Meeting on Real is a no-go

(by Kersten Swinyard desnews.com 7-8-06)

A meeting on Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's proposal last month to put a Real Salt Lake soccer stadium at the Utah State Fairpark was to have been held this morning.

But of the 28 people Anderson proposed to participate on a commission to discuss his plan for a stadium, 20 said they hadn't heard of his proposal except through members of the media. The other eight either could not be reached for comment or did not return phone calls.

"I haven't heard a thing," said United Way of Salt Lake's chief executive officer, Deborah Bayle Nielsen, on Friday. Nielsen wasn't even sure if she would qualify for the commission, because a member of her board of directors is Dean Howes, the soccer team's chief executive officer. "I'm not sure whether that would be considered a conflict of interest."

Anderson pitched a list of community, business and government leaders to discuss his plan as an alternative to the governmental process that has stalled Real's current proposal for a stadium in Sandy. He called for the "independent, non-partisan community task force" to meet July 8, and he sent his proposal June 21 to Gov. Jon Huntsman, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, and Real owner Dave Checketts.

Anderson would not issue a comment for this story.

The mayor and his spokesman, Patrick Thronson, have declined the Deseret Morning News' requests for comment for the past 16 days. Anderson disputes the accuracy of some figures cited in an April 16 article on Anderson's extensive travel. The Deseret Morning News stands behind the accuracy of the reporting.

In May, Corroon nixed the soccer team's plan to use $81.5 million of county money to jump-start a stadium on 20 acres in Sandy. Since then, the team has searched for another option to stay in the south-valley suburb. Sandy officials proposed an alternative plan to the county on June 27. They called for county leaders to contribute $76 million, including debt service, from hotel-tax revenue and Redevelopment Agency dollars, to cover infrastructure costs around the proposed stadium complex.

The County Council is scheduled to discuss Sandy's stadium proposal at its regular meeting Tuesday. Michael Jensen, a member of the County Council who Anderson also wanted for the Fairpark commission, said that until the County Council decides what it will do, discussions of moving the stadium to Salt Lake City are premature.

"I think we need to look at the proposal that we have," Jensen said. "As far as just people saying, here's options, I don't think that is ever a bad thing. But I think you need to flush those options out and see if they're a valid option that really should be considered and has the potential to be a serious option. Maybe that's kind of in the stage that we're at now. Mayor Anderson needs to sit down with his council and the state and make sure it's a solid option and that all the other stakeholders agree with it."

Huntsman has said that his focus is on keeping a Real stadium in Sandy. House Speaker Greg Curtis has also said that he wants the stadium in Sandy, his hometown. If the county rejects the plan, Curtis has said he would like to see the hotel-tax revenue used for building a TRAX line to the Salt Lake City International Airport.