stake in the Sacramento Kings, recently increased its ownership stake in the Golden State Warriors from 5% to 13%, and has an undisclosed stake in the Philadelphia 76ers.
