Real Salt Lake Stadium Proposal Kiboshed, Owner May Sell Team

In a surprise move Salt Lake County mayor Peter Corroon met with Real Salt Lake owner David Checketts Monday morning and informed him of the bad news, that the Sandy stadium project, which David Beckham already ceremoniously started in August, may be a memory.

The stadium was to be built in the suburb 15 miles south of Salt Lake City near the South Towne Exposition Center and between State Street and 300 West in the 106^th to 110^th South block.

Now it's all up in the air, as Checketts hinted he may sell Real Salt Lake by Friday, though the team just picked up teenage sensation Freddy Adu, is closing in on DeMarcus Beasley and its season ticket sales are among the highest in Major League Soccer.

But in a Monday morning meeting and after discussing options with other county leaders, Corroon relayed the bad news: Not only would the county help Real Salt Lake get the $110 million Sandy stadium Checketts wanted, but that the county would not be able to give Real Salt Lake the $30 million they needed to help finance the stadium.

"This really leaves us in a bad situation," Checketts told media in a teleconference Monday evening. So bad, according to The Salt Lake Tribune that Checketts plans to sell the team by Friday.

According to KSL-TV 5 the morning conversation between Checketts and Corroon became "heated" after Corroon had delivered the news to the RSL owner.

Neither Checketts nor Corroon would elaborate on any specific details in the meeting.

"Again I thank [REAL] for their contribution to our community to date and encourage them to pursue alternative financing," Corroon said later in a statement.

So much for the county's involvement in the project, however, other media outlets like Deseret News say there still may be hope on the horizon.

One such hope-and it's a last-minute one-is for Utah House speaker Greg Curtis to meet with other legislators in the next four weeks that the Legislature is to convene in the 2007 session and help the county divert hotel-room taxes toward the project .

He told the News he has a blank bill called "Transient Room Taxes Amendments" that could help the county spend the tax money and build the parking garage planned near the stadium site, a key sticking point in negotiations between RSL and Salt Lake County.

Checketts also told media in the teleconference that he has met with MLS commissioner Don Garber and "alternatives" for stadium financing were discussed. For Real Salt Lake to stay in Utah beyond the one-year lease they currently have at Rice-Eccles Stadium would require the construction of a soccer-specific stadium.

Without the stadium MLS believes its franchises would not be economically viable.

Some alternatives-if the team is sold-include moving it to either Phoenix or St. Louis, and Checketts said he has received "eight offers" from cities interested in the MLS franchise.

But the deal-making in Utah is far from over. Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson renewed his city's push for a stadium deal at the Utah State Fairpark near the airport and west of downtown, though it was killed over one year ago.

Another option-and one some call the best alternative-is for Utah County steel maker Anderson Geneva to donate the land for a stadium in the Utah County town of Lindon, some 30 miles south of Salt Lake and possibly purchase the team.

At any rate the next several weeks will determine the future of Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer in Utah.