Salt Lake's proposed new stadium is still taking hits and heat in Utah, as this leader in the Deseret News shows. Despite a "groundbreaking," it's important to remember that this deal is NOT over and done with and that RSL's continuing and arguably clumsy public tactics are costing the team support.
We have been surprised for sometime at the ham-fisted way Dave Checketts' group have gone about this process — when we chatted with Salt Lake's Dean Howes about the stadium some time ago, we were floored that the word "soccer" didn't come up; instead, Mr. Howes hammered away on RSL's "business plan."
RSL is gaining traction in Utah, and a stadium will undoubtedly help the team. But we're not surprised taxpayers and politicians remain wary given the history of touchy interactions between the team and the county's elected representatives. We are surprised, given this, that RSL hasn't spent more time talking about what this team means to the community — as opposed to what the community can do for the team.
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