Rio Tinto Stadium prepares for opening game

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One week from today, Rio Tinto Stadium, the new home for Real Salt Lake, will open. Crews are putting on the finishing touches.

A welder smooths and shapes a new handrail atop the steps, which still are covered in brown paper, at the stadium's grand entrance.

"We were supposed to have this done a long time ago, but we'll have it done today," a worker said.

Inside it's all about cleaning.

Looking up, stadium visitors can see an oasis of white. A long neck of protruding lights sits under two white canopy roofs resembling floating tents in the sky.

"We were in here last night and the audio system is incredible. I think we're all going to love it," said Real Salt Lake's Dave Kirchner.

He says crews also are checking the sound and cleaning those bright red seats.

One of the things that might take a few games to get used to is the parking.

The team is expecting as many as 5,000 vehicles for next week's opening match, which is less than the area's total of 6,500 parking spots.

The team president tells The Salt Lake Tribune that after new stadiums opened in other cities, traffic jams at early games later went away.

E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com