Checketts, Miller feud still boils

In this corner . . . wearing white trunks, legendary auto tycoon and owner of the Utah Jazz, the reigning heavyweight champion of Utah sports: LARRY "LAND CRUISER" MILLER!

And in this corner . . . wearing black trunks, direct from Madison Square Garden, the former president of the Jazz and current owner of Real Salt Lake and the St. Louis Blues: DAVID "BIG APPLE" CHECKETTS!

All right! Rich people feuding!

Where's Joan Collins and Linda Evans?

The twisting journey of Real Salt Lake took a dramatic turn this week when the Salt Lake County Council rejected a plan to build a soccer stadium in Sandy. That left the Major League Soccer team two options: find another way to build in Utah or move. It also opened wounds that have been festering since the late 1980s.

Face it, how close could two multimillionaires competing for entertainment dollars be?

Odds are good this won't be the last story of bad blood between Checketts and Miller. Which isn't necessarily bad news. This is more entertaining than their teams, anyway.

The latest twist began Wednesday, a day after the council's "no" vote on the stadium issue. Checketts criticized councilman David Wilde for voting against the proposal but saved plenty of ammo for his former boss, telling KSL radio ". . . the No. 1 guy working against the soccer stadium has been Larry Miller."

He went on to say opposing the stadium "has felt personal for (Miller) and that's been unfortunate."

In a surprisingly subdued response, Miller said, "I've never by stealth of night or by secret meetings gone around and tried to torpedo it." He added, "I don't know where he conjured that up."

Thursday Miller told KSL radio's Doug Wright, "I was really surprised when he said it feels personal, and I don't know why he said that. It's nothing personal." He continued, "I'm still thinking, where's he coming from?"

Miller claims to have even shared information with various civic leaders on how he financed the Delta Center so they could gauge the viability of a soccer stadium. But in a Thursday telephone conference, Checketts didn't back down.