2/5 News

[AreliusIII]

Should tourists be forced to pay for soccer?
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635181302,00.html

Soccer plans crystallize

SANDY STADIUM
The scope of Sandy's major-league "soccer town" is growing, but the proposed stadium is shrinking.
Officials of Real Salt Lake say the project's price tag has ballooned to $145 million, but that figure includes an adjacent hotel and a broadcast studio. At the same time, RSL says the Utah market warrants only a 20,000-seat stadium, meaning 5,000 seats will be scratched from the blueprint.
And, for the first time, the team is outlining the public portion of funding: $45 million, paid largely by tourists through a hotel tax.

http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_3478195

[prk166]

Evensen's comments seemed pretty fair to me. He brought up some valid questions. But he also pointed out that only 1/3 of the project is going to be public money and that this is an extension of an existing tax.

[Jose Luis Luviano]

Who says that tourists are going to pay this tax?

Jackson, Aspen & Whistler have nice snow and no soccer stadium tax.

All kinds of places have convention centers and no soccer stadium tax.

Even the Dallas Crackheads, errrr, Cowboys had to back off on a tourist tax.

Mary Kay threatened to pull their convention out of Dallas if the tax on rental cars was raised.

You don't mess with the pink Cadillac.

But, on the other hand, we need this tax around for when Larry H Miller needs money for a stadium for the Salt Lake Twins.

[oussan]

Originally Posted by Jose Luis Luviano

Who says that tourists are going to pay this tax?

Jackson, Aspen & Whistler have nice snow and no soccer stadium tax.

All kinds of places have convention centers and no soccer stadium tax.

Even the Dallas Crackheads, errrr, Cowboys had to back off on a tourist tax.

Mary Kay threatened to pull their convention out of Dallas if the tax on rental cars was raised.

You don't mess with the pink Cadillac.

But, on the other hand, we need this tax around for when Larry H Miller needs money for a stadium for the Salt Lake Twins.

Good points. Still, this tax is already in existence, and there have been news articles recently touting Utah's "booming" hotel economy and actually saying that the Salt Lake area needs more hotels. I don't think this tax has negatively impacted Utah's economy. Far from it, I actually think it's an excellent mechanism for raising funds for major projects.

Especially for our SSS!

"Utah's hotel industry booming"
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635179459,00.html

[Section 37]

Originally Posted by oussan

Good points. Still, this tax is already in existence,

Well yes and no. It's in place to pay for a Salt Palace expansion only. If I were you, I'd be very, very suspicious of what Horiuchi promises. It sounds so awesome, but there's no such thing as free money.

It's a tax that is temporary, and some want to make it permanent. They have their reasons.

Concerns I have: the tax is only supposed to pay for $45 mil. which is a lot more than RSL originally asked for, but whatever.

The project will cost way more than $45 mil. but no one has run any real numbers. It's become this huge thing and no one has a bottom line. That is extremely frightening because

projects like this have a habit of starting out using fuzzy numbers, running out of money, and asking the public to foot the rest of the bill of a half built project.

Our $45 mil. payment suddenly becomes $100 mil. or more. RSL will NEVER justify that kind of public investment.

BE VERY WARY OF "FREE MONEY". THERE IS NO SUCH THING. I CAN'T BELIEVE I EVEN HAVE TO BRING THIS UP.

[RSL Punk]

BE VERY WARY OF "FREE MONEY". THERE IS NO SUCH THING. I CAN'T BELIEVE I EVEN HAVE TO BRING THIS UP.

Yeah, like all that free money Uncle Dave is throwing at our players and coach. 🙄

Wait, that's MY money! I guess I should sell my season tickets and go sit in a corner somewhere.