Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

[Boz]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

Hearing that RSL will make some kind of a announcement today about their plans towards developing a new 6,000 seat stadium for the fairgrounds and bringing in a USL PRO team here.

After failed attempts to find a place to build a USL Pro stadium just outside of San Diego and a few other places in SoCal, RSL has opted to build it in their own backyard. This is for farming/player development purposes.

Interesting that almost a decade ago RSL was considering building their 20K stadium at the Fairground, and that obviously never panned out. So we'll have a semi-pro stadium in SLC, and we already have a pro stadium in Sandy. Wish we could turn that around but it's far too late for that.

[DCRes]

Major league stadium in the burbs and a minor league stadium in the capital city. Something just not right about that

[DCRes]

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=30954483&nid=148...eaving-rice-eccles-stadium&s_cid=queue-3

Olympic arch leaving Rice-Eccles Stadium

SALT LAKE CITY — A prominent symbol of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics is moving but doesn't appear to have a new home yet.

The Hoberman Arch was a fixture during the medals ceremonies of the 2002 Olympics, and changed shape and colors during concerts.

After some discussion, it was parked by the Olympic cauldron on the south side of Rice-Eccles Stadium. Now University of Utah officials say the arch is moving. The U.'s Twitter account Thursday night bid it farewell and crews were disassembling it Friday morning.

The arch is 36 feet high, 72 feet wide and made out of 4,000 individual pieces.

University officials said the move is due to the end of long-term negotiations with Salt Lake City. The Utah Olympic Legacy group will find a permanent location for it. USOC restrictions will apply to future locations because of Olympic sponsorship issues.

Officials said the move will free up space for game day activities

Hopefully it ends up downtown, my vote would be at Gallivan

[SLC Projects]

#RSL Prez Bill Manning joins @DougWrightShow on KSL Radio at 9:30a MT to talk Fairpark stadium proposal and @USLPRO future in Utah

Just got done listening to Doug's interview. Not much to go on that we didn't already know. Bill Manning told Doug that RSL's owner Dell Loy Hansen is 100% behind this proposal and that he alone will pay for the whole development. RSL is in talks today with the fairgrounds and it sounds like RSL will have to wait for the fairgrounds to come up with their overall long term layout of the fairground since there's a lot more in the plans besides just a USLPRO stadium.
The Stadium itself will be somewhere between 5,000-8,000 seats that will host a woman's soccer team also ( RSL women team ) http://www.realsaltlakewomen.com/ as well as High School matches. The idea is to have this stadium used year round.

[s.p.hansen]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

#RSL Prez Bill Manning joins @DougWrightShow on KSL Radio at 9:30a MT to talk Fairpark stadium proposal and @USLPRO future in Utah

Just got done listening to Doug's interview. Not much to go on that we didn't already know. Bill Manning told Doug that RSL's owner Dell Loy Hansen is 100% behind this proposal and that he alone will pay for the whole development. RSL is in talks today with the fairgrounds and it sounds like RSL will have to wait for the fairgrounds to come up with their overall long term layout of the fairground since there's a lot more in the plans besides just a USLPRO stadium.
The Stadium itself will be somewhere between 5,000-8,000 seats that will host a woman's soccer team also ( RSL women team ) http://www.realsaltlakewomen.com/ as well as High School matches. The idea is to have this stadium used year round.

Wow, you think they could have just put this on the KOA property down the road. This seems like a really shitty reinvestment in the Fairgrounds.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

Wow, you think they could have just put this on the KOA property down the road. This seems like a really shitty reinvestment in the Fairgrounds.

Sorry, KOA?

[s.p.hansen]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

Sorry, KOA?

It's a campground kinda like the one you see next to Lagoon, but way, way bigger!

http://koa.com/campgrounds/salt-lake-city/
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Salt+L...3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xbaacc61fd74df52c

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

It's a campground kinda like the one you see next to Lagoon, but way, way bigger!

http://koa.com/campgrounds/salt-lake-city/
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Salt+L...3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xbaacc61fd74df52c

What's wrong with having the stadium at the north parking lot at the fairgrounds? How is this "shitty" for the fairgrounds? This seems like a win win to me.

[s.p.hansen]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

What's wrong with having the stadium at the north parking lot at the fairgrounds? How is this "shitty" for the fairgrounds? This seems like a win win to me.

If this ends up costing the state more money to relocate the state fair just to help this developer get his mediocre project done, I AM GONNA BE PISSED. It's all very simple, we will know this is a bad move if the amount of money invested into this property is less than the required amount to make a new State Fair location. That would make no financial sense for anyone but Hansen.

Lest we forget, the State Fair is a massive draw to Salt Lake City and very successful. Minor league soccer / women's soccer... Let's just say it's very unproven at best. I'm not getting my hopes up.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

If this ends up costing the state more money to relocate the state fair just to help this developer get his mediocre project done, I AM GONNA BE PISSED. It's all very simple, we will know this is a bad move if the amount of money invested into this property is less than the required amount to make a new State Fair location. That would make no financial sense for anyone but Hansen.

Lest we forget, the State Fair is a massive draw to Salt Lake City and very successful. Minor league soccer / women's soccer... Let's just say it's very unproven at best. I'm not getting my hopes up.

USL PRO
"The USL Professional Division, commonly known as USL Pro (stylized USL PRO), is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. USL Pro is sanctioned as a Division III Professional League by United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer), placing it under Major League Soccer (Division I) and the North American Soccer League (Division II) in the hierarchy."

"In January 2013, USL and MLS reached an agreement to integrate USL Pro league competition with the MLS Reserve League, primarily to improve player development in North America, strengthen league competition and build ties between divisions in the American soccer pyramid. This multi-year deal encourages MLS and USL Pro team affiliations and player loans, and it will lead to more games for teams and developing players."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_Pro

So basically all MLS teams will have it's own USL PRO teams within a few years. RSL needs this if they want to keep up with the other MLS teams.
During the last year or so RSL have been signing a few home grown players they have down in their RSL-Arizona Academy. Right now RSL has around five or six homegrown players ( kids who are 17 or 18 ) on their main roster who are unlikely to get any playing time. This is why having a local USL PRO team will be great for us. It will give these kids a chance to continue to develop and get them plenty of playing time and if the 1st RSL team needs anybody due to injuries or whatnot, they can take who they need from this new team.

I've never heard anywhere that the fairgrounds would have to move due to this stadium. All the renderings I've seen has the stadium on what is now the north parking lot with all the other fairground buildings around it. If anything this will help the fairgrounds by bringing people to the grounds year around. Not just a few weeks out of the year.

[CofIKid]

The point of locating it on the fair grounds is so that the area is utilized year round rather than a couple weeks a year. The fair grounds and stadium can coexist on the same property.

[Makid]

I was under the impression that the stadium at the Fair Park wouldn't cause the Fair to move but rather reinforce a year round use for the park.

Provided that they both will be able to occupy the area together, this would be a boon to the area and I do think it would help encourage development along North Temple faster. Especially around the Fair Park.

I do think, that if the plan is approved by the Fair Park committee, Hansen build the stadium with the thought of future expansion. Reason for this is that eventually the current RSL Home will become undersized. If they have another stadium that could be easily upgraded and expanded without to much expense, it would be more cost effective to do that and move the team from Sandy to SLC where it really belongs.

Of course, this may be 20+ years down the road but planning now would save money in the future.

[s.p.hansen]

Okay, you guys are calming me down. Plus I just ate 2 cups of blueberries which helped bring my blood sugar where it needs to be.

If you're saying we get to keep the fair longer in this spot while getting more out of the existing land, I am happy.

[SLC Projects]

Plus a new complete rodeo grounds and a convention center.

"A multiphase study by architectural firm CRSA noted that a sports complex would be part of a bevy of improvements estimated at $47 million that are necessary for the Fairpark to be financially viable.

The stadium, combined with a completed rodeo grounds and convention center, would help turn the Fairpark into a 365-day-a-year venue rather than the sporadic offering of events that occur now.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/86560...ague-stadium-at-Utah-State-Fairpark.html

[Comrade]

Still don't think Salt Lake can support two minor league soccer teams.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Still don't think Salt Lake can support two minor league soccer teams.

MLS: MAJOR league soccer.

[Makid]

I think what Comrade is meaning is that there are a lot of people that classify anything outside of the Champions League.

The reason for this is that most MLS players would take an offer from a club in the Champions League in a heartbeat but rarely to never will a player in the Champions League take an offer to join an MLS club.

This will change over time but for now, I can see where the group is coming from. As MLS develops and pay increases for top players, it will be seen as more of a destination for top players rather than a stepping stone on their career.

Okay, enough about Soccer (Football) and back to development...

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by Makid

I think what Comrade is meaning is that there are a lot of people that classify anything outside of the Champions League.

The reason for this is that most MLS players would take an offer from a club in the Champions League in a heartbeat but rarely to never will a player in the Champions League take an offer to join an MLS club.

This will change over time but for now, I can see where the group is coming from. As MLS develops and pay increases for top players, it will be seen as more of a destination for top players rather than a stepping stone on their career.

Okay, enough about Soccer (Football) and back to development...

How is it that RSL got David Beckham for a while if this is the case?

[DCRes]

This is the old Hostess/Wonder Bread building on north temple. I forget, is this going to be Furst Construction's new office?

[IMG][url=https://flic.kr/p/oy6V7q] , on Flickr[/IMG]

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Makid

I think what Comrade is meaning is that there are a lot of people that classify anything outside of the Champions League.

The reason for this is that most MLS players would take an offer from a club in the Champions League in a heartbeat but rarely to never will a player in the Champions League take an offer to join an MLS club.

This will change over time but for now, I can see where the group is coming from. As MLS develops and pay increases for top players, it will be seen as more of a destination for top players rather than a stepping stone on their career.

This was the case about five years ago, but the change has been happening for a few years now......

Michael Bradley Toronto FC former club: Roma
Jermain Defoe Toronto FC former club: Tottenham Hotspur
David Villa New York City FC former club: Atlético Madrid
Frank Lampard New York City FC former club: Chelsea
Clint Dempsey Seattle Sounders former club: Tottenham Hotspur
Thierry Henry New York Redbulls former club: Barcelona

Plus guys like Landon Donovan who has ( I'm sure ) has turned down offers from over seas to stay in MLS.

Just last year our own Javier Morales of RSL turned down offers from over seas to stay with RSL.

Point is MLS is quickly becoming a league of where these world class players want to be. I am still amazed that Salt Lake ( as small as we are ) landed a MLS as early as we did. ( 2005 ). To get a major soccer team here before other larger cities like Seattle ( not til 2009 ) Toronto ( 2007 ) Atlanta ( 2016 ) New York City ( 2015 ) Portland ( 2011 ) Vancouver ( 2011 ) Orlando ( 2015 ) Miami ( 2016ish ) is a very big deal.

And to correct Comrade, we can support both a major league and minor league teams here since both these teams will be under the same ownership.