House Speaker Curtis: 'Soccer is Dead.' SL Tribune/Derek Jensen: House Speaker Greg Curtis: soccer stadium deal "dead""I personally think soccer's dead," Curtis said. "It's unfortunate. I'm simply saying, I'm moving forward to reallocate the tax." ... "My legislative colleagues are looking at it saying, 'We're burned out on this.' "It's laying there on life support. They're just waiting until after the session to pull the plug. After this session, I don't ever want to hear the word soccer again." Live links/commentary here... www.rslfm.com
IF this is true then either Checkettes needs to pull more money out of his own pocket or I have a feeling RSL may be pulling out of Utah about the time of expansion.
why do you need a candidate team? I thought you had the Quakes. Doubtful. RSL need to stay in the league or proabbly head to the NorthWest.
That might not too far fetched with Checketts' ownership of St. Louis Blues..., I really do hope things works out in the Salt Lake though, a great MLS market so far. Dave could learn a lot from how DC United is going about the new stadium issue, it seems like he is alienating important people, and is coming across bad in the press....not good, he needs to develop some good will with the region... PS...I haven't gotten over to the Trekker major announcement thread, but if this is it, I am going to be pissed...
I hope this is just public negotiating by the state. I would say the speaker is playing for votes, but the Republicans have a 2-to-1 edge already in Utah, right?
If Checketts wants to go to Seattle he will have to pay for the land and the stadium. See Supersonics for the reasons.
That was my thought too. If RSL moved to Seattle, it'd be little different than RSL's situation currently as they would play at Qwest Field and I don't think there is any impetus locally to build a stadium. If SC-1 is around, he can comment on the prospects in Seattle better than most any of us could.
I am around. This MLS to Seattle stuff has got to stop! Seriously, though...the league would approve a move to Seattle, even to Qwest Field, by RSL. (Garber as recently as December said Qwest Field might make an exception to the rule in order to get a team started in the Seattle market). The current Sounders are looking for MLS nvestors, or I guess you could reverse it and say that Checketts would have local Seattle partners if he wanted them. As for a stadium...land has already been identified by the Sounders in Midway, right off of I-5 between Seattle and Tacoma. Cheap land that was once a landfill dump. Money for a stadium? Who knows. Sounders' owner Adrian Hanauer once said Paul Allen could be an 'MLS partner' in terms of Qwest Field use, 'or a future stadium.' I have no idea what stage those talks, if any, are at. Of course Seattle is a plum market, but there's been no noise up here at all, whatever that might mean.
He barely won his seat, though. Looks like no one else in the story is taking his threat seriously. The link: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4976190
And the with words "soccer is dead", Utah politicians ushered in the second Utah BLITZZ era. Next stop . . . "jazz hands" at the local city council meetings.
Maybe the Utah House Speaker was facetiously quoting Nietzsche's "God is dead", and in such a religious state as Utah, that's double-speak for soccer is NOT dead???
Last time I checked they were the ones pushing for the economic impact that this staduim could have. What does being a republican have to do with anything?
Well, in a state that is solidly in support in one party over the other and will be for the foreseeable future, you wouldn't need to do as much trumpeting for the sake of votes as a party in a more evenly split state. (i.e. due to having a large advantage, they don't have to grandstand on issues)
Go to this thread for information on the Official Boycott Utah (if the stadium falls through) movement.