The Utah Jazz were named the inaugural winner of the newly introduced NBA Team Viewership Innovation Award by the NBA league office during the 2024 NBA Sales and Marketing Meeting in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday. This award recognizes the franchise’s parent company, Smith Entertainment Group, for transforming the Utah Jazz broadcast strategy to make it easier, more flexible, and more convenient for Jazz fans to access live games and other insider team content.

“In the midst of our 50th season, the Jazz are honored to be recognized by the NBA for our efforts to provide the best broadcast experience possible for our fans,” said Jim Olson, president of the Utah Jazz. “From our over-the-air TV deal and our new streaming service, Jazz+, to other partnerships that extend our reach across a wider region, we are continuing to build a viewership strategy that provides fans in Utah and beyond with better access than ever to Jazz games and all of the stories we have to share, both on and off the court.”

Efforts to revolutionize the franchise’s strategy came together ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season and included:

• In June, Smith Entertainment Group introduced a new production company, SEG Media, to oversee Jazz game broadcasts, and announced that the Jazz would be broadcasting games on a local, over-the-air TV station, KJZZ-TV. Under the team’s previous TV media rights deal, only 39% of Utahns had access to Jazz broadcasts, and by taking over distribution, SEG Media immediately boosted that number to 100% of Utah households.
• In September, the franchise launched its first-ever streaming service – Jazz+ – with options for annual, monthly, or single-game subscriptions. Jazz+ subscribers can access a Spanish-language TV broadcast of Jazz games, tune in for select Salt Lake City Stars home games, and watch entertaining content focused on the team and front office – such as the Jazz+ exclusive Shoot the Sh*t with Will Hardy and lively alternative broadcasts featuring Jazz alumni and special guests during select games.
• On the eve of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Utah Jazz announced two new deals with ROOT SPORTS and Sinclair Broadcast Group to expand their outer market broadcast territory – doubling the number of potential TV viewers to a total of six million across all of Utah, Montana, and Idaho, as well as parts of Oregon, Wyoming, and Washington, and extending Jazz+ access to more of that audience as well.

Early results following implementation of the new approach are promising. Data from Nielson, as reported by Bloomberg Businessweek in November, showed that average viewership of Jazz games on KJZZ, compared to the same timeframe in 2022, had increased by 53%. Since announcing Jazz+, more than 16,568 fans have subscribed to the service, and annual subscriptions account for 73% of total sign-ups.

BYU gymnast Anyssa Alvarado was named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week

BYU women’s gymnastics senior Anyssa Alvarado was named Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week after the opening weekend of competition, the league announced Tuesday.

The Cougars opened the 2024 gymnastics season at the Mean Girls Super 16 Championships in Las Vegas on Saturday, Jan. 6. Competing against SUU, Oregon State and Minnesota, BYU finished the meet with a team score of 195.900.

Alvarado competed on the uneven bars and ended the meet tied for second with a new career-high score of 9.950. After scoring a 9.900 on the apparatus at last year’s Super 16 meet, the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. native improved her score by .050 this year.

Cougar swimming heading to Denver, Los Angeles

BYU men’s and women’s swim and dive will divide to compete at meets in Denver, Colorado and Los Angeles, California on Jan. 12-13.

BYU men’s swimming came in as the first team out of the latest CSCAA Top-25 on Dec. 14. The Cougars were the top team “also receiving votes” in front of Missouri, Pitt, Northwestern and Princeton. Navy ranks just ahead of BYU at No. 25. Big 12 foe Texas came in at No. 8.

The Cougars continue to have four swimmers and each of the five men’s relay squads ranked with top-50 times nationally.

Jordan Tiffany ranks sixth in the 100 fly at 44.85, 0.13 seconds ahead of Cal’s Dare Rose and two-hundredths of a second behind Gal Cohen Groumi of Michigan. Tiffany also ranks 10th in the 100 back with a relay leadoff time of 45.24. The junior from Pleasant Grove, Utah is currently the only men’s swimmer in the nation with top-10 times in both the 100 fly and 100 back.

Olympic Trials qualifier Brad Prolo holds 10th nationally in the 200 fly at 1:41.80. Prolo ranks 0.14 seconds faster than Indiana’s Tomer Frankel and just two-hundredths of a second behind Martin Espernberger of Tennessee.

BYU, No. 1 Arizona State and No. 3 Cal are the only teams nationally with a top-10 swimmer in each of the 100 fly, 100 back and 200 fly events.

The BYU women bring five top-50 rankings into the weekend’s competition. Brooklyn Larson, Alexia Jackson and Aubryn Ordyna have each posted top-50 platform diving scores nationally. Larson leads the team with a 220.60 in the platform and 282.95 in the 3-meter, both recorded at the SMU Invite on Nov. 16-18. The Cougars’ 800 free relay squad of Regan Geldmacher, Megan Bergstrom, Victorica Schreiber and Kara Martinson ranks 44th nationally at 7:19.78.

Cougar men’s tennis to compete in California

BYU men’s tennis will kick off the 2024 campaign this week with two road matches, competing at San Diego State at 10 a.m. PST on Thursday and UC San Diego at 11 a.m. PST on Saturday.

Thursday’s match at San Diego State will be held at the Aztec Tennis Center, with Saturday’s contest at the Northview Tennis Courts.

Thursday’s match at San Diego State will mark BYU’s opening contest of the Zack Warren era and his first as a collegiate head coach.

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