Corroon says no deal

No more marriage counseling. No more threats. No more sleeping on the couch.

After nearly a year of back and forth, deal or no deal, the divorce is final between Salt Lake County and Real Salt Lake.

Now Real is ready to look for new suitors.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon ended the relationship Monday after announcing the county will not give Real $30 million to build a stadium in Sandy. He said he's through negotiating on the $110 million project in Sandy.

The decision was met with snide political remarks from team owner Dave Checketts, who says Corroon used the decision to further his political career.

"It's been up and down. I hate to see it ending with insults and accusations, because they've actually been really good to work with the past few months," Corroon said.

Checketts said investors in eight cities across the country are interested in acquiring a Major League Soccer franchise.

Checketts bought the team in 2004 for $10 million. If he sells it, he could earn considerably more. Washington's D.C. United sold earlier this month for roughly $33 million, but that team has made it to the playoffs and is in a much larger market.

Two cities have expressed interest in keeping the team in Utah.

Michael Hutchings, co-owner of Anderson Geneva, said his company is interested in buying Real and building a stadium in Lindon at the old Geneva Steel site.

"We've got the money and financial backing to do it," Hutchings said. Anderson Geneva is an affiliate of Sandy-based Anderson Development LLC. "The worst-case scenario would be if the team left Utah. We don't want to see that happen."

Before making an offer to buy the team, Hutchings will once again offer 30 acres of free land at the Geneva site for the stadium. He tried to lure the team to Utah County in July after the Salt Lake County Council rejected a funding deal for the stadium.

If that doesn't work, and Checketts still decides to sell the team, Hutchings said he'll be the first in line.

Hutchings said he made several phone calls to Checketts' people Monday trying to set up a meeting today. A team spokesman said Real had received no formal offer from Anderson Geneva.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson wants to keep Real Salt Lake in Salt Lake City.

He resurrected a plan Monday to build the team a stadium at the Utah State Fairpark and called for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to persuade legislators to lease the Fairpark land to Real for decades while allowing adjacent development.

"This is going to be a black eye for our community for a long time if we aren't able to bail it out," Anderson told KSL-Newsradio. Anderson did not return phone calls to the Deseret Morning News Monday.