Real deal off, mayor says

The deal is off.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said Wednesday that funding a professional soccer stadium with hotel tax money doesn't make sense and is too costly.

Real Salt Lake wants $35 million from the county, but to get that kind of cash, the county would have to bond for $48.5 million — a figure Corroon said he can't stomach. Plus, interest payments over the life of the bond would have ended up costing the county $87.5 million to pay off the original bond.

"Spending an additional $18 million up front for interest payments is not a good use of taxpayer money," Corroon said Wednesday. "I can't support this, I just can't."

Real Salt Lake hopes to break ground on a proposed $145 million stadium in Sandy this August. However, team representatives said the stadium project, which includes an adjoining hotel and broadcast studio, will not happen unless there is some form of public funding.

Team officials declined to comment on the mayor's decision.

"We are completely focused on our upcoming game this weekend, prior to which we will be hosting a press conference with Dave Checketts and myself to address the stadium issue and answer questions from the media," said Dean Howes, Real's chief executive officer, in a written statement Wednesday.

The team wanted the county to contribute $35 million in hotel room taxes and Sandy to pitch in $10 million through redevelopment agency (RDA) money. Both funding options arose after two separate bills passed in the 2006 legislative session, allowing Real to receive multimillions in public dollars.

One bill gives the county the option of using hotel taxes for tourism projects, including the Sandy soccer stadium. Although not in the bill's language, the Legislature made it clear to county officials that the hotel taxes could not be used for anything but the stadium.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, who pushed the project's potential funding through the recent legislative session, said Wednesday he hoped county officials "would not be disingenuous to say the money is not there to do the soccer stadium, but we have a whole list of other projects there we want to do instead."

Both Corroon and council chairman Cort Ashton promised Curtis the hotel taxes would not be used for other projects if the stadium is not funded.

Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan said he was disappointed in the county's decision to deny funding. But the city does not feel the project is lost. Dolan said the city will aim to find a funding solution that works "for all parties involved."

Randy Sant, the city's economic-development director, said he was surprised by the announcement. "We feel that Salt Lake County's decision was premature, based on incomplete financial assessments," Sant said.