RSL soccer academy might not be built in Salt Lake after all

Real Salt Lake will build a soccer academy, but it might not be in Salt Lake City.

For now, the only commitment Real has put on paper is to build a soccer academy in Utah. The assurance was one of the terms of an interlocal agreement Sandy signed with the state Tuesday night.

That angered Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who said the team promised him it would build the academy in the capital city.

He said the only reason he fought for the stadium — despite the fact it would be built in Sandy, not Salt Lake City — was team owner Dave Checketts' promise to give the city $7.5 million for a youth sports complex, as well as the guarantee the academy would be located in Salt Lake City.

"They have always promised that the academy would be in Salt Lake City," Anderson said. "If they (build somewhere else), this team once again will be breaching its promises in the most egregious way."

Real CEO Dean Howes said Tuesday the team made no such promises.

Jason Perry, who is heading up negotiations for the state, said he never found any concrete evidence that Real promised Salt Lake City it would build the soccer academy there.

"From the state's perspective, we wanted to make sure it stays in the state," said Perry, who serves as executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

However, in a February 2007 open letter to the state of Utah, Checketts said the soccer academy will be "prominently placed in Salt Lake."

But now that plans for a youth sports complex in the capital city have been scaled back, Real officials say they don't have enough room and the academy will have to move.

Howes said the team will build the academy somewhere along the Wasatch Front.

"We want to be where the people are," he said.

The soccer academy — a joint venture between Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid — will serve as a specialty school for soccer players from around the world. Once the academy is up and running, approximately 100 to 200 of the world's top soccer players between ages 12 and 18 will live in Utah, attending classes at the academy in the morning, then practicing and playing games in the afternoon and evening.

Major League Soccer teams will retain the rights to any player developed in the academy, and Madrid wants to become RSL's partner with the construction of its academy.

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Contributing: Jared Page

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com