Despite a report by KTVX-Ch. 4 Friday night that Major League Soccer will announce Salt Lake City as its newest franchise in a couple of weeks, Dan Checketts, who's working with brother Dave Checketts on bringing a franchise to Utah, said those reports are very premature.
He even said KTVX may look bad if the franchise is awarded to another city.
"If it happens, that announcement will be made by the right people at the right time," said Checketts.
That doesn't mean the rumor isn't true. KTVX based its story on reliable sources, and several other indicators point to its possibility.
For the past six weeks MLS commissioner Dan Garber has been saying that an expansion franchise could be a good fit in Utah, but cities like Seattle, Philadelphia, Houston and Cleveland all seem more logical.
As speculation grew about where the mysterious 12th franchise would land for the 2005 season — which is just nine months away — several cities indicated they'd be more interested in a franchise in 2006. With plans already in place for an 11th franchise, Chivas USA, to begin play in Los Angeles in 2005, the league wasn't exactly keen on the idea of an odd number of teams.
Some believe it has become a battle of first-come, first-served. "If you build it, we will come."
With more and more teams building soccer-specific stadiums, the MLS has somewhat made building a soccer stadium a prerequisite to landing an expansion franchise. With Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, already playing in soccer-specific stadiums, and Chicago, Dallas and New York following close behind, Salt Lake City could be the next market with a soccer stadium.
On a recent trip to Boston for the U.S. Conference of Mayors national convention, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson met with Cherokee Investment Partners to discuss potential investment in a soccer stadium in Salt Lake City.
When the Deseret Morning News contacted Anderson to discuss the meeting, he said he didn't feel comfortable discussing it at this time, but an announcement would be made within a few weeks. Anderson's mysterious announcement coincides with the league's desire of announcing its newest expansion franchise in mid-July, and KTVX's report about a mid-July announcement as well.
Whether all of this happens, Checketts insists the team will not be called the "Boom," as originally reported on KTVX. This should come as good news to soccer fans in Utah and across the country who spent much of Saturday bashing the "Boom" as the worst nickname in sports history.
Cherokee is a real estate investment firm based in Raleigh, N.C., that acquires environmentally impaired assets and protects sellers from the associated risks and liabilities. Essentially, what Cherokee does is purchase land valued between $10 million and $250 million, clean it up and then build on the property. In 2002, Cherokee purchased a 38-acre landfill and an adjacent 97-acre power utility lot and converted the dump into an 18-hole public golf course with views of the Statue of Liberty. Cherokee manages more than $1 billion in assets and has acquired more than 300 sites across North America.
Speculation is that Anderson is working with Cherokee on cleaning up land west of The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City with hopes of building a soccer stadium.
If the league awards Utah a franchise, the team would temporarily play its games at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Dave Checketts was the president of the Utah Jazz from 1984-1990 but resigned to become the New York Knicks club president. Four years later, he was promoted to president and chief executive officer of the Madison Square Garden in New York City. He resigned after the 2001 season.
Checketts, who owns SportsWest Productions, has been working on bringing an MLS team to Utah for the past two years. He reportedly reiterated his desires to the league in May by paying $1 million of the $10 million expansion franchise fee.
The 36-game MLS season runs from April to October, with 10 teams. The league says it wants to expand to 16 teams by 2010.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com