Rice-eccles Stadium

[Deuce]

RSL, U of U, RICE-ECCLES STADIUM

IMPLEMENTING SOLUTIONS

RSL Working With Stadium to Eliminate Ticketing Issues, Long Concession Lines;

CMG’s Jeff Vernier Helping Make Merchandise a Hit

SALT LAKE CITY (Wednesday, April 27, 2005) – Real Salt Lake General Manager Steve Pastorino, in cooperation with the University of Utah, have met several times during the past five days to enhance fans’ stadium experience. The meetings are a result of less-than-satisfactory service in the areas of tickets and concession at the team’s home opener on April 16, 2005. RSL won the game 1-0 victory in front of a Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd of 25,287 fans.

“We were acutely aware that ticket sales and will call lines were unacceptable as kickoff neared on Saturday,” said Pastorino. “After meeting with stadium officials, we have addressed Saturday’s situations and both sides are proactively implementing solutions to create a more positive experience for our fans. We are taking steps to remedy any and all issues that have been brought to our attention for all future games.”

Beginning this Saturday, the stadium will open additional ticket windows, add ticket sellers, put more ticket printers and credit card machines on-line and open up additional will call windows to provide quicker, more convenient service to fans.

In addition, RSL officials acknowledge that lines and service were unacceptably poor for food concessions, an area managed by the University of Utah Athletic Department. As part of the remedy, vendors will add extra points of sale for food and drink, which will in turn reduce wait times for customers. Concessions will be provided throughout the concourse at the stadium, with “hawkers” now available to fans throughout the main areas of stadium seating areas.

“The concessions are fairly priced, feature a broad variety of choices and are are of high quality – now the university just needs to make the products more easily accessible for the fans,” said Pastorino.

Finally, Jeff Vernier and Centennial Management Group, which handles RSL merchandising, met the demands of fans with record-setting volume. RSL’s red, blue and gold merchandise was snapped up at volume not seen in this city since the Utah Jazz were in the NBA Finals.

RSL ON KSL EARNS YET ANOTHER HIGH RATING / SHARE: Real Salt Lake’s third broadcast on KSL 5 TV earned an extraordinary 2.4 rating and 12 share across the Utah DMA, peaking at a 3.8, despite the 0-3 loss at Dallas being brought back to Utah on a five-hour tape delay. The “RSL on KSL” relationship kicked off on April 2 with a 3.0 rating and 6 share on April 2 with competition from the NCAA basketball tournament and the LDS Conference. RSL’s 3.2 overnight during week two at Los Angeles peaked at 4.7 with an 8 share in the second half. KSL will air three more RSL road games during the inaugural season, including July 16 at Kansas City, October 1 at Colorado and October 8 at San Jose.

JUNE 4 QUALIFIER TICKET SALES SURPASS 20,000: Ticket sales for the RSL - U.S. Men’s National Team doubleheader on June 4 at Rice-Eccles Stadium have surpassed the 20,000 mark after going on sale to the general public only nine days ago. Tickets ranging in price levels from $25 to $68 are on sale through ussoccer.com, by phone at (801) 581-UTIX, on-line at www.utahtickets.com and at the University of Utah Ticket Office. Ticket prices are $25 for north and south goals, $36 corner flag, $48 off-mid and $68 mid. Groups of 20 or more can call the Real Salt Lake Ticket Office at (866) 9-SOCCER. Real Salt Lake season tickets will be honored for the doubleheader, and groups of 20 or more can call RSL at 866-9-SOCCER for special pricing.

The U.S. vs. Costa Rica match, the fourth of 10 final round qualifying matches for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, kicks off at 5:30 p.m. MT and will be televised live on ESPN2. Following the match between the 2002 World Cup participants, Real Salt Lake hosts FC Dallas in the second game of the doubleheader at 8 p.m. The match in Salt Lake City is the second of five qualifiers in this round to be played in the United States.

RSL SOLICITING LOCATIONS FOR PERMANENT GRASS FIELD: Real Salt Lake General Manager Steve Pastorino is requesting ideas from the community-at-large regarding usage of the grass field being installed at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the June 4 World Cup Qualifier.

“The Utah Sports Commission has assisted Real Salt Lake in bringing a world-class grass surface for the June 4 U.S. World Cup Qualifier at Rice-Eccles Stadium,” Pastorino said. “We want to relocate this field following the game to create a grass training surface for the team.”

“This region faces a shortage of competition-quality grass fields, so we are officially soliciting ideas from private and public entities in the Salt Lake valley for a permanent home for this grass field.”

RSL will consider offers from the community for a permanent grass field practice site, with the team needing 3 -5 acres of land with space to build or access to some sort of private dressing area. The team seeks priority to practice on the field through the end of the 2006 season, but is open to sharing the field with a partner, as long as requirements for a competition-quality game field are first and foremost among usage considerations.

“We are prepared to auction off the field on EBay if we can’t find a home for it,” said Pastorino. “But I have to believe there is a centrally-located landowner who could utilize a world-class grass field — a person or entity who would be proud to be the grass practice home for Real Salt Lake.”

Nine of the 11 stadiums in Major League Soccer utilize grass surfaces – with Rice-Eccles and New Jersey’s Giants Stadium being the exceptions – underlining the importance of the installation of a permanent grass practice home for RSL.

[fuegote]

will KSL think about putting the games on live now? Is there sat. linup that good?

[aosthed]

Considering they showed the friggin game at 11:00pm - that's awesome!

To bad the FCD fans weren't there in force to create some atmosphere - at least the loss in LA was in front of a full house.

[Aerick]

That's some of the best news I've read!! Thanks for posting that!

[SoccerPrime]

Great news, thanks for posting this.

Does anyone have 3-5 acres hanging around?
Excellent opportunity for a land-owning Loyalist to really help out here.