2/21 News

[AreliusIII]

Stadium plan a kick in teeth for us Utahns
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635186072,00.html

MLS investigating alleged comments by D.C. coach
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635186120,00.html

Competition means higher prices
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635186028,00.html

Real Stadium: County should not be blackmailed into support
http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_3530133

[Burninator]

This is a call to war. The drums are beating, the horns are blaring, and if Salt Lake City has its way, Sandy will pay for their treachery.

I wish soccer didn't have to be about a bottom line. I wish soccer could just be the beautiful game, nothing more.

Money sucks.

Did anyone complain about the Delta Center? USANA can shove it for all I care. If RSL can't have public money, then send Jim McNeil, Larry Miller and Franklin Covey bills for the public money they received. In fact, get rid of all government subsidies for business and make anyone who has ever benefitted from public money in the private sphere pay all us Utah taxpayers back, you lying, cheating, stealing bastards! I want INTEREST! YOU OWE ME, MCNEIL! YOU ROBBED ME, LARRY! FRANKLIN COVEY, YOU FIRED MY FATHER! YOUR MONEY IS MINE!!!!!!!!!

I'm sick and f'ing tired of anti-soccer bias in America. If Hillary becomes president, I'm moving to Peru.

:rei: Geoff

[Deuce]

Originally Posted by Burninator

This is a call to war. The drums are beating, the horns are blaring, and if Salt Lake City has its way, Sandy will pay for their treachery.

I wish soccer didn't have to be about a bottom line. I wish soccer could just be the beautiful game, nothing more.

Money sucks.

Did anyone complain about the Delta Center? USANA can shove it for all I care. If RSL can't have public money, then send Jim McNeil, Larry Miller and Franklin Covey bills for the public money they received. In fact, get rid of all government subsidies for business and make anyone who has ever benefitted from public money in the private sphere pay all us Utah taxpayers back, you lying, cheating, stealing bastards! I want INTEREST! YOU OWE ME, MCNEIL! YOU ROBBED ME, LARRY! FRANKLIN COVEY, YOU FIRED MY FATHER! YOUR MONEY IS MINE!!!!!!!!!

I'm sick and f'ing tired of anti-soccer bias in America. If Hillary becomes president, I'm moving to Peru.

:rei: Geoff

I agree... give me my money back you bar stewards...

BTW Burn... Hillary likes soccer 😉

[prk166]

Doug claims that the visitors will never use the stadium. Someone should tell the Utah department of tourism about this cuz they seem think otherwise since they list it as one of the 10 things to do in SLC.

http://www.utah.com/saltlake/

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Deuce

BTW Burn... Hillary likes soccer 😉

Heh, I don't know how accurate that statement is, but this is serious. We have major sports commentators polarizing the potential fanbase. How many people are there that may have considered going to a Real game before finding out that Real wanted $45 million of "their" money to build a stadium that they "should be able to build themselves?" All of these anti-RSL legislators and community leaders are taking the "We may have messed up with public funding in the past, but we don't have to now" line. That's a load of crap! I actually discussed this with a coworker of mine yesterday. When I mentioned that if RSL doesn't get public funding, Larry Miller should get a bill from the state of Utah, he kind of paused, and didn't have anything to say in response. If Utah taxpayers want to use their money elsewhere, that's fine! Just charge every private enterprise that ever benefitted from Utah taxpayer money. Charge them, and charge them interest.

It looks to me like Real Salt Lake is losing the media war in Davis/SL/Utah counties. Real Salt Lake needs to help Davis/SL/Utah counties to see and feel the need/want for this stadium complex. They shouldn't be ramrodding this down Utahns throats via sympathetic legislators. Utahns need to understand the benefits, and you know what? If this stadium is really going to benefit Dave Checketts only, I say he can foot the bill. He's rich enough as it is. If these anti-stadium people have valid points, they need to be addressed and satisfied.

Maybe Real City isn't a good idea for Utah. I'm pretty biased against that idea, being the soccer freak that I am. It's hard for me to comprehend, but I can see that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the stadium in its current design and plan, is a bad idea for SL county.

Real Salt Lake and these sympathetic legislators (and a sympathetic columnist here or there, please guys, there has to be one!) need to show why Real City is a good idea, because there are plenty of people with lots of reach and influence that tend to think that Real City is a bad idea. I don't think so. I would probably move closer to Sandy just to be closer to Real. I don't think you can say that about many people here in the valleys, but as long as they can understand it, they can support it. As long as they understand it, they can swallow it.

Real Salt Lake has to marshal its forces. The anti-stadium crowd is well organized, well-placed, and entrenched in their ideas and arguments. Real Salt Lake needs to sound the alarm, rally the troops, and get going somewhere positive in the media and public arena. Hopefully Real Salt Lake will be able to make it to the playoffs this year and bring in some decent fan support. I would rally for this team. I have rallied for this team nearly every day since home-opener tickets went on sale. I have at least 2 coworkers coming with me on April 15th. I have my entire family (my mom and youngest sister were holdouts from last year. Luckily my dad and other sister are already fans) coming with me as well.

Rise up, Real! Rally to the shield, Loyalists, Cavaliers, everyone! Support common understanding and healthy dialogue. Let's help Davis/SL/Utah counties support our team!

:rei: Geoff

[prk166]

Letter to the editor I just sent :


Doug claims that the visitors will never use the stadium. The Utah department of tourism about this cuz they seem think otherwise since they list it as one of the 10 things to do in SLC. So the experts are wrong? Or is Doug just upset cuz he doesn't like the game? Afterall, if he were about businesses paying for the facilities they use, why isn't he complaining that Delta should be building their own airport? Yes, there are stinker deals out there for new stadiumslike the one the city of Arlington, Tx is building for the Cowboys. And there have been plenty of others like that. But that doesn't mean the taxpayers, whatever state they reside in, are being shafted in this situation. Often times it's what is not said that says more than what is. There wasn't anything in there against the RSL / proposal. In fact, one has to wonder how it can be claimed that money has gone for naught in light of th record years the ski resorts have been experiencing and Utah having one of the best economies in the country with plenty of new high paying jobs. Blah, blah, blah.

[montgjules]

Originally Posted by prk166

Letter to the editor I just sent :


Doug claims that the visitors will never use the stadium. The Utah department of tourism about this cuz they seem think otherwise since they list it as one of the 10 things to do in SLC. So the experts are wrong? Or is Doug just upset cuz he doesn't like the game? Afterall, if he were about businesses paying for the facilities they use, why isn't he complaining that Delta should be building their own airport? Yes, there are stinker deals out there for new stadiumslike the one the city of Arlington, Tx is building for the Cowboys. And there have been plenty of others like that. But that doesn't mean the taxpayers, whatever state they reside in, are being shafted in this situation. Often times it's what is not said that says more than what is. There wasn't anything in there against the RSL / proposal. In fact, one has to wonder how it can be claimed that money has gone for naught in light of th record years the ski resorts have been experiencing and Utah having one of the best economies in the country with plenty of new high paying jobs. Blah, blah, blah.

🕺

[rabble-rabble]

With many of the stadiums built over the last few decades there
has always been a vocal outcry from citizens opposed to spending their
tax dollars for the various projects, but the media hasn't so strongly
rallied to their side until now.

I have to wonder what the stadium situation would be in our community if
the media had opposed funding for other projects as strongly as they have
a potential soccer stadium.

What if there was no Delta Center, the old Salt Palace was still standing,
the Jazz were long gone and playing in Cincinnati, and the basketball tenant
was a minor league team in the ABA or CBA?

What if we still had a Pioneer League team playing an abbreviated 70 game season that starts in June in a dilapidated Derk's Field where the seats along the first and third base lines were still not usable?

What if neither Ogden or Orem had their minor league baseball teams?

Well, I guess we might still have the Golden Eagles playing in the old Salt Palace along with "Crazy" Ray Brown walking around the ramps between the rinkside seats and the dress circle leading the old "EAGLES EAGLES FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" chants and we would have a downtown rock concert venue with reasonably good acoustics.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that there is a voice against using public funds for a soccer stadium and those people should have their say, but it would be
nice to have a little more balance from our media on this issue.

[Section 37]

Doug Robinson is a jackass.

I believe the problems we're having with our stadium are strictly political and are not a reflection of whether people think soccer is a real sport.

It's no surprise the press is very critical of this project. Greg Curtis and Tom Dolan are two of Utah's political bogeymen. One because they're bullies and two because they are both involved in EXTREMELY shady practices. Tom Dolan is widely seen to be for sale to the highest paying developer (see gravel pit) and Greg Curtis became famouse for being the only lawyer who can't fill out paperwork and "accidentally" double billed the county for mileage when he was working for Nancy Workman (the other bogeyman).

Fact is, going with these guys was a tactical error on RSL's part. I honestly think Cecketts/Pastorino had no idea the sh1tstorm they were about to hit. the press reported on Dean Howes' relationship with Dolan earlier last year. If I were Checketts, Howes would be out on his a$$.

Because of the political cluster fv<k this has become, rational debate has been abandoned and it has become the Legislature trying to ram through a political gift for Dolan/Curtis. That's how this project is widely viewed. So it's no wonder EVERYONE is lining up against "soccer city". Democrats are sick of Republicans writing checks to each other, Salt Lake County is resentful of the Legislatures attempt to force them to spend the county's money on political payoff, and fiscal conservatives are worried the project will fail.

So in other words, the only people into this project are RSL (though they must be extremely nervous right now), Tom Dolan, and the ones at the legislature pushing this through.

Burninator is right that we're losing the media war. The time is now for Checketts to fire some people and get a new strategy.

It's not impossible to receive public money for this project. But it may impossible under these circumstances.

[Deuce]

Major League Soccer Launches Investigation into Alleged Racist Remarks

The Don Speaks