The billionaire Jazz owner reveals his plan to bankroll the Cougars indefinitely, navigating a chaotic NIL landscape he likens to a professional league without a playbook.
Ryan Smith has always been passionate about his support for BYU Athletics.
The owner of the NHL's Utah Mammoth and NBA's Utah Jazz, he was a graduate of Provo before diving into the world of business. He's an avid supporter of the basketball team and stays next to the bench during games. This is less of trying to check up on his investment and more about wanting to be there for fandom.
You can bet if BYU is playing on any surface, Smith is usually there.
BYU's multi-billionaire dollar mega donor sat down for a recent interview with Front Office Sports’ Portfolio Players. He was asked about several topics, including NIL and overall funding.
What became clear is Smith doesn't view BYU as a short-term investment. He explained his plans for the future, which also carries over to what could be in his will. It's wild to think about someone leaving behind a set amount of NIL funding for an athletic program, but we're living in unusual times. Smith was upfront and honest about where he believes his contributions will be going.
“I’m sure there’s some scenario when I’m no longer here, they’re going to get a big chunk of whatever I’ve got. I mean, there’s no secret to that,” Smith said to Front Office Sports. “But that’s the right thing to do, because that’s where it all started. It’d be really weird if they didn’t. You’ve got to remember where you came from, and I came from there.”
Smith owns two pro teams in a city he loves and cares about that didn't come by accident. Neither did his support for BYU over the years. He's part of a growing list of billionaire tycoons who are jumping into the world of being a mega donor. This is not different from Mark Cuban at Indiana or Larry Ellison at Michigan. The Big 12 has Smith at BYU and Cody Campbell at Texas Tech.
"Coming from the world that I'm in every day to college sports, let's just make no mistake about it, it is professional sports," Smith added. "The only difference is in professional sports, we have rules."
To compete at the highest level, most schools need a mega donor to pump money into the program. In the case of BYU basketball, when AJ Dybantsa was being heavily recruited by several teams around the country, Smith and others stepped up to the plate to secure the nation's top player in Provo. There were rumors Dybantsa was offered upwards of $7 million for a one-and-done season at BYU. That paid off as he was the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, setting a BYU record for the highest-drafted in school history.
Smith is not the only donor at BYU's table, but he's definitely the face of the effort due to his background in sports. It's hard not to recognize his accomplishments outside of college. When the Utah Jazz secured the No. 2 overall pick in this year's NBA Draft, there were rumblings about Dybantsa possibly staying home in Utah. However, the Washington Wizards made it official by locking down the generational talent at No. 1. That speculation doesn't happen if Smith is not in the equation.
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