(by Leigh Dethman and Amelia Nielson-Stowell desnews.com 7-12-06)
Real Salt Lake could be moving, either up the road or down the Interstate. Where they will end up is still unknown.
Team officials are re-evaluating their future plans, after the Salt Lake County Council on Tuesday rejected a proposal to help pay for a stadium in Sandy. The decision "puts the future of the club in Utah in serious jeopardy," team owner Dave Checketts said.
Real Salt Lake CEO Dean Howes said he was "disappointed" with the council's vote. He declined to comment on whether the team is actively shopping for a new home outside Utah.
"If we can't get a home here, then our options — all options — have to be explored," Howes said.
The team could move to Rochester, N.Y., St. Louis or another city in Utah, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson told the Salt Lake City Council Tuesday night.
The County Council rejected a tweaked version of Sandy's original plan on a 5-4 vote, with David Wilde casting the deciding vote. The failed funding plan would have shifted $30 million in hotel-tax dollars to Sandy to cover infrastructure costs for a soccer stadium. The proposal also would have provided $45 million for projects in downtown Salt Lake City and $15 million for other county-wide projects.
Tuesday's vote marked the second time in three months that county officials have rejected a public-funding plan for the soccer stadium. Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon denied the team's first stadium-funding plan in May.
Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan, who worked for more than a year crafting his funding proposal, said that he's through petitioning the County Council for help.
"As far as I'm concerned, the project is dead," Dolan said. "I think it's totally anti-Sandy, that's what we've been dealing with all the way through this. It's always been Salt Lake City."
Rumors that the team might move emerged after Corroon denied the team's funding plan in May and continued Tuesday after the council's vote.
Anderson told the City Council that investors in both Rochester, N.Y., and St. Louis are actively making bids for the team. Anderson would not say how he got his information. "I don't have comment for you."
The mayor and his spokesman, Patrick Thronson, have declined the Deseret Morning News' requests for comment for the past 20 days. Anderson disputes the accuracy of figures on the Denver mayor's work travel that were cited in an April 16 article on Anderson's travel. The Deseret Morning News stands behind the accuracy of the reporting.
Several local politicians are hunting for options to try to keep the team in Salt Lake County. County councilwoman Jenny Wilson on Tuesday pushed the idea of keeping Real at the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium for a one-time cost of $2.5 million. The County Council voted against that idea.
Meanwhile, Anderson pleaded again Tuesday for the County Council to consider his plan to build the stadium at the Utah State Fairpark.
He wants the county to offer up $17.5 million in hotel-room taxes to build a stadium at the Utah State Fairpark. That money, along with property taxes from a community-development agency, would go toward improving facilities at the Fairpark. But in order to build there, the state must lease the land to the team for 50 years or sell it with the option of repurchasing the land.
Anderson told the City Council that "sending the signal that we're aligned on this — that we're going to do everything we can to keep this team in the city — is such an important statement.
"I know the team is very excited about pursuing the Fairpark proposal," he added.
However, House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said Anderson's plan has no legislative support. Curtis has said for months that he would not support giving state money to a stadium.
"If I thought it was a state issue six months ago, I would have gone after state money," Curtis said. "I put my cards in the hand of the County Council and they said no, and I'm not going to change my opinion and say it's now a state issue."
Curtis said the only available option for the team to stay in Utah is for another city to hatch a plan.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Tuesday that he continues to "support the process leading to Sandy. That's where Checketts mentioned he wanted it to be, that's where the proposal formally sited the stadium."
Checketts, the governor said, "is taking a risk. He's bringing in added investment and development" but now has to decide what the market will bear. Huntsman said he wants to see the process "through to completion."
High stakes for Real
The team needs to find a home fast because its lease at Rice-Eccles Stadium is up at the end of the 2007 season. Without a soccer-specific stadium, no team can turn a profit, because it has to share revenue with the stadium owner, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said Tuesday.
In the past five years, one MLS team folded and another relocated, partly because the teams could not secure a soccer-specific stadium. The Tampa Bay Mutiny folded in 2002 and the San Jose Earthquakes moved to Houston in 2005.
Garber said he is working with team officials to make sure that doesn't happen here in Utah.
"We're going to take a deep breath, then find out if there are any other communities in the market that will take the team," Garber said. "Then if not that, I've got to take a look elsewhere."
Garber said Anderson's Fairpark proposal was "attractive," as the stadium would be in an urban environment with a diverse fan base and a strong political supporter in the Salt Lake City mayor.
"It seems like Rocky really believes in the sport, and those are the type of people we want to work with," Garber said, adding he was displeased with the political maneuvering of the County Council.
County Councilman Mark Crockett, who voted against the proposal, said his vote was nothing against soccer — he admits he's a fan — but he thought Real was asking for too much money.
Asked if he was concerned his vote could have sent the team packing, Crockett said, "At one level, of course we'd like them to stay, but it's not our problem."
State lawmakers recently passed legislation allowing counties to use hotel-tax dollars for tourism projects, and councilman Randy Horiuchi said Tuesday that the bill only passed because the Legislature wanted Salt Lake County specifically to use the money for a soccer stadium.
Curtis, the speaker of the House, has said he will not punish the County Council for opting not to use the hotel-tax dollars for a stadium project. He already has a back-up plan for what the money could be used for: a light-rail expansion to the Salt Lake City International Airport.
"There is $90 million there, and that's a pretty good start on a $240-million project," Curtis said regarding the hotel-tax money. "That way we wouldn't have to raise as much taxes."
Even so, Wilde said he is worried about the political fallout for his vote against Sandy's proposal.
"It's certainly not my desire to poke (the Legislature) in the eye, but when all is said and done, you've got to do what you feel is the right thing to do," said Wilde, who is up for re-election in November. "I'm not going to lose any sleep feeling like I didn't do what I felt in my heart was right."
The County Council's vote came on the same day as Real's game at Rice-Eccles against the Virginia Beach Mariners, where fans were upset about the possibility of losing their home team.
Before the Real Game, Peter Hein, a Sandy resident who is a former president of Utah Youth Soccer Association, listened to a statement by Real Owner Dave Checketts on his car radio. Hein said he is disappointed by the council's "short-sightedness."
"If I were Dave Checketts, I'd say, 'All right, guys, I'll see you later,' " said Hein.
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