The NBA example isn't logical, but in soccer it's more than logical. It's common for European clubs to loan players to lower division clubs to gain experience. Many people don't realize that the contract of American soccer sensation Landon Donovan is owned by German club Bayern Leverkusen. Knowing Donovan wasn't good enough to play for Leverkusen when they signed him as a teenager, they loaned him to the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS instead of a lower-division team in Germany. He's since won two MVP awards in the MLS, and will likely be recalled to Germany on Jan. 1, 2005.

If rumors about a Salt Lake-Madrid relationship pan out, a similar, exclusive relationship would exist between the teams.

While the European soccer season runs from late August to early May, the MLS season runs from April to October. That's over three months for Madrid to send players to Salt Lake to play during the summer.

Fans will just have to wait for official confirmation of Real Salt Lake, and then hope the team hires a quality general manager and coach to get the ball rolling properly.

MLS NOTES: Chris Keeney was recently hired to lead Salt Lake City's ticket sales team. Keeney previously was the director of sales with D.C. United . . . The internet website address www.realsaltlake.

com has been reserved. Even though the domain name could have been purchased by someone outside of the organization, none of the other options previously discussed by Salt Lake's MLS representatives has been.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com