"Instead of paying them $10 million . . . there would be an injunction that regardless of the amount you cannot leave," Anderson said. "It makes sense."

The county has turned down several funding plans in the past four months, but Corroon said what prompted him to give his stamp of approval on the latest deal is the fact the county would receive $27.5 million back in cash and in-kind contributions from Real. That money would come from parking and ticket revenue, youth soccer and a gift of $7.5 million to Salt Lake City from Real to build a soccer complex in the city.

Checketts said the deal needs to be finalized soon as his crews need to start major construction in October in order to have the stadium ready for the 2008 Major League Soccer season.

"I don't think anything is going to bring the deal down, it's simply a matter of making a deal," Checketts said. "We wouldn't have had the groundbreaking if it were not official. This was just a matter of settling the public funding issues."

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com