Show Us the Money

A gentle reader sent us a Salt Lake Tribune article last week, reporting on the most recent developments in the Real Salt Lake stadium plan, which has has been an "economic development" hot potato in Salt Lake County since early this year.

For those readers who may have not been following the RSL stadium story closely, we offer this quick and dirty fact summary, courtesy of the ever-useful Wikipedia:

In 2005 a soccer-specific stadium for the team was approved for Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. However, funding for the stadium was still hard to come by. A vote in early 2006 struck down a funding proposal for the stadium. However, Tom Dolan, the mayor of Sandy, said that he would not give up on his fight to approve the proposal in Sandy. The funding plan was revised, but was struck down later in 2006 over disagreements in the appropriation of millions of hotel-tax dollars for a financially unproven sports franchise. The proposal for Sandy was declared "dead" by [RSL owner Dave]Checketts at that point, putting the team's future in doubt. Dave Checketts said that he wanted the team to remain in Utah, but would sell it if a proposal was not put forward by August 12, 2006. Parties from several cities, including Rochester, New York and Saint Louis, Missouri, expressed interest in purchasing the franchise and moving it. Other stadium sites in the area were also proposed, including the Utah State Fairgrounds in Salt Lake, and the tiny town of Vineyard, just west of Provo. Finally, on the very day Checketts had set as a deadline to have a stadium plan in place or decide to sell the team, and after months of up and down discussions with local municipalities, county, and state officials and a change in the funding structure, a tacit agreement between Checkets, Sandy City, and Salt Lake County was put in place, and Real Salt Lake announced that they would move forward with the construction of the Sandy Stadium.

In the course of reaching this agreement, each of the above public and private stakeholder entities agreed to make substantial capital contributions toward this project, including a $100 million investment pledge from Dave Checketts.

Our reader suggests that this project shares many similarities with our situation in Weber County, wherein our own Emerald City Mayor [Boss Godfrey] has worked feverishly to promote his own pet project [the Peterson Landgrab,] toward which public AND private entities have at least vaguely suggested a commitment of substantial capital resources -- $500 million, in the case of Mr. Peterson.

In the RSL stadium instance however, our reader suggests, the prudent behavior of fiscally conservative Salt Lake County Mayor Pete Coroon stands in stark contrast to that of our own project-driven and non risk-averse Matthew Godfrey:

As the furor over Utah's proposed Major League Soccer stadium fades, one financial mystery remains: Does Real Salt Lake really have the cash?

Peter Corroon, the fiscally conservative Salt Lake County mayor, is determined to find out.

Corroon has called on the District Attorney's Office to convene the county's strict Debt Review Committee to scrutinize all things RSL. Within 30 days, the mayor wants to see the team's money, including RSL's investment partners, financial history and comprehensive business plan.

"We want to know about the stadium - how it's being financed, who the investors are - to make sure the team is viable," Corroon said Wednesday. "I'd like to know myself whether we're going to go forward or not."

Read the SL Trib story. Decide for yourselves. Isn't it time that somebody asked Mr. Peterson to "Show us the money," our gentle reader earnestly asks. Isn't it about time that somebody checked out Mr. Peterson's financial credentials? And what about a business plan? Howcome nobody's asked for that? Our city government is already stumbling over itself to amend our planning and zoning scheme as some bizarre gesture of "good faith," notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Peterson hasn't as yet even so much as put a real proposal on the table.

We're throwing this out for today's discussion, while your humble blogmeister tinkers with a new website that will be soon added as a Weber County Forum feature. You can discuss this issue, or whatever tickles your fancy. Feel free to use this space as an open thread.

Who will be the first to comment?