"The Delta Center proves that downtown is the best venue," Bingham said. "All you have to do is look at the Stingers' stadium to prove that being downtown is better than being away from downtown."

At the Fairpark, like the Stingers' neighborhood near 1300 South and 300 West, there's nothing else to draw crowds or get them excited about coming to a ballgame.

"There's a greater expense to operating downtown, but there are greater benefits," Bingham said. "It's location, location, location. What do you have next to the fairgrounds? You've got the power plant."

Another drawback to the Fairpark, according to Bingham and Priskos, is that the site wouldn't spur economic development like a stadium downtown would.

Again they point to Franklin Covey as an example.

While downtown's Delta Center has been credited as the catalyst for developments that include The Gateway, there has been little auxiliary development surrounding Franklin Covey.

"If the soccer stadium goes out to the Fairpark it will be a soccer stadium and that's it," said Priskos, who owns Internet Properties. "I don't think there's enough critical mass out there or enough traffic to warrant additional retail."

On that point Tony Weller, president of the Downtown Merchants Association, agrees.

"If the soccer field is going to serve as a catalyst for other development, it's more likely to do that downtown," Weller said.

Weller, who owns Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore on Main Street, also agrees that a downtown stadium is an important investment. In downtown, the stadium would be surrounded by hotels and would likely gain many ticket sales from tourists.

At the Fairpark those tourist dollars would likely be lost.

"Tourists, the farther they have to travel to see the game, the fewer will choose to do so," he said. "You don't want your community spread too thinly. Whenever someone goes to another town they like a certain urban density. They like to be where things are going on, and it would be nice to have that in the background of a stadium."

Priskos maintains downtown soccer is not dead, despite Salt Lake City's Fairpark plan.

Real Salt Lake spokesman Trey Fitzgerald said RSL owner Dave Checketts continues to talk with downtown property owners like billionaire Earl Holding and The Boyer Co.

Holding owns the downtown land where the city initially wanted the stadium, while Boyer has had talks with RSL about putting the stadium on land west of the Gateway, said Jake Boyer, Gateway project manager.