Soccer-specific stadiums are part of the future of Major League Soccer, and Real Salt Lake's planned Sandy stadium "makes economic sense" for the Utah team, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Monday.
"Clearly, no different than any other sports teams in this country, sports-team owners need to be able to control their venues," said Garber, who was in Salt Lake City for Real's second annual United Way fund-raiser.
Garber spoke to the audience at the event, which kicked off "Real Week," the five days leading up to the team's first home game of the season on Saturday.
"In total, there will be 10 soccer stadiums built specifically for MLS teams in the United States by 2010, which is really a pretty remarkable occurrence in business, when you think of the concept that didn't even exist 10 years ago," Garber said. "And, by the way, most of them will be supported by public tax dollars, which I think is a statement of the significance of this small and young soccer league."
Real plans to break ground on a state-of-the-art, 20,000-seat, $145 million soccer stadium within the year. The 22-acre project on 9400 South and State will include a hotel and broadcast studio.
The team has been operating for a year and a half, but Garber said MLS "never expected that we'd have the level of significance we'd have in this community."
During the 2006 state legislative session, two bills passed that will funnel roughly $41 million to $45 million in public money to the project. That money, according to Real's funding plan, will include about $37 million from hotel room taxes and another $7 million in tax-increment savings. The rest of the money will come from private partners.
With the exception of the Columbus Crew's stadium in Ohio, all of the MLS soccer-specific stadiums operating or currently in construction have been built with public dollars. And they have been located in a smaller suburb rather than the big city that bears the team's name.
Some Salt Lake City officials are still reeling over the loss of a possible downtown stadium.
"We have found that lately there has been a move towards suburban-based soccer complexes that are not just stadiums," Garber said. "I think this speaks to the core purpose of our league, which is not just about a soccer team, it is about providing how you and the community . . . build a soccer city."
As for the local downtown Salt Lake City vs. Sandy location debate, Garber said, "I just want to see mountains when I'm sitting in the stadium, I don't care if it's in downtown or in the suburb."
Dave Checketts, the team's owner, said the stadium will be a "community treasure." It is scheduled to open in 2008, and Checketts expressed excitement over the possibility of hosting national and international games. However, for the bigger cup games, the Utah native said the team is already looking into going outside the stadium.
"We could end up playing in Cougar Stadium" at Brigham Young University in Provo, he said. "They have grass and 60,000 seats."
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