Leaders cry foul over Sandy soccer bid

A last-minute bid to land a soccer stadium in Sandy has several city and county leaders crying foul.

A plan by Sandy leaders would take $20 million slated for a parking structure at the South Towne Exposition Center and instead buy land to build a shared-surface parking lot for the proposed Real Salt Lake soccer stadium and the convention center.

That newly concocted funding mechanism is nothing more than a shell game to County Councilman Mark Crockett, who said the use of the money to recruit the soccer stadium is a direct insult to Salt Lake City and county leaders who supported the $20 million Expo Center funding.

"If Sandy is now saying they don't need that money for the Expo parking structure, they got it under false pretenses," Crockett said.

The $20 million for additional Expo parking was bundled with a $62 million bond for expansion of the Salt Palace during an April legislative special session. That $20 million addition was a major sticking point for many legislators, Crockett said, and meant Salt Lake City and the county paid more overall.

"If this happens, Sandy would have forced Salt Lake to take itself out of the running and buy a stadium for Sandy," Crockett said.

Salt Lake City leaders also say they are particularly slighted by Sandy's creative funding methods after Salt Lake agreed to give $8 million to the Salt Palace and Expo Center funding deal, not knowing that money might help Sandy beat them in the race to get the stadium.

If they had known what they know now, Salt Lake City Council Chairman Dale Lambert said he would never have agreed to give money to assist Sandy.

"I do not think that Salt Lake City should be contributing to assist another municipality in obtaining the soccer stadium," he said. "We would regard (the current proposal) as a considerable betrayal."

But the funding plan does have support from some county officials, including Mayor Peter Corroon and Councilman Joe Hatch. Both men say sharing the parking lot makes economic sense and equates to a two-for-one deal for the county.

Hatch, who would still like to see the stadium find a home in downtown Salt Lake City, said Sandy's funding mechanism could also help avoid a tax revenue bond to fund stadium costs.

"If we can have parking that serves two facilities, it would be hard for me to say that's something I don't support," Corroon said. "If you put $20 million into parking, that's $20 million less that they have to spend somewhere else."

The $20 million worth of free land and parking infrastructure for Real Salt Lake is a substantial boon to Sandy's sales pitch, which came late in the game after both Salt Lake City and Murray battled for the stadium for months.