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Jed Boal ReportingReal Salt Lake owner, Dave Checketts, says the team had a deal with Salt Lake County in the summer, but a political play, as he calls it, dashed the agreement.
Checketts talked to us on a conference call. Here's his take on Monday's developments.
Dave Checketts says a deal was made then broken, and he questions whether Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon was ever truly behind the project. Checketts wants to step back and review his options. Selling the team is one he says he'll have to consider.
Dave Checketts: "I don't have any other options on the table."
New options may surface, but Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts needs a game-saving goal in overtime.
Dave Checketts/Real Salt Lake Owner: "I was extremely naive. Peter told me all along he was going to get this done."
Checketts says the county and Mayor Peter Corroon offered the deal in August, the night before the game with Real Madrid. That's why they broke ground in Sandy.
Before Christmas, Checketts says he talked with Corroon again.
Dave Checketts/Real Salt Lake Owner: "He said, 'We have a deal,' so all of the details had been negotiated. A contract had been drawn up with the county attorney, which is at least 95 percent of the way done."
Now it's undone. Checketts insists it was a secure investment for the County.
Dave Checketts/Real Salt Lake Owner: "It would have been a good and prudent investment, even if Real Salt Lake had failed."
The team owner says he never wanted a hand-out, and the final numbers came down to a difference of seven million dollars in a 110-million dollar deal.
Checketts says he told Corroon today he would guarantee the difference, but Corroon had already made up his mind.
Dave Checketts/Real Salt Lake Owner: "What that told me was that he never intended on getting it done."
Checketts says at least eight cities are vying for MLS teams.
Dave Checketts/Real Salt Lake Owner: "Today it feels like a giant political play, and not about what is best for the citizens of Salt Lake City, the State of Utah, but about someone else's agenda."
Checketts says he's embarrassed about the process, the time it took, and the conclusion. The team has one more year to play at the University of Utah, then no place to play.
