Rocky pushing tax-funded soccer stadium

Mayor Rocky Anderson said Friday he supports using public funds to build a new Major League Soccer stadium in Salt Lake City.

Anderson said in addition to securing land for a soccer stadium site, city dollars or tax increments should be used to help fund the new stadium's brick-and-mortar costs.

"Absolutely, public money should be used to support a Major League Soccer stadium coming to Salt Lake City," Anderson said. "There's no question in my mind that it's entirely appropriate for public funds to be used for the soccer stadium."

And those dollars, along with private money, should come not only from Salt Lake City but also from state and county coffers, Anderson said.

"Not just Salt Lake City funds," he said. "There needs to be more partnership. There needs to be the county and the state partnering on this."

Anderson's revelation came the same day SportsWest — the company that owns Utah's new Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake — said it plans to launch an information campaign next month designed to sway public opinion in favor of spending tax dollars for a new soccer stadium.

Responding to a new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll that showed Utahns, by more than 2 to 1, oppose spending public money for a new soccer-specific stadium, SportsWest vice chairman Dean Howes said the company expects to initiate the campaign, which he hopes will change public opinion.

"There will be — I hate to call it a P.R. campaign — but an educational campaign," Howes said. "There is a tremendous need for communication. This is the first time this community has really had a brand-new major league franchise brought to it in a long time."

Howes may have his work cut out for him.

The poll showed Utah residents don't want tax dollars to fund a new soccer stadium for Real Salt Lake, which plans to play in Rice-Eccles Stadium until it can build a soccer-specific stadium in Salt Lake City, Murray or another suburban site.

Sixty-four percent of those polled said they probably or definitely didn't want public money used to fund a stadium, with only 28 percent saying public money probably or definitely should be used. Another 7 percent didn't know.

Dan Jones & Associates conducted the poll of 313 Utah residents Nov. 29-30. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 6.5 percent.