Utah officials scrambling to work out a soccer deal
Officials scrambling to keep Real team in Utah
Since Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon on Monday denied Major League Soccer team Real Salt Lake's request for $30 million in public funds for a Sandy stadium, officials' discussions have been mainly behind-the-scenes and private. Publicly, talk has been about doing whatever it takes to keep the team from leaving the state.
Major League Soccer brass earlier this week granted team owner Dave Checketts permission to explore the option of sending the team to St. Louis. But owners of the former site of the Geneva steel plant in Utah County want to see a stadium built there. And Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and the City Council have revived their idea of a stadium at the Utah State Fairpark.
Several officials have also hinted at another option that they aren't naming.
"The most important thing is to put together a deal that will allow Major League Soccer to stay in this valley," Anderson spokesman Patrick Thronson said Wednesday.
Anderson had requested an emergency meeting of the City Council on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the Fairpark idea. However, that meeting was canceled because the mayor had no new information to share with the council.
The Fairpark is on land owned by the state, so a stadium there would require legislative approval. Anderson has called on Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to push for that approval.
Huntsman and legislative leaders talked about at least three options for keeping Real in Utah during their weekly lunchtime meeting Wednesday but made no decisions.
"We're just trying to make it happen," said the governor's spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, adding that the governor was staying in contact with team officials and legislative leaders on the issue.
"The governor is a diplomat. He's a facilitator. He's just trying to make sure it all comes together. His goal is to keep professional soccer in Utah," Roskelley said.
Other options beyond the Utah State Fairpark on North Temple and the Geneva site in Vineyard are also being considered, Roskelley said. She declined to identify what those options were.
Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, also said there were other options for the team, but he, too, declined to identify them and said he has not made up his own mind about the best alternative.
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