- Oct 11, 1999
- 23,578
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It's no wonder why the rest of the country is always baggin' on Utah...
Article
This whole "I did it for the taxpayers" is a load of huggin' horse-hockey! Those "new hotel taxes" were on the last ballot and specified for a Soccer stadium. The ballot passed and now he's not going to put the money towards the stadium? Where the HUG is that money going to go now...or should I say whose pocket?
:disgust:
Article
Stadium deal is dead; Checketts to sell RSL
After nearly a year of politically charged starts and stops, the controversial deal for a Sandy soccer stadium is dead.
Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said he told Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts on Monday morning he is unwilling to funnel $30 million in old and new hotel taxes toward the $110 million stadium project.
"It was tough," said Corroon, an RSL season-ticket holder. "If anybody wanted this to work, it was me."
Checketts told Corroon he now intends to sell the team.
"He said he would have a buyer by Friday," Corroon said.
The news caused a frenzy on Utah's Capitol Hill, where Corroon shuttled between meetings with House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to deliver the news.
Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan, who also was at the Capitol, said he learned of the decision from reporters. Dolan said he was not surprised.
"I am sorry there is no vision in Salt Lake County," he said.
Dolan said the project would have been good for the county. The move "unfortunately" sends the signal that the county cannot handle major-league sports," Dolan said.
"That's to the detriment of the entire community," he said.
At a late-morning news conference, Corroon insisted the move is
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not about the popularity of soccer in Utah. Instead, he emphasized the county's responsibility to protect taxpayers, calling the stadium project an "unsafe investment."
"We were gambling with taxpayer dollars," the county mayor said. "It just didn't make sense."
Last Friday, Corroon received a negative recommendation to fund the project from the county's Debt Review Committee by a 4-0 vote. That followed an independent consultant's report that suggested the team's projections were overly optimistic. It also predicted RSL could not pay all its debt.
Based on that analysis, which Corroon noted was always a condition of approval, the mayor made up his mind.
"As far as I'm concerned," he said. "We're done."
County insiders say the conversation between Corroon and Checketts turned testy earlier in the morning. Afterward, Checketts announced on KSL Radio's "Doug Wright Show" that the deal was dead and he would sell the team.
This whole "I did it for the taxpayers" is a load of huggin' horse-hockey! Those "new hotel taxes" were on the last ballot and specified for a Soccer stadium. The ballot passed and now he's not going to put the money towards the stadium? Where the HUG is that money going to go now...or should I say whose pocket?
:disgust:
