Real Salt Lake: Big money tickets could pay for player

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.

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