Now the agreement will just stick to the basic premise that the county will continue to charge a 4.25 percent tax on hotel rooms for at least 20 years. That assurance will then allow the state to take 15 percent of that hotel-tax revenue for 20 years to raise $35 million for the stadium project.

"This is still a work in progress," Perry said. "I expect the agreement will change substantially."

Sandy leaders could have the revised agreement ready within days, Sant said.

Corroon all but killed the stadium deal in January, saying it was an "unsafe investment" of taxpayer dollars, since the team could easily default on bills with only minor shortfalls in ticket sales.

Weeks later, the state came to the rescue using the county's $35 million in hotel-room tax revenue.

The Sandy City Council approved an interlocal agreement Tuesday that irons out the details of the funding plan with the state. The agreement solidifies the state's pledge to give Sandy's Redevelopment Agency (RDA) all the hotel-tax revenue collected by the Utah Tax Commission. The RDA will then buy the land and issue bonds for the project.

The agreement passed Tuesday also requires Real to give Salt Lake City $7.5 million, with no strings attached, for a youth sports complex; establish a soccer academy in Utah; donate 500 tickets per game to charity; offer promotional and co-branding opportunities to the state; allow Sandy's RDA to own the stadium land; build 1,000 new publicly owned parking stalls; and remain in Utah for 10 years (with penalties to be defined at a later date when Sandy signs a development agreement with the team).

Late Tuesday night, Real CEO Dean Howes agreed to build at least 1,000 more parking stalls within a 2-3 year period, Sant said.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com