SALT LAKE CITY - The following letter from Real Salt Lake Owner David W. Checketts to Salt Lake County Council Chairman Cortlund G. Ashton requests the withdrawal of the Sandy City soccer stadium proposal from next Tuesday's County Council agenda, wishing not to expend any more valuable government time on the issue, which has been rejected twice. The letter further states that Checketts remains focused on keeping the RSL team in Utah, and will explore every option available to accomplish that objective.
Letter dated Friday, July 14, 2006 from David W. Checketts
to Cortlund Ashton, Salt Lake County Council Chairman:
July 14, 2006
Mr. Cortlund Ashton
Chairman
Salt Lake County Council
2011 South State Street, Room N2200
Salt Lake City, Utah 84190
Dear Mr. Ashton,
As you know, we are the owners/operators of Real Salt Lake, a Major League Soccer club, operating in Salt Lake City. During the last year, we were approached by leaders in Utah's legislature and Mayor Tom Dolan of Sandy City about a vision for a parcel of land in Sandy City where we might be able to build a new home for our expansion Soccer Club. This plan involved the use of TRT (transient room tax) Funds that might be available based on the actions of the legislature in the last session. With the time pressures of our commitments to our partners in MLS, we embraced these plans as our best option.
Acting on commitments of many of the political leaders in Salt Lake County and Sandy City, we purchased a large tract of land in Sandy at 9400 South. In addition, we have expended significant dollars to design a stadium and had even moved to construction drawings. I am confident you would agree, the stadium designed by a spectacular team of architects was worthy of our state and community.
However, a proposal for the use of those TRT funds has now been turned down twice in your council, and the County Mayor appears prepared to veto the current proposal, or any variations of it, without offering any new plan or any solution to make the project a reality. Obviously, we are disappointed in these actions.
It is our understanding that the proposal is again listed on the upcoming council meeting agenda. This letter, therefore, is written to formally withdraw from any further consideration by the council at this time. We ask that any further discussion about Real Salt Lake, the Sandy Project, or any County assistance toward helping the stadium project be taken off the current agenda. We appreciate the efforts to date but we do not wish to expend any more of your valuable government time on an issue that appears unable to proceed.
On behalf of my partners, and our investors, I thank you particularly for your leadership and support. We thank as well, Mike Jensen, Joe Hatch and Randy Horiuchi for their support and hard work to understand the benefits and costs of this project to their constituents.
We remain focused on keeping our team in Utah, and will explore every option available to us to accomplish our objective.
Thanks again and best regards,
David W. Checketts
Owner
Real Salt Lake
