(by Leigh Dethman desnews.com 7-13-06)
Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts says Larry H. Miller plotted to kill a deal to fund the team's soccer stadium.
"There have been some people working against it and behind the scenes — and the number-one guy working against the soccer stadium has been Larry Miller," Checketts said in an interview Wednesday with KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright.
Checketts — still reeling from the Salt Lake County Council's rejection of the latest stadium funding plan — started pointing fingers Wednesday, a day after the latest funding plan for a stadium was rejected. On a 5-4 vote, the council on Tuesday nixed the idea of using $30 million in hotel taxes to help build a stadium in Sandy.
But the Utah Jazz owner denies he's to blame, saying he's deliberately stayed out of the way of any soccer-stadium negotiations.
"I've never by stealth of night or by secret meetings gone around and tried to torpedo it," Miller said.
Checketts said Miller is worried that a new soccer stadium would lure concerts away from the Delta Center, where the Jazz play.
Miller's response? "I don't know where he conjured that up," the Jazz owner said.
He said of course the two venues would be in competition, but that's not enough to entice Miller to lobby against Checketts' future stadium plans.
Checketts said he didn't understand why Miller, his former business partner with the Utah Jazz, would attack his business plan for Real.
"I would have expected for the years we worked together for the Jazz in the '80s trying to build something that obviously has been great for him, that it wouldn't be a personal thing, but it has felt personal from him, and that's been unfortunate," Checketts said.
Miller isn't the only one Checketts blames for the failed deal. Checketts also took aim at County Councilman David Wilde for voting against the proposal.
Wilde shocked his colleagues by casting the deciding vote that ultimately killed the Sandy deal. Checketts claims Wilde promised him that he would vote for the proposal, but Wilde says that never happened.
"This was the hardest vote I've had to cast in my six years on the council," Wilde said. "I voted because I thought it was the right thing to do. If Dave Checketts can't accept that, then I'm not going to lose sleep. I tried to do what I felt was right."
The vote could end up costing the state its professional soccer team.
Checketts said several other cities nationwide want a team: Philadelphia, Seattle, San Antonio and St. Louis. Checketts owns a professional hockey team in St. Louis, and he said the city is a "soccer hotbed" that "badly wants a team." He said it would be easy to move the soccer team there because of the political support he enjoys.
The reception he's received in Salt Lake County has led Checketts to say he's through dealing with local politicians here.
"If I do go forward, I have to tell you I'm going to find a way to do it without any of these political people being involved, because I've had so many of them tell me face to face they are supportive, they think it's a great thing for the state, they appreciate this contribution I've made, and then turn around and who knows why they vote the way they do," Checketts said. "It's almost comical the way it's come down."
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