From Deseret News archives:

Real Salt Lake: Big money tickets could pay for player

Published: Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008 12:17 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
There's no doubt that being a tenant at Rice-Eccles Stadium limited Real Salt Lake's revenue streams.

That is all about to change in a big, big way. With Xango again sponsoring the team's jerseys, Rio Tinto's sponsorship of the stadium, selling out the 32 suites and the majority of the Center Circle Club seats and club seats, cash surplus in the millions will be flowing in next year. It might be enough to help the club turn a profit as soon as 2009, and in turn enable it to start paying off some debt.

It starts with Rio Tinto's naming rights deal estimated at about $1.6 to $1.7 million annually over 10 years. By selling out the 32 suites at about $35,000 a pop per year, RSL will be adding another estimated $1.1 million to its coffers.

By selling 66 of the 96 Center Circle seats, priced at a staggering $7,500 annually and over 700 of the 900 club seats at an average cost of $1,500, RSL stands to bring in another $1.5 million.

Altogether, that's an additional $4.3 million in revenue that was impossible to generate as a lessee of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Story continues below
The increase should give RSL the means to sign a designated player, a player whose salary doesn't count against the salary cap after exceeding the league maximum. It's how the L.A. Galaxy are paying David Beckham over $5 million and how the Chicago Fire are paying Cuahetemoc Blanco over $2 million.

Despite the potential, RSL President Bill Manning doesn't expect a designated player to be signed in 2009.

"I would say for next year, probably not. We would need to have an agreement in place before the season started next year, and we've only played two games in the new stadium," Manning said. "The way we're looking at it, we need to get a full season on board where we think we can operate a good business and have a good business model, and then that should allow us to go out and get a good player."

Manning added that the team doesn't just want to add a player for the sake of adding a player. He and the technical staff want to make sure the players can make tremendous contributions on the field.

RSL's expected extra revenue in 2009

Rio Tinto naming rights

$1.6 million

32 luxury suites

$1.1 million

Club seats

$1.5 million

Recent comments

On the doubters... RSL is a great business and a great asset to our...

Shame | Oct. 6, 2008 at 12:11 a.m.

Related content
previousnext

Latest comments

I agree with Louise: “…it is the right and duty of all people to...

So, what percentage of the total cocaine in the US was that, and will it, or...

Celtics crush Jazz

Thanks for the memories but it is time to hang it up. The Jazz are loyal to...

Lou Dobbs resigns from CNN

Good luck, Lou. You deserve better than CNN and their slanted views of...

Celtics crush Jazz

Boozer is not the problem if you look at Okur. The return of Korver, and CJ...

I was very interested in Ms. Stoner's comments. I thought she expressed...

Celtics crush Jazz

they lost given that awesome D Boozer was playing. Seriously, all you Boozer...

Cougars practice with urgency

We are having good practices now and we are having fun playing football. ...

I love how they are trying to directly copy the Spectrum. You can try, but...

Have you seen the changes to US bankruptcy law that were passed a few years...

Advertisements
Advertisement