Chris Barney is the president of revenue and commercial strategy for Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), overseeing all revenue-generating and marketing functions across the organization’s assets, including the Utah Jazz NBA franchise, the Utah Hockey Club NHL franchise, and their home arena, Delta Center. His role also extends to the Salt Lake City Stars NBA G League team and key initiatives at the recently acquired The Shops at South Town mall, future home of Utah Hockey Club’s new practice facility.

Since joining the Utah Jazz in September 2007, Barney has taken on a variety of responsibilities across every revenue-generating department within the organization. After eight years in sales, he moved into various ticketing and premium seating roles, eventually becoming chief revenue officer in December 2020. In April 2022, he was promoted to chief commercial officer. Today, Barney leads the partnership, premium seating, ticketing, data/analytics, marketing, brand/creative, and youth program departments while also overseeing food and beverage operations, retail, and events at Delta Center.

In 2024 under Barney’s leadership, SEG introduced new programs geared toward further enhancing the fan experience at Delta Center. These include the rollout of fan friendly concessions – dubbed the ‘Mountain Menu,’ which reduced the cost of several fan-favorite food items for all Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club home games to $2 and $3 – as well as agreements Smith’s and Moxie Pest Control to offer single goal view seats to Utah Hockey Club games, complete with a hotdog and bottle of water, for just $10.

Over the past few seasons, Barney has been instrumental in securing several high-impact Utah Jazz partnerships, including agreements with Awardco, American Express, PACS, and SeatGeek. In 2023, Barney played a key role in bringing Delta Air Lines back as the naming rights partner for the Delta Center and securing a multi-year deal with LiveView Technologies (LVT) as the team’s jersey patch sponsor. He was instrumental in the June 2024 launch of the Utah Jazz marketing platform, “Mountain Basketball,” which connects the team’s identity to the region’s rugged landscape. Leading into the 2023-24 NBA season, Barney also provided key strategic counsel that allowed the Jazz to land their over-the-air local broadcast deal and create their fi rst-ever branded streaming service, Jazz+ – two moves that set the team apart for taking control of their distribution landscape.

In addition, his creative approach to the premium experience has helped the Jazz launch unique, compelling offerings in their arena, which have driven an increase in ticket revenue and helped the Jazz claim a spot within the NBA’s top 10 teams in ticket sales. In 2021, Utah Business named Barney one of its “40 Under 40” honorees.

A graduate of the University of Utah, Barney enjoys spending time with his wife, Julianna, and their four children: Owen, Samantha, Madison, and Sophie. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, attending University of Utah football games and watching his children in their various activities.