Utah County investors would buy RSL

[montgjules]

Originally Posted by prk166

I would never doubt that a developer would be looking into bringing in a big tennant or 3, especially for something the size of what they're doing. And something that size can defnitely accomidate a stadium. But, and I'm not trying to be rude, I didn't question any of that. I just don't see why they'd buy the team, come up with money for the infrastructre, let alone money for the stadium. That all adds up fast. And they either have the cash to do it or will have to put together some sort of financing. And that in itself then adds to the cost. And I dont' want to imply it can't be done. I just think there are a lot of questions about the whole deal that would need to have some light shed upon them before I'd start to consider it a possibility.

prk, to answer your questions:

1. They already own the land, so they would consider the loss of land to this project as an investment to stabilize the other development they have planned.

2. They apparently don't have to pay for infrastructure improvements because (a) Geneva land is already incredibly developed for your basic utilities, much more so than your average homes would use, if I understand correctly and (b) this is Superfund (??) area which means, if I understand correctly again, that there are special federal funds or something to clean up this site and make it useable again.

3. They have stated that they want to simply give the land to RSL to be an anchor tenant but WOULD be willing to buy the team ONLY if Dave Checketts were forced to sell because he was uninterested in moving the team there himself, etc.

[Jose Luis Luviano]

Originally Posted by noxum

I know the focus always seems to be on the majority here, but I'm tired of everyone north of SLC being ignored. You hit it here. If they build the stadium in UC, good for them, but I've gotta believe they realize they'll loose a sizeable portion of season ticket holders in those that live north (DAVIS, Weber, Box Elder, Cache).

Just too far to drive that often. The games would become a special event only kind of game, rather then what it is now.

the Galaxy figured out that their deal at Victoria Street meant that they could ignore their fans in San Fernando Valley and Chicago & Dallas received enough subsidies to ignore people who don't want to head out to Bridgeview or Frisco; RSL may end up receiving a deal so sweet that people who don't want to go to games where they glare at you for drinking a Diet Pepsi may not matter.

Then there's the other side of this equation. I have to imagine that a few people in Utah County who have never heard of soccer before may buy tickets just because it's something that brings attention to Utah County.

[Dadof3]

I don't want to be bitter...but it sure would give me a warm feeling in my heart for the SL County counsel to have to sit back and watch this development take place in Utah County.

I think the reason we saw the counter-proposal out of the county is that they actually sat back and recognized what was happening...the Legislature gave them a funding mechanism to help RSL AND THE COUNTY get a stadium...Checketts came up with the private funding end...Sandy came up with a bunch of money...and the County still screwed up the deal, WITHOUT countering with what they believed would work.

Now, they come up with an idea, that, though it may work, doesn't have the seal of approval from King Corroon, and they are mad at RSL for not wanting to comment on a deal that could get vetoed. Though Checketts probably did overreact last week, he did get one thing correct...the SL County Counsel is completely disfunctional. If they cannot fix the problem, all credit to Vineyard and those owners who have some foresight...and all credit to the county counsel for screwing up a $100 million $ + investment in their county.

[clarette]

Originally Posted by Jose Luis Luviano

the Galaxy figured out that their deal at Victoria Street meant that they could ignore their fans in San Fernando Valley and Chicago & Dallas received enough subsidies to ignore people who don't want to head out to Bridgeview or Frisco; RSL may end up receiving a deal so sweet that people who don't want to go to games where they glare at you for drinking a Diet Pepsi may not matter.

Yeah, but LA, Chicago, and Dallas all have a lot more people than the Salt Lake area does. And people here have a reputation for being notorious cheapskates on top of that.

[fuegote]

Originally Posted by Dadof3

I don't want to be bitter...but it sure would give me a warm feeling in my heart for the SL County counsel to have to sit back and watch this development take place in Utah County.

I think the reason we saw the counter-proposal out of the county is that they actually sat back and recognized what was happening...the Legislature gave them a funding mechanism to help RSL AND THE COUNTY get a stadium...Checketts came up with the private funding end...Sandy came up with a bunch of money...and the County still screwed up the deal, WITHOUT countering with what they believed would work.

Now, they come up with an idea, that, though it may work, doesn't have the seal of approval from King Corroon, and they are mad at RSL for not wanting to comment on a deal that could get vetoed. Though Checketts probably did overreact last week, he did get one thing correct...the SL County Counsel is completely disfunctional. If they cannot fix the problem, all credit to Vineyard and those owners who have some foresight...and all credit to the county counsel for screwing up a $100 million $ + investment in their county.

I have been feeling the same way. I would love to give a giant F### YOU! to the salt lake county council and their king.

[the cup]

If the team moves to Utah County I look at it this way.

They will certainly loose every fan in Weber and Davis Counties except for the hard cores. However those fans will easily be replaced by new fans in Utah County.

They will loose alot of fans in Salt Lake County. The new number of fans in Utah County will make up for some of them but not all of them. Game average attendance could drop from the 17k we enjoyed last year to something more around the lines of 12 or 13k for a few years.

However with time and with the growth in Utah County that could easily come back up to the 17k range soon. Or it could even go higher. But it may not even matter. Columbus is rumored to make a profit and their attendance is always averaging around the 12k range. With our own stadium we don't need these massive attendance numbers to bring in a profit.

Slow and steady growth is what we are looking for and our own stadium would give us that.

[fuegote]

The Brother's Enger would go from Ogden to Springville. I would love RSL to "Moon" the council.

[luvmyboys]

Originally Posted by fuegote

The Brother's Enger would go from Ogden to Springville. I would love RSL to "Moon" the council.

If it were only 1 season ticket, you know I would travel anywhere in the state. My family and I buy 4 season tickets...soon to be 5. There is no way I can travel that far that many times and buy season tickets. I'm trying not to freak just yet.....

[fuegote]

Originally Posted by luvmyboys

If it were only 1 season ticket, you know I would travel anywhere in the state. My family and I buy 4 season tickets...soon to be 5. There is no way I can travel that far that many times and buy season tickets. I'm trying not to freak just yet.....

This is one of my concerns. Some of the best fans IMO are from the Davis County area. <sigh>

[rabble-rabble]

Going to make it tougher for Davis/Weber fans and to some extent Salt Lake fans, but lots of potential fans are down in Utah County. I personally know a few fans in Utah County who love the team, but only make a few matches a year because the "U" is too far away and they will certainly make more matches if the team is in Vineyard. More I read about this the more I like it. Infrastructure is there, 3 freeway exits close by. With the carpool lane opening a few months ago, I-15 traffic is much better. Potential for rail service in the coming years (on a tangent, that is something they really need to get going on in the area)

Land is there already for free AND sounds like since it is an old industrial site, fed funds might be there to clean up and revitalize the area and there could be the potential to not use public money from local funding at all. That way no locals feel bitterly about using their money without consent and some of them who would have otherwise been turned off on the idea of attending game might even take in a few matches out of curiousity and join the rest of us who have discovered that soccer is by far the best sport in the world.

Hope Uncle Dave (and the MLS) take a long look at this and realize how good a deal this might be.

As far as the possiblity of SL County missing out on all that revenue from stadium proceeds over the coming years, I simply love it and feel NO guilt about it at all.