It was four months ago that David Blitzer first touched base with the Miller family, pioneers in Utah sports ownership, to see if they’d be interested in discussing “the art of the possible.” That “possible” being if the Millers, who were owners and stewards of the Utah Jazz for 35 years before selling the franchise in October 2020, were fascinated at the prospect of getting back involved in professional sports in Utah.
Blitzer, who is involved in ownership groups in the NBA, NFL, NHL as well as numerous professional soccer clubs throughout Europe, was searching for a local majority owner for two other clubs: MLS’s Real Salt Lake and NWSL’s Utah Royals FC.
“One of the things that we realized frankly, and maybe more recently, was that the control owner of a franchise should really be local and immensely embedded in their community,” Blitzer told The Athletic.
Less than five years after the Millers sold the Jazz for a reported $1.66 billion, they are back on the ground level — this time in soccer. On Friday, the Miller family and Miller Sports & Entertainment finalized their majority holding acquisition of RSL and the Royals from Blitzer, who is staying on as a minority owner.
Terms of the sale were not made public, but sources familiar with negotiations…
