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KICKING DEVELOPMENT

Breakaway Vote Ends Utah City’s Soccer Stadium Bid

By Headwaters News, 7-12-06

Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan puts the blame for his Utah city losing out on its bid to secure funding for a Real Salt Lake soccer stadium directly on the media.


The Salt Lake Tribune reported the Utah mayor's profound disappointment in the Salt Lake County Council's 5-4 decision to not allocate some of the county's hotel-tax revenue to underwrite the Real Salt Lake stadium project in Sandy.


Dolan said the media had always been against the proposal to build the soccer stadium in Sandy and said the focus had always been on locating the stadium in Salt Lake City.


Just minutes after Councilman David Wilde stunned his fellow Republicans by casting the decisive “no” vote, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson was pushing the merits of a plan to take the team to the state Fairpark.


Anderson said that putting the soccer stadium at Fairpark would cost less than half the $35 million in tourist taxes than the Sandy plan called for.


But Salt Lake City Councilman Eric Jergensen said he believed the best place for the stadium would be in downtown Salt Lake City and said there were several locations that could be considered.


Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Carroon took exception to his being portrayed as a contrarian who is standing in the way of the project, and said if Real Salt Lake supporters could pitch a plan that makes sound fiscal sense, he would consider it.


The county council’s attorney said the plan put forward by Sandy and Real Salt Lake would have put Salt Lake County in a questionable financial position and would curtail the county’s ability to fund other projects.


Real Salt Lake’s owner Dave Checketts said Tuesday’s vote doesn’t put a definitive end to the team’s location in Utah but it does put it in serious jeopardy, although he acknowledged that it would be very expensive to move the team.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber had a more grim prediction and is quoted by the Tribune as saying, "We can't allow that team to stay in that market unless we have some vision for a soccer-specific stadium.”

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