RSL Stadium thread part 8

With all the recent stories about Real "taking money from the schools", any concerns about the deal falling through? From reading the articles today it sounds like the deal is not yet finalized, and could still fail. Just wondering what you all think??

The deal is solid, but the details are not. Jordan School District is simply negotiating & giving itself some political cover for its inevitable aquiessence. And even without the School District, the gap is only $5 million. That's nothing in the scheme of things.

RedDevil013, you'll need a strong stomach for some of what you'll hear over the coming weeks & months. But it's nothing more than haggling. It's not a mortal threat to building the stadium.

Just my 2 cents.

Its not that I dont want it to be built, I am just a little worried that there is so much negative publicity surrounding this that it could cause problems. While I continue to hold on to hope, I will breathe a bit easier when all the construction starts... Definite rep for staying positive however

Neither positive nor negative. I simply describe what I see.

In fact, I tend to agree that public School Districts jumping into the RDA game on behalf of sports teams is an unwise precedent. Part of me hopes Dolan & Checketts are forced to make up the difference by turning elsewhere--such as private capital. But they'll probably get what they want.

Stay tuned.

The negative publicity is very common for deals like this, but people always come around after the fact. Look at the Olympic games and the negativity there was there, that far outways this soccer stadium issue and try and find a person now that would say something negative about the Olympics here.

That is a good point. I try to point out all the good things to everyone about getting the stadium. What good it will bring to the community and all. I guess I just get frustrated that there are so many anti-soccer people around. I guess my father-in-law was saying all sorts of horrible things about the soccer stadium to my wife the other day (I was busy watching rsl lay an egg against colorado). Oh well, eventaully people will come around to soccer and we wont have to hear how lame soccer is. How I long for the day

Here is another story on KSL about the whole school fund thing. The story is only a few minutes old, but watch as the forum on there turns to a massive soccer bashing forum.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=472133

*I've decided that the odds that the any local media producing something positive about Real Salt Lake are about as good as finding an English speaker in Little Havana.

Can someone explain to me what exactly the schools would be giving up if the stadium plan goes through as is? The quotes in the paper make it sound like the reserve team is going to be robbing kids of their lunch money as they walk to school. In reality though, this money does not exist. It will only exist if the stadium gets built, correct? RSL and the county are asking the district to defer/skip collecting property taxes for a time, right?

You're correct to an extent, but it's similar to temporarily financing a purchase on the School District's new credit card. In time they'll be made whole... But in the meantime they are denied access to a potential source of funding that could be used for something else.

Utah's new RDA law is a cynical, easily manipulated mess. Don't blame RSL for using it. But at the same time...don't blame the parents of children sitting in overcrowded & underfunded public classrooms for feeling upset.

In the now immortal words Nancy Workman's stadium opus:

"Just remember... it's for the kids!"

EDIT - I say SCREW School! I never learned anything worth repeating K-12 anyway... (with the exception of some math skillz, mediocre writing skillz, and poor reading comprehension.

I don't blame the parents at all - I am one and I understand. Personally, I wish Checketts could/would do this completely privately. I do think however, that the media spins this in a way that makes it look like RSL is taking money in some account somewhere away from the schools. But as far as I can tell, the money only exists if the development and stadium happen. Otherwise, the land remains undeveloped and/or underdeveloped and the 'money' that RSL is 'taking' from the district never exists.

In an ideal world, private investors would step up and build the development, the school district would get their share of the property taxes, and the fans get to watch the beatiful game played on real grass without yard-lines. But this is Utah, private investors are scared silly of their own shadows, the schools are desperatley underfunded, and soccer is the sport of aliens and foreginers.

Sorry - this has all been hashed and re-hashed. I'm just tired of the negative press reports.

I don't have any basis for this, but I think it is about getting concessions, as in district school hosting games in the stadium.

I wouldn't be surprised if tickets for students is part of the deal as well.

I'm honestly surprised that it's taken this long for the media to report any sort of backlash from Jordan School District et al. The whole thing seems tailor-made for controversy. I'm a firm believer in the use of some public money for a project such as this, but I'm also a big believer in public schools, and it's a fact that ours are among the most underfunded in the nation. Messing with education's money is a bad idea.

Still, I see the deal going through. Jordan School District is already facing the serious possibility of secession by five of its big east-side city-members, Sandy included. The city has so far held their cards close to their chest as they've explored their options, but I expect to see Sandy play the stadium as their wild card in order to seal the deal.

Not that I'm happy to lose a significant portion of Sandy's funding scheme, but it just never seemed like a good idea to hit up a public school district for funds, even given the promise of increased returns. Bad, bad, bad PR.

Back to the drawing board for Sandy, and RSL.

Given the increasing pressure of newcomers on SLC schools (Immigrants Turn Utah into Melting Pot), any proposal that even hints of taking money away from education (actually true anywhere) falls into the category of 'Whatever were they thinking?'

Talk about handing your detractors a loaded gun.

From Soccer America:
=====================================

Real Salt Lake has released a statement regarding its stadium proposal that includes: "We NEVER have -- and we never will -- propose taking money from existing education budgets, contrary to previous reports. In fact, we strongly believe we'll be an asset for Salt Lake County, for Sandy City and for the Jordan School District. We want to create new revenues and new opportunities for our area. Far from reducing education funding, the $135 million Phase I development will instead bring $30.8 million of NEW property tax revenues to the Jordan School District over the next 25 years."

*Thanks Andy...why the people who constantly write sour letters to the editors of local papers can't understand this concept is beyond me.

*Even if the deal WAS going to take money from the Jordan District, hypothetically here: If a brand new awesome stadium meant that kids from the Jordan district lost their busses and had to eat aspargus every day for lunch and only have enough money to buy used books written in German would it bother you? I mean a really sweet, brand new stadium?

(I'm joking! Sarcasm! I love teachers and kids and education and school!)






but I love soccer more. (I kid! I kid!)

Hell, you give them money to buy new books and what do they spend it on? It sure as hell isn't books.

Asparagus?!?!?!? That stuff costs money Fuerza!

More like a steady diet of rotten Cabbage and Noni juice. That will get em big en strong.

If asparagus is expensive, check out Noni juice. That stuff like is $15 a bottle.

I'm running on the assumption that Noni will own the team in a couple of years, and will be more then happy to dump Noni that has past its expiration on the School District.

It has an expiration date? Now what are we supposed to do for food storage?