MLS state of the union address was held today. Miki Turner has a twitter thread with the rundown. Couple of tidbits regarding RSL:
The Athletic has an update: https://theathletic.com/2247321/2020/12/08/mls-real-salt-lake-sale/ Of note, they say Ryan Smith is still interested (potentially as part of a group, too). It's expected, but not guaranteed that MLS will take over the sale. MLS doesn't want to do anything that results in DLH pursuing litigation. Of course, they don't want details from the investigation/sale distracting from MLS Cup. What's going on with the ownership in ORL, btw? Also, it looks like Houston is available, too? Does that mean supply pushes the price down? I kept reading as I wrote this and it gets better. DLH owns the building KUTV (the local broadcast partner) operates out of. They have a deal through 2022. Also, the naming rights to the stadium expire this year (I read that to be 2020, but it's not clear). In addition, about 23 companies with direct and indirection connections to DLH are corporate sponsors. What a mess.
The Athletic article is very much worth a read. There are a lot of complications with how this (hopeful/potential) sale will take place. The sponsorship issue is just part of it. Lets not forget that, given DLH's background, he owns much of the land immediately around the RioT and especially the Academy/Monarchs stadium. To have your former owner literally across the street is not a recipe for success. As an example, the dirt parking area on the west side of the stadium was purchase by DLH about 2 years ago. You think he's going to suddenly not want to own that piece of property? With how petty he seems to be, I think we could see local access to the stadium suddenly become very complicated. Does DLH want to relinquish ownership of the apartments that the Academy players use? Are those not connected to other folks apartments? That could get ugly. One thing that was surprising to me, from the article, was that Ryan Smith could still potentially be involved. It would have to be done in a group setting as, like we've talked about, he is almost fully leveraged with his purchase of the Jazz. I'd love to have him and other Silicon Slope folks involved. That would immediately open the door to new sponsorship opportunities, as well.
Any combination of Ryan Smith, the Millers, and/or Dave Checketts would be FANTASTIC!!! How about Nat Borchers and Brian Dunseth to help in a managerial roles? Javi and Beckerman to help on the bench as assistant coaches? And Lagerway has got to be desired of all of that rain and antifa crap... This would make watching RSL suck in 2020 all worth it.
Absolutely! As long as Dunseth gets to run practices to make sure the players all practice hard to qualify for time on the pitch during games. That’s super important. From what I hear during the game broadcasts. And he can also make the treat assignments.
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I have a hard time keeping around too folks that were in this toxic work environment to continue on with their jobs and just change the person at the top. Organizational change takes a lot more than that (though it must especially have the top person/s change). I don't think a new ownership group is going to want to just be like "ok, here is a lot of money, and all of you guys that were here before are totally fine..." Dunny has zero qualifications as a manager. Being able to point out stuff from a radio/commentary chair is not what makes you able to coach or manage. Not saying he couldn't do it, but right now he is very unqualified. It'd be like electing a reality tv star to be president. That would just be stupid. Honestly, the more I think about this, the more I want a new ownership group that remodels the club. I'd go as far as supporting a rebrand of the name/logo/etc. Lets refresh. Lets take the skeleton of this club structure and build something new.
I'd say Utah Blitzz but that is now a youth club so that presents a challenge. The name isn't cool enough to take on that legal battle
I'd also like a return to the tradition of the double Z name. I submit to you all: the Utah Fizz. Think about it. Maybe Fiiz can be our jersey sponsor. We will call Sodalicious Stadium our home. We can still come out flat in the second half.
But, uh, on a serious note: Rio Tinto's naming rights on the stadium ends this year. So... add that to the fun stuff new ownership will have to meddle through
On a scale of 1-10 my fear that RSL might move has dropped to a 3 with 10 being yes, the team is moving. I felt a little better after the Don's comments but, wow, this is going to get interesting. If DLH sells the team I am totally of the opinion that he will do it next year if that is the beneficial to his bottom line and penny acquisition spreadsheet. I also think it would be pretty cool to have Ryan from Qualtrics by the team with a group of investors as a nice little finger to DLH if/when MLS takes over the process of selling the team. Also, I totally agree anyone that thought that last years team was the deepest RSL team ever should be no where near coaching the team. Dunny. But I was totally serious about the treat schedule.
Honestly, I'll believe it when I see it. Here's some things that Garber has said about the Crew in the past “It’s not proper to say we want to move [the Crew]” "...done an incredible job investing on and off the field. It’s one of the most successful teams in MLS over the last number of years." “No league, and certainly no leader of a league, wants to move a club” "You've heard me say many times, moving a team is never something that any league wants to do" “These things [moving teams] are traumatic and I respect and I understand that." But if Garber is really telling the truth that they are ready to take over the sale of Utah Soccer Holdings in it's entirety, that is comforting at least.
The situations there are different than here, at least right now. Precourt was owner and made it known he wanted to move. All we have is fear/speculation that a potential owner would come in and want to move the team. Until we have an ownership that has a significant amount of ties outside of SLC, we're not in the same conversation. Further to that, and this was part of the Crew/Austin fiasco a bit too, how do you tell these other owners that just paid an expansion fee to join the league at a later date that this ownership group gets a team immediately? You join the league in 2023, St Louis, but these guys get to be in the league now because they jumped on a distressed asset
I loved the Freezz, I went to quite a few of their games. If we go with a ZZ type name I'd like to suggest "the Salt Lake Shizz"
Oh sure. There are some parallels buts it's a stretch to make an apples to apples comparison to the Crew. My point was more that Garber will say whatever it takes to appease the masses all the while not really giving a shit. I'm fairly certain it was Crew fans that really helped facilitate the deal with their new ownership. Had the actual fans not made such a push, I don't think there would be a Crew and I think Garber would've been okay with that situation.
To our benefit, the Crew situation was very public and very ugly for a lot of folks. Garber and the league learned from it, for sure. Not saying I think Garber is going to block any move, but he and the league won't be so willing to bend to an ownership group that just wants to up and move
If I'm DLH, I'm keeping everything pretty close to the vest right now. There's still a ton of money in Las Vegas, and this would be a very tempting opportunity to quickly acquire an MLS team. Hansen knows how bad it will look if he lets the team move, so if something is in the works, he probably wouldn't mention it until the shit hits the fan on its own. That could be one reason for all the radio silence.
Bringing up the rebrand again: A popular choice, at least from Soap Box, is Rangers. It allows, with some "creative" wording, the ability to keep the "RSL" acronym - Rangers of Salt Lake. I'm not against it. If we did it, I'd think the club should change up the color scheme too.
I am totally against renaming the team but all in on a brand refresh and update. Especially if they want to go with some High School name like Highlanders or anything equally as ********ing stupid. I think that a rebrand or new name will push out and alienate fans already on the brink of leaving while I think fresh new owners and a fresh new look for RSL will help to reinvigorate a demoralized and disappearing fan base.
As someone with the title of brand manager, I would be horrified with rebranding. Unless there is a really urgent business need for it, it would just be a moronic move. Building a brand identity and brand equity takes time and a lot of investment.
With a new stadium sponsor and a new franchise name, our signature song could go "If you believe then stand up on your feet, then shout it out 'BLAH BLAH,' Here at the Hmmm Hmmm the battle hymn's begun, we're here for 'BLAH BLAH BLAH!"