Real S.L. is wooed by Utah County

If Checketts can't find a way to build a stadium in Utah, he said he will not move the team to another state. Investors and local officials in both Rochester, N.Y., and St. Louis have contacted Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber about the possibility of buying Real Salt Lake and moving the team.

But Checketts said the team will first consider Utah options.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has resurrected last year's plan to build the stadium at the Utah State Fairpark, calling for the state to lease the Fairpark land to the team for decades while allowing for adjacent development.

Curtis, however, has said repeatedly that the stadium isn't a state problem. He doesn't want to ask "taxpayers across the state from Logan to St. George to subsidize economic development in Salt Lake County."

Several members of the Salt Lake County Council don't want the team to switch locations at all, at least not for another year.

Councilwoman Jenny Wilson wants the team to stay at Rice-Eccles and thinks the county should give the U. $2 million to make it happen, either through lower rent or stadium enhancements.

The university used a tax-exempt bond to expand Rice-Eccles for the 2002 Winter Games, and if Real stayed too long, the U. would risk losing its tax-exempt status on the bond, because the profits would go beyond a 10-percent revenue limit for nonuniversity events. If the county helped pay off that bond, the team could stay there longer and earn the community's trust to invest public funding, Wilson said.

But Checketts said, "the University of Utah is not an alternative — period. There is no scenario where we can continue playing there."

Real CEO Dean Howes said the team would rather focus on finding a way to build a new stadium, and it would continue to lose money if it stayed at Rice-Eccles. With the one-month deadline, Sandy seems to be the best option, Howes said, because the team already purchased land and has architectural plans ready.

That ownership gives Sandy a jump on building, but without the county's financial support, the plan is stalled.

Meanwhile, several Salt Lake City Council members met for a brainstorming session Thursday to generate ideas about a downtown option. But Councilman Eric Jergensen said they still recognize that it's up to Real to decide on the best location for a stadium.

A year ago, Salt Lake City floated Block 22, the 10 acres between 600 and 700 South and Main Street and West Temple. The block has several different property owners, but the largest — Earl Holding's Sinclair Companies — has little interest in a stadium now, said Clint Ensign, the senior vice president.

"If Real continues to seek subsidies the size of that proposed in Sandy, I cannot recommend to company officials that we offer the downtown land for the stadium," Ensign said. "The amount of subsidies that Real has requested relative to the cost of the stadium itself has been, in my opinion, excessive."

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Contributing: Amelia Nielson-Stowell.

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com; kswinyard@desnews.com; jpage@desnews.com