Jazz Owner & Chair Gail Miller in January transferred ownership to a family legacy trust, and recently discussed the decision, the "history of the Jazz, the value of philanthropy, and more," according to a Q&A with Jonah Keri of CBSSPORTS.com. Excerpts of the Q&A are below.
On why and how the decision was made to transfer team ownership to a legacy trust
Miller: When we talk about putting it in a legacy trust, now our kids grew up with the Jazz. They knew what it meant to us. They knew what it meant to the community. And they knew how valuable it was to keep it here. ... The question has lingered all these years, ‘When are you going to sell the Jazz?’ People cannot believe that you can have an asset worth that much money and not be tempted to sell it and take the money and use it for something else. And I could, I could get totally out of debt in all my other businesses. ... Our family has never felt like this was a money-maker for us. As long as the Jazz makes money to run the team, that’s what we need to do. As far as selling it, there was [never] even talk about [it].
On estate planning for the future
Miller: I’ve been doing my estate planning, put it in a trust, put that question to bed, keep it viable for as long as we can even look out into the future. But we just felt like if we could do anything for the state we love, it’s to create a place for the Jazz to live forever, because it can do so much for our state.
On whether this kind of trust could work in other markets
Miller: Certainly other teams could do it. Whether they will or not is another question. ... I don’t know how many other teams are owned by one family. Many teams are owned by consortiums or big companies and they’re not, a team is a small part of their portfolio. For us, it’s the whole enchilada almost. And we really want to protect it and preserve it. So if other teams would do it, I think we’ve had a great response here (CBSSPORTS.com, 4/13).
