Two professional soccer teams in Utah? Can the small-market state handle such a rapid influx of the international game?
Utahns will soon be finding out after the United Soccer League announced that the Utah Blitzz will be joining the Division 3 outdoor league beginning in April 2000."It's taken us quite a while to find our way here," said USL president Francisco Marcos at a press conference at the Chamber of Commerce Building Wednesday afternoon.
"Salt Lake is the quintessential city for our soccer league."
Marcos, who founded the USL 15 years ago, has seen minor league soccer grow from a small five-team indoor league into a six-league, nearly 200-team organization that encompasses men's and women's soccer.
The Utah Sting, a minor league soccer team, failed in Utah in the early '90s, but Marcos says the community wasn't ready. He feels the timing couldn't be better now following the recent success of both the men's and women's World Cups in the United States.
"The landscape wasn't ready for professional soccer, and specifically minor league soccer," Marcos said.
One of the reasons Marcos is optimistic about the Blitzz is the organization's commitment to building a soccer-only stadium.
The West Valley City multiuse soccer complex, which will include a stadium, training field, office building and pond, will be built in two phases.
Phase 1 should be complete for the Blitzz's home opener in April 2000 and will seat around 5,500 fans. It will be in the southeast corner of the interchange created by I-215 and the 2100 South freeway, with the grandstand facing East.
Phase 2, to be completed the following year, will add an additional grandstand on the opposite side of the field along with a few more office buildings and a hotel. The eventual seating capacity will be between 12,000 and 14,000.
"When you do have your own stadium, it's a good sign you're going to stay around," said Marcos.
Nearly a year's planning has gone into the development of the new franchise, and it's all been based on local interests.
Dell Nichols, one of the leading forces behind Utah's bid, is the director of the ANA Development, a commercial real estate development, brokerage and consulting service in Salt Lake City. One of his main responsibilities is the logistics of building a stadium, by no means an easy undertaking.
The product that will be presented on the field lies in the hands of a few individuals, particularly head coach/general manager Chris Agnello. A graduate of Woods Cross High School and the University of Utah, Agnello is regarded as one of the top youth coaches in the West.
Agnello, who played at the college level at Warner Pacific College in Portland, said, "I have an undying passion of soccer. I'm a student of the game and will be for the rest of my life. This team is Utah owned, Utah managed, and it will have Utah players on it. This is truly our team."
Tryouts for local players begin in early November at the West Jordan Soccer Complex. Agnello hopes to get a good mix of local, free-agent and foreign players to make the Blitzz competitive right away. Ag-
nello will be assisted by Stacy McNicol, director of operations, and Billy McNicol, technical director, both of whom live in Davis County and are very active in the soccer community.
The D3 Pro League is the third tier of professional soccer in this country, two rungs below Major League Soccer and a notch below the USL's Division 2 A-League. The Western Mass Pioneers recently claimed the D3 championship. The USL leagues work much the same way the English soccer leagues work: Teams can bounce between Division 2 and Division 3 from year to year based on successful or miserable seasons.
Utah will compete in the Western Conference of the D3 league, which now includes 27 teams. The Blitzz will play between 20 and 22 regular-season games.
The USL system also includes the Premiere Development League (41 teams), the W-League (32-team women's league) and the Super Y-League, a national youth league that completed its first season with under-14 and under-15 boys' in 1999.
"We are only what we are. We are the developmental system, and we hope we can be launching platform for teams like the Blitzz," said Marcos.
WESTERN CONFERENCE: Arizona Sahuaros, Austin Lone Stars, California Jaguars, Chico Rooks, Houston Hurricanes, Los Angeles Fireballs, Stanislaus County Cruisers, Texas Toros, Tulsa Roughnecks, Utah Blitzz
ATLANTIC CONFERENCE: Carolina Dynamo, Charlotte Eagles, Eastern Shore Sharks, Myrtle Beach SeaDawgs, Northern Virginia Royals, Roanoke Wrath, South Carolina Shamrocks, Wilmington Hammerheads
NORTHERN CONFERENCE: Cape Cod Crusaders, Delaware Wizards, New Hampshire Phantoms, New Jersey Stallions, North Jersey Imperials, Reading Rage, Rhode Island Stingrays, South Jersey Barons, Western Mass Pioneers