Mayoral hopefuls bicker over soccer complex

A dispute between Salt Lake City, state and Real Salt Lake officials over funding for a youth sports complex has Salt Lake mayoral candidates pointing fingers at each other.

In February, the Legislature committed $35 million of Salt Lake County hotel-room taxes to help the Major League Soccer team build a stadium in Sandy. But in the run-up to that deal, the debate made its way through Salt Lake City, county and state governments, and several candidates now seeking to replace Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson were players in that debate.

Part of the agreement included Real kicking in $7.5 million to help Salt Lake City build a sports complex in the northwest part of the city. Real officials now are characterizing that money as an investment, while Anderson and other city officials insist it was always meant to be a gift. Several of the mayoral candidates place some of the blame for the disagreement on their opponents.

Keith Christensen, a former city councilman, blames four of his opponents: County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, City Council members Dave Buhler and Nancy Saxton and state Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake.

"They were all at the table when soccer was discussed," he said Monday. "Where was the leadership when this issue was discussed and, quote-unquote, agreed upon? Why didn't someone, any one of those individuals, simply ask the questions, 'When do we get the money, and what is the deal?'"

The current disagreement centers around whether the team should get a cut of the sale of concessions and naming rights at the 180-acre complex to be built at 2000 North between Redwood Road and Interstate 215. Christensen says the problem is that the terms of the deal were never put in writing.

Salt Lake City ultimately played no official role in the negotiations because the stadium is being built in Sandy with county money doled out by the state. The only city vote related to the stadium was in support of a resolution offering the Utah State Fairpark as a potential site for the stadium.

Saxton voted against that resolution, saying the public hadn't been provided enough information about it. Buhler also said he wished there was more time for detailed discussions on the issue, though he ultimately voted for the idea.

But Saxton now is critical of Becker for voting for the state plan, and she says Wilson "folded" when the deal was before the county.

Wilson voted in July 2006 against a county plan to build the stadium. In August, she backed a new proposal, put forward by county Mayor Peter Corroon, that spelled out such details as the sports-complex contribution.