Jazz Owner Gail Miller yesterday announced that she has "transferred ownership" of the team and Vivint Smart Home Arena to a legacy trust that will be "overseen by her family and posterity," according to Jody Genessy of the DESERET NEWS. The trust could "help the Millers avoid paying estate taxes when Gail Miller passes away, but it will ensure that the team, the family’s car dealerships and company headquarters remain in Utah." Genessy notes the trust is the "first of its type in the NBA." Former Jazz CEO Greg Miller, the oldest Miller offspring who represents the team's BOG, "pointed out that this essentially guarantees 'perpetual ownership,' which is a rarity in the sports world." Gail Miller "remains the trustee of the ownership trust." The organization "didn’t give details on how it will function or who will have which duties." The process took about "one and a half years to finalize." When Gail Miller passes away, the trust will be "staffed by a Board of Managers." This board will be "composed of Miller family members" (DESERETNEWS.com, 1/24). Former Jazz President Dennis Haslam said that the Board of Managers will "need either a majority or a supermajority, depending on the nature of the business, to make future decisions for the franchise." Officials said that the "formation of the trust means all profits from the NBA franchise will be reinvested in the team." Gail Miller said, "It's part of a big package of estate planning. But it's one part that's all done and it will last forever, as long as we have people who are willing and able to take care of it" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 1/24).
GOT IT RIGHT: CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto wrote the Jazz have "finally explained what the relationship between a team and its town ought to be, and almost never is." Ratto: "The people of St. Louis, San Diego, Oakland and whoever is next in the discard bin have discovered that loving a team is typically an act of misplaced faith." However, Salt Lake City got an owner who "knows what the true debt really is, and how best to repay it." Gail Miller is "not a hero, but she is someone who gets how sports is supposed to work, which is frankly a much rarer thing than mere heroism" (
CSNBAYAREA.com, 1/23).
