An economic win.

• Position: On the Court

Running an NBA team in Utah is not exactly like owning a gold mine. When Larry H. Miller bought 50 percent of the Utah Jazz for $8 million in 1985 and the rest of the team a year later for $14 million, he did not do it to acquire a lucrative piece to add to his auto dealerships.

Miller saw buying the Jazz as a gift to the state and viewed it as an important community asset he needed to preserve. That perspective continues to be held by his wife, Gail, and children nearly three decades later.

"The financial returns that we experience on the Utah Jazz under the current CBA are, as my dad used to say, 'about what you would expect from recycling pop cans,'" says Utah Jazz CEO Greg Miller. "We're not in it for the money in other words. This is about the community and protecting and preserving that community asset."

The Jazz may not be rolling in the dough as a franchise, but its economic impact on downtown Salt Lake City has been off the charts for years. Since EnergySolutions Arena opened in 1991 at a cost of $93 million, the surrounding neighborhood has undergone a dramatic redevelopment.

The Salt Palace Convention Center opened east of the arena in 1995. With 515,000 square feet of exhibit space and 164,000 square feet of meeting space. it helped the city lure in the Outdoor Retailer Market a year later. By 2002, The Gateway mall...