RSL officially partners with Utah Youth Soccer

[Hooligan]

REAL SALT LAKE DEVELOPS UNPRECEDENTED PARTNERSHIP WITH UTAH YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION
RSL & UYSA Agree to Jointly Manage & Monitor the Development of Youth Soccer in Utah;
UYSA Schedule Cleared for Saturday, April 16 Real Salt Lake Home Opener

Real Salt Lake today announced its partnership with Utah Youth Soccer Association (UYSA), the state's largest soccer organization, and agreed to jointly manage and monitor the development of youth soccer in Utah. The first step in the cooperative agreement is the clearing of the UYSA schedule for all state games in all divisions on Saturday, April 16, to allow the entire Utah youth soccer community the opportunity to participate in the festivities leading up to and following Real Salt Lake's historic inaugural home game.

"The partnership between UYSA and Real Salt Lake is truly a breakthrough," said RSL General Manager Steve Pastorino. "UYSA has been the destination for youth soccer development throughout its 30-year history. We expect to be a catalyst for the next generation of soccer players in Utah, and our home opener provides the perfect setting for these 30,000 kids to begin to learn from and emulate Jason Kreis, Eddie Pope, Clint Mathis and the rest of our team."

RSL will sponsor the UYSA and the youth organization will be designated as a "Youth Soccer Partner" to Real Salt Lake. In addition, RSL will sponsor the Saturday luncheon at UYSA's Annual General Meeting and have agreed to jointly create a coaches corner where Assistant Coach Peter Mellor will work in conjunction with UYSA State Technical Director Greg Maas on a coaches association. In a separate announcement on Tuesday, Maas was named Real Salt Lake's radio color analyst for all 32 regular-season home and away games to be broadcast across the Wasatch Front on 1280 KZNS "The Zone" Sports Radio.

"I am pleased to announce our partnership with Real Salt Lake," said UYSA President Leisa Vineyard. "The Association truly feels that our players at every level will benefit from this opportunity to have world-class professional soccer in our backyard 365 days a year for decades to come. In honor of this momentous occasion, we have suspended all state competition play for opening day on April 16. I encourage all members of our Association, including our leagues and districts, to attend if possible. We as an Association felt this would be the best way to honor such a historic event, as this is absolutely a once in a lifetime experience for our players and their families."

Real Salt Lake will promote and support the Olympic Development Program (ODP) by providing overall technical assistance, administrative support and by allowing the RSL logo to be used on jerseys. The final point of the partnership is that RSL will provide UYSA will two sponsors. Founded more than thirty years ago, UYSA is the state's largest soccer organization. It serves as the governing body for youth soccer in Utah on behalf of the United States Soccer Federation. UYSA is recognized by the U.S. Soccer Federation and the U.S. Olympic Committee as the governing body for youth soccer in the state of Utah.

[Aero]

Wow! That really is great news. Those kids are the future of soccer here in Utah and we need to get them hooked now. I'm glad that they have formed this partnership. Hopefully, this will allow them to coordinate schedules so they don't conflict with each other like they did on the 16th on a regular basis. Now if they can only get AYSO to do the same thing, we will be set.

I'm also think that it will help the team to scout and develop local talent too. This is a win all the way around.

[Rover]

Great news. It took other MLS teams way too long to do stuff like this. You have to be able to think long term--it's not going to put 20,000 in your stadium right away. It takes time to build a fan-base from kids.

Imagine the young kids who shows up to a game and sees D.J. make a diving save, Dipsy slice through the midfield, Mathis launch a perfect cross to Kries who hammers it home and the Loyalists lead the crowd as we all celebrate the goal. Those are the shared memories that establish, well, loyalty.

DC does a great job with this, by the way. They have a very active and well organized kids club, and that's a good start. But they also go out of their way to involve the local youth soccer leagues. The leagues in Northern Virginia and Maryland are highly competitive and organized (Adu played in Maryland). My kids played in the NoVa league, and there was hardly a tournament or major event we attended that didn't have DCU reps, including players. It makes a lasting impression.

Great move by the RSL FO and UYSA.