Real Salt Lake Dries Up

They have Freddy Adu on their roster. Their shirts are sponsored by a prune juice company. They play in a league that is generating some buzz worldwide. What could possibly be wrong in the paradise that is Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake? They need a stadium and they aren’t getting one and like the hearty bunch of people who founded their city, Real Salt Lake could be exiled in search of a more welcoming promised land.

From It’s a Simple Game:

“KSL Newsradio this morning is reporting that plans to build a soccer stadium in Salt Lake County are dead.”

“KSL’s Doug Wright spoke with Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts this morning. Checketts says based on a phone conversation he had with Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, Real Salt Lake soccer is done. Checketts says the team will likely stay in Utah for one more year, then it will probably be sold.”

It is hard to shed a tear when a sports team doesn’t receive public funding to build a facility, but nevertheless I do feel sorry for fans in Salt Lake who could very well be without a team this time next year if the club is sold and moves to St. Louis, Seattle or any number of soccer hungry cities. We’ll just have to wait and see if this is a negotiating ploy or if it is the end of the road in Utah.

Let’s at least hope that if the club does move it leaves its name behind. Let’s also hope that it doesn’t morph into something like AC Miami, Olympique Ontario, or Sporting San Antonio.

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Category: MLS