Next move for Real? Team is looking at options as county denies stadium funds
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.
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.
Alternative proposals
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.
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