RSL finally delivers - but what?

(by Doug Robinson desnews.com 12-11-06)

Congratulations to Real Salt Lake, which finally delivered its — ta-dum! — now-you'll-see-'em, no-you-won't, oh!-here-they-are financial records to Salt Lake County and the public on Monday.

It took only 7 1/2 months of asking.

Real officials say they were going to make the records public all along. "We make this release to demonstrate that we have absolutely nothing to hide from officials charged with protecting the taxpayers' best interests," Real CEO Dean Howes wrote in a letter to County Mayor Peter Corroon.

Pardon our cynicism, but the county has been trying to get those records since April as a condition for giving the soccer team $40 million of the $55 million they've begged from taxpayers. The team openly resisted and then threatened lawsuits when information from their financial records was leaked to the media.

That sounds like they had something to hide.

Seven months to deliver 50 pages? Maybe Real officials walked the records over to the county. Or their car broke down. Or they had to be translated from Sanskrit.

Things got a little tense, meanwhile. One county official complained last week that he was the victim of "trash talking" by Real officials while he was (drumming his fingers) waiting for the financial records. Name-calling has been part of negotiations between RSL and the county from the start. The highlights: RSL owner Dave Checketts calling the council "bush league" and Councilman Joe Hatch calling the team "a bunch of chowderheads." Maybe they'll settle it on the playground at recess.

Hasn't everybody had enough of this whole business almost since the day the team dropped into town like a 900-pound gorilla? Nobody's worn out his welcome this bad since Bob Saget.

The stadium-loan business has dragged on for 2 1/2 years. This thing has had more technical difficulties than the space shuttle. It's like doing the Winter Olympics all over again. Where are Tom and Dave? Maybe it's their fault.

After months of acrimonious negotiations and threats, team officials and politicians held a hasty groundbreaking ceremony for the stadium in August, before anyone changed his mind and while superstar David Beckham and Real Madrid were in town. Then last week we learned that — sheesshhhh — these guys still hadn't shown the county their financial records and the deal might fall through.

THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN USEFUL INFORMATION BEFORE THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY.

They did the whole thing backward. Remember, first the financial records, then the loan, then the groundbreaking, not the other way around.

"I think they jumped the gun," Councilwoman Jenny Wilson told the Deseret Morning News in August, referring to the groundbreaking. "I don't know if it was just the emotion of having Real Madrid here and the desire of having David Beckham involved, or it was just a negotiating tactic."

Or all of the above. Has RSL missed a trick since it got here?

Anyway, the financial records are out, and here's what they reveal: The club has lost money since it opened its doors in 2004, but projections show the club will begin to make money in 2010, two years after the stadium is built.

Which sounds pretty good until you read the part that says the PROJECTIONS DEPEND ON HIGH ATTENDANCE AND SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENTS FROM PARTNERS.

That's like saying Wal-Mart will make a lot of money if millions of people shop there every week.

Real's projections assume game attendance will increase by 21 percent in 2007, 29 percent in 2008 and continue to increase until it levels out in 2013.

Those are some pretty big "ifs."

County officials say they will not invest public money in the project until they see the records and determine if it's a solid investment, but who are they kidding? They're determined to make this work, even if it doesn't and even if 59 percent of respondents in a poll opposed the use of public money for the stadium.

There are still a lot of things to be resolved, the county is telling us. That means we can look forward to more more end-arounds and back-room wheeling and dealing by the Chowderheads and Bush Leaguers in the coming few years.