Real St. Louis?

News from that soccer hotbed Salt Lake City:

Calling it an "unsafe investment," the Salt Lake County major said Monday that he won't support $30 million in taxes for a soccer stadium, a major blow to Real Salt Lake's plan to move to the suburbs.

Mayor Peter Corroon's announcement came three days after the county's Debt Review Committee recommended against spending $30 million in hotel taxes on the $110 million project. The committee said Real Salt Lake's revenue projections were too optimistic.

Lord, only knows how Salt Lake City can afford to be uppity. I never really understood why the powers that be in MLS would have signed off on a franchise there in the first place. Hell, the league would have been better off with a third team in LA rather than one in Utah.

And make no mistake, this means the end of this franchise in Salt Lake.

Real has proposed a 20,000-seat stadium in Sandy, just south of Salt Lake City. The team has been around for two seasons and plays home games at the University of Utah, but its lease runs out after this season.

"I don't have a place to play after that. Talk about being up a creek. ... This really leaves us in a bad situation," Checketts said.

MLS commissioner Don Garber issued a statement following the mayor's decision.

"Real Salt Lake cannot be successful long-term without a new stadium," Garber said. "In that regard, Real Salt Lake is no different than any other professional sports team in America. I will meet with Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts to review the options in light of this decision."

What do you want to bet Option #1 reads: "Get The Hell Out Of Here ASAP"??

As some of you may know, Dave Checketts is also the new owner of the St. Louis Blues. Things on that front are moving forward quite nicely. Last years worst team in hockey has made steady improvements (I'll ignore tonights drubbing at the hand of a pretty poor Wild team), and is generating a little buzz amongst the hockey faithful. As I have noted, there are already suburban communities in St. Louis that have expressed the desire to host a soccer stadium housing an MLS franchise. This sounds like a pretty conjunction for St. Louis soccer fans.

I'd be shocked if Checketts isn't already considering it. He could probably work a deal out with St. Louis University to use their Hermann Stadium until a new stadium is built. Hermann has a capacity of around 6000, but there is plenty of room to add semi-permanent stands.



If Checketts would like to be the "sports baron of St. Louis" I would say now is his chance.

Version 2.0:

I'm not alone in thinking this. Here is the take from An American's View:

If Checketts retains ownership, expect him to move the club to either St. Louis or to Seattle. St. Louis is the more logical location, as he owns the St. Louis Blues NHL team and there is a stadium plan already in the works outside of the city, one that has local government support. Seattle is another option, but one that is less likely as there is no stadium truly available and none in the works.

If there is contraction, which will lead to another surplus of available, seasoned players for the rest of the league. As MLS is planning to add their 14th club in the 2008 season, I can see Garber doing almost everything possible to retain the RSL club, which wills most likely lead to them moving and getting rebranded. I think that Garber & Co. will be less likely to allow for contraction as they were when the two Florida clubs ended up folding. This makes me feel that we will see RSL move to St. Louis next season, have Kansas City (who is currently homeless and could be facing a relocation/rebranding as well) or Chicago get moved back to the West.

I doubt seriously that the league will allow the team currently holding the rights to Freddy Adu to be contracted. That would be a PR disaster of the first magnitude. That leaves moving the team and, as of right now, St. Louis makes the best sense. (Which probably will rule it out immediately.)