This is a hopeful thought for everyone during the season of hope: https://www.deseret.com/sports/2020...-still-the-front-runner-to-buy-real-salt-lake https://kslsports.com/448991/utah-j...ls-to-take-over-real-salt-lake-sale-process/?
To top this off for those who say that Ryan Smith is over leveraged... he brought in an Australian part owner to the Jazz who has something like $16 billion in assets. The aussie invested hundreds of millions into a part ownership of the Jazz. Perhaps say around $350 - $400 million? That sounds about right.
A couple months ago it was said around here that we didn't want the Millers to buy RSL because of the conflict of interest. Are we past that now?
Hell yeah. Mostly. The Millers actively fought pretty tirelessly, especially Larry, to screw Uncle Dave and RSL. I’ll take a young vibrant fresh blood owner even with a little Gail Miller on the side. It’s 2020.
Now that the Millers aren't the ones calling the shots, I have a feeling that it won't be a bad relationship. It'll be weird though. One ownership group for the state's top basketball, baseball, and soccer teams.
Do we care about the media coverage in that scenario? In particular, the radio stations. I believe Ryan Smith is buying 1280 the zone. I don't remember if there's more to it. With RSL, DLH owns broadway media which has kall 700 along with a bunch of other stuff. Surely it doesn't make sense for DLH to keep it after he sells the soccer properties. Has anyone heard if it would be included? Is it part of Utah soccer holdings?
This part of the question has a lot of ramifications. Like you said, this doesn't make sense in the DLH portfolio. Even if he wants to diversify, media just isn't the "smart" move for that with the returns you don't get. I'd expect it to be somehow part of the sale. Otherwise, things get really tricky for broadway media. Do we know how long RSL has a deal signed with ESPN700 to air games?
It would be so 2020 for DLH to announce he's selling RSL to a bunch of his cronies on Jan. 7, 2021. There should be some kind of phasing, dilithium crystal thing, or a closet that you can go in to to change time, that will keep all of the BS of 2020 in 2020. Especially DLH 2020 BS. Here's to hoping.
MLS would still have to sign off on said cronies. I'm hopeful that they would block that move, but like you said, 2020. Nothing much we as fans can do about it right now. We've been far too quiet, honestly, up to now to really be able to pitch a fit. That reflects on a pretty complacent fanbase.
I've talked to several RSL "fans" over the past few months. I'm talking about people that have been to games (even the Covid games this year) and none of them, not a single one, knew anything about all the stuff that has been going on. The DLH stuff, the impending sale, it was all foreign to them. I get that it's a small sample size but it made me realize that most casual fans that don't follow the team as closely as we do have no idea what's happening right now. Sad.
IIRC, DLH bought Broadway Media after he bought RSL because it was a way to get cheap advertising for his other companies. It doesn't make sense to keep the property unless the advertising is paying off. It would suck if we lost Bill Riley as the voice of RSL and had to start listening to games called by the guys at 1280.
I think that speaks more to how little RSL actually moves the needle in this market currently than anything else. The lack of this being covered by more than a token article or two is depressing. That The Athletic has published just as much, if not more, about it compared to local papers is quite sad. Imagine if Larry Miller did the exact same thing, if he were alive, as DLH did but during/after a Jazz game? It would have been a top news story of 2020. RSL doesn't have that pull. Which, in a twist of irony, is at least in part because of the way DLH has run this team. I know soccer still has a long ways to go in this country/state, but the momentum from the Checketts stages has slowed down significantly in the last 3-5 years. The team from 09-13 was a significant talking piece. I'd have random guys at Utah football games talk to me about the team/games (I'd usually wear my red RSL jacket when it was cooler) and they were genuinely interested. Since 2014/15 this team has steadily declined in terms of their appeal to fans. There are flashes of moments in there, but the club just felt to lose so much of what made it special before recently. Fingers should be pointed at a lot of different people for that, but especially DLH. And, I'm sorry, but this brand never was one that felt untouchable. Even in those good days, to hear someone say "Real" felt painful. At least for me. That we all just call the club "RSL" is very telling. Maybe it needs longevity like the Jazz to not feel as awkward. The U and Utah and Utes and University of Utah are all equal. None of those feels more or less weird. Same with the Y/BYU/Cougars/etc. You can't say that for RSL/Real/Real Salt Lake
Ismitje hasn't had to step in here to break up a fight for quite awhile, and he loves doing that. I think a lively discussion on what would be a good replacement name is just the thing. Let's get that conversation going with The Highlanders, The Saints, The Pioneers, The Mountaineers or the 5%-ers. Further drawing on some of the local features, The Lakers/Lakerzz, The Brine Shrimp, The Brine Flies, The Stench, The Copperheads, The Mercury, The Polygamists, The Purt-neers, The Pre Shate Shuhs... Any others?
Not taking credit for it, but keeping the name RSL makes sense to me, so Rangers Salt Lake sounds good to me. I'm sure there are others that smarter people come up with that I could get behind. Not sure if wholesale changes need to be made with the colors, but tweaks could work.
Rangers Salt Lake feels forced to keep the acronym. Nobody would would pick that arrangement in a fresh setup. The irony is that the crest, as is, would work just fine for SLR. We are all just so used to RSL as it is what we all use for the team, despite the other names. It's really funny
I feel like if you're going to rebrand, you have to go all in. Keeping RSL and just changing the name within seems lazy, and would probably just confuse the casual fan.
Okay, change it to the "Arrrrghh SL Pirates" and it'll be a mix of new and old naming conventions. Then make Kyle-with-dreds and an eye patch the center of the new badge.
We are RSL! no going back now. Tonight’s CCL final brought back some sad memories. But as to our name as a club, we won this thing in 09 as RSL, I say we come back and win it again as RSL.