Real Salt Lake offer is valuable political lesson

Pignanelli: 1. Always use ultimatums and hype — together they create an intoxicating cocktail. Real owner David Checketts is an amazing showman and poker player. For weeks he threatened to sell or relocate the team if public money was not forthcoming by his self-imposed deadline of Saturday, Aug. 12. During that time, Checketts publicized the rare opportunity for Utahns to watch Real Madrid (one of the biggest sports franchises on the planet) on the same drop-dead date. This excitement, combined with reluctance to kill the project, metamorphosed government officials into children eager to please.

2. Don't ask, and otherwise ignore, the difficult questions. Inconvenient inquiries regarding funding the stadium (i.e. current financial status of the team, impact on funding for cultural and transportation projects, amount of interest to be capitalized for the loans, etc.) remain unanswered.

3. Appeal to the inner Lego spirit. Politicians love to build (I certainly did), and the possibility of a 20,000-person stadium, media center and retail operations is difficult for state and county officials to resist.

4. The devil is the person asking for the details. Stadium detractors who suggest the funding plan is incomplete (i.e. how does Checketts obtain a loan without some binding long-term commitment from the county?) are painted as demagogic naysayers who lack vision.

5. If a statement is repeated over and over, with conviction and passion, it must be true. Real advocates consistently claim the stadium project is a strong economic development tool, the financing behind the deal will work and the county is protected. Although little evidence exists behind such assertions, they are increasingly accepted. (To be fair, I rely on this important principle in my political and personal relationships.)

6. Facts can impede success, so discard them. There are no neutral, substantive studies that document benefits to cities from stadiums with heavy public financing. Further, some officials who have reviewed information submitted by Real are adamant the numbers do not work. Real supporters dismiss these accusations and rely on Lessons 1 and 5.

7.Claim someone else is footing the bill. Taxes paid by tourists will supplement most of the public financing for the stadium project. Easily forgotten is that the original purpose of these taxes was to assist in the development of tourism. Real insist soccer will enhance tourism (see Lesson 5).