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Alex Cabrero & Richard Piatt Reporting The Real Salt Lake Stadium project suffered a devastating setback today. The Salt Lake County Debt Review Committee voted against putting the county's hotel tax revenue toward a soccer stadium.
At this point the soccer stadium is not dead. The pressure on whether it will be built or not rests solely on one person, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon. He acknowledged today that the decision rests upon his shoulders and he is taking the weekend to think it over.
Of all the decisions Peter Corroon has had to make in his two years as Salt Lake County mayor, this one may be his toughest.
Peter Corroon, Mayor, Salt Lake County: "I do have the citizens in mind ultimately, and I'll try to make a decision on what's best for our citizens."
That decision-- to give 30-million dollars of taxpayer money to help Real Salt Lake build a new soccer stadium in Sandy, or not.
Real Salt Lake officials were stunned by a 4-0 vote by the County's Debt Review Committee. There were 2 abstentions and 2 absences in that committee. The vote signals concern the stadium will lose money, according to their research.
Larry Richardson, County Debt Review Committee: "The numbers, ultimately, do not pan out. And if the team is unsuccessful, the county is left with an empty stadium."
But the stadium deal truly won't be dead until Mayor Peter Corroon announces his decision or decides to keep it alive.
Peter Corroon, Salt Lake County Mayor: "I want to narrow it down, look at it, and if I feel that I'm not comfortable with any of the numbers then adjust the model and see if there is any difference. I think they did a lot of hard work and I think their numbers are realistic. We'll take a look at them again to make sure that the final decision is a well educated decision."
Corroon says he has all the numbers he needs to make his decision. All along Real Salt Lake has said attendance numbers would be high-- with 14-to-17-thousand fans a game-- and the new stadium could bring in at least a dozen concerts per year. However, the Debt Review Committee crunched the numbers and found that attendance numbers would be 3-4 thousand less than what the team projects, and maybe only 4-5 concerts would be held at the new stadium.
Larry Richardson, County Debt Review Committee: "RSL's projections were very optimistic. Very optimistic. I would like to say, in my opinion, they were unrealistic."
This afternoon a written statement came from Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts reflecting disappointment (see link at right), but he says he is not surprised. He says the committee all along has "overvalued a pessimistic view that Salt Lake County really does not have the people and market to make this sort of ‘major league' project a reality."
He went on to point out that between the 15 million dollars Sandy City has offered, and the protection Corroon himself has negotiated, "there is little to no risk for taxpayers of Salt Lake County."
At the same time he is hopeful Peter Corroon will approve the stadium, even though the Debt Review Committee was clear in its decision that the stadium deal was a bad deal for the taxpayers of Salt Lake County.
