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John Daley ReportingSoccer fans and city planners can circle this Wednesday on their calendars; it's the day Utah's pro soccer franchise plans to announce in which city they plan to build a new stadium.
Rice Eccles stadium has been a good home for the first-year expansion team, but the team and Major League Soccer want a permanent home, a stadium built specifically for soccer with a grass field and revenues from concessions, which would go to the team.
The stadium will seat roughly 20-thousand people. Early estimates had it costing in the range of 60-million dollars. One big question is whether there will be some public financing available.
The big question now: is the location downtown Salt Lake or Sandy? The team's CEO says only he and owner Dave Checketts know for sure, but they'll announce the winner on Wednesday.
Dean Howes, CEO, Real Salt Lake: "You know what I think with all big decisions, you're going to have a big group of people that are happy, a group that's not so happy, and a group that's neutral on it. But we're trying to make a decision that best for both the community and the team."
Dean Howes, CEO, Real Salt Lake: "It's been a challenging decision, not by anybody, but just there's a lot of moving parts and because there's a lot of moving parts in this. It's been very difficult."
Now Howes says the team will make an announcement Wednesday afternoon before its final game here that night. That night is fan appreciation night and Real's fans deserve plenty of credit this season. Though the squad had a losing record, attendance for the team was about 15-thousand, putting it at second best in the league.
