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| Full name | Real Salt Lake | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Royals, The Lakers, RSL Real, Red & Blue Army |
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| Founded | 2004 | ||
| Stadium | Rio Tinto Stadium Sandy, Utah (Capacity: 20,008) |
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| Owner |  Dave Checketts SCP Worldwide |
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| Head Coach | Jason Kreis |
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| League | Major League Soccer | ||
| 2009 | Western Conference: 5th Overall: 8th Playoffs: in progress |
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 Current season |
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Real Salt Lake is an American soccer club that is based in the Salt Lake City, Utah suburb of Sandy that participates in Major League Soccer. The club joined the league as an expansion team in 2005, and plays its home games at Rio Tinto Stadium.
The title "Real" (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal]) is derived from the Spanish language where it is traditionally used by certain Spanish football clubs such as Real Madrid of La Liga. It is translated into English as "royal" and it is taken by teams that make the King of Spain an honorary member of the club.
Dave Checketts and SCP Worldwide partners Dean Howes, Kenneth Munoz, Michael McCarthy and Chris Bevilacqua, chose Real Salt Lake for the team's name because they desired to associate the team with a successful soccer club, Real Madrid, as well as to develop a brand that was clearly associated with association football.
The team's name was initially met with derision in the fan community. Many fans thought the name should more accurately reflect the Salt Lake area.[citation needed] In the passing years, the criticism from local fans and the media has waned, and the club has instituted a formal relationship with Real Madrid.[1] The team colors are claret red, cobalt blue, and Real gold.[2]
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History
The other team names considered were: Salt Lake City Highlanders, Salt Lake Soccer Club, Alliance Soccer Club and Union SLC.[3]
RSL's coach is former MLS all-time regular season scoring leader Jason Kreis. He retired as a player on May 3rd, 2007 and took over coaching duties. Kreis was also RSL's first player signed.
Their first head coach was John Ellinger, former coach of the Under-17 United States national team and the head of USSF's Bradenton Academy. After being replaced by Kreis, Ellinger remained with the team as technical director/director of soccer operations through August 2007.
Salt Lake City was formerly home to the USL Second Division's Utah Blitzz, which folded about the time Real Salt Lake formed. The Blitzz had won the USLSD's championship in their final year of existence. Blitzz head coach Chris Agnello was hired as an assistant coach for Real Salt Lake, but left after their inaugural season.
RSL's major rivals are the Colorado Rapids, which it competes with for the annual Rocky Mountain Cup. On November 17, 2006, Xango announced a multi-million dollar deal to be advertised on the front of RSL's jersey.
Nearly a month later, RSL announced the high-profile acquisition of the American teenage phenomenon Freddy Adu for the 2007 season. Adu later left Real Salt Lake midway through the season to play in Portugal.
Upon the completion of the 2008 season, RSL ended their playoff drought when they clinched a spot due to some last minute heroics by forward Yura Movsisyan, who scored an equalizing goal against the rival Colorado Rapids. Real Salt Lake went on to defeat their first round opponents, Chivas USA (a fellow 2005 expansion team) and landed themselves in the Western Conference Final against the New York Red Bulls. RSL went on to lose this game 1-0 when several last second shots were consequently dismissed by the goal posts. The 2008 season was a Cinderella season of sorts, but one the team looks to steadily build upon as they establish themselves as an elite MLS team.
The team won the Rocky Mountain Cup in the 2007,2008, and 2009 seasons.
Stadium issues
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 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[4] and St 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 Real Salt Lake Stadium,[5] which would ultimately be named Rio Tinto Stadium. The groundbreaking, coinciding with the Xango Cup, Real's match against international power Real Madrid, took place that afternoon featuring elected leaders, team officials, as well as the entire rosters of both Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid. On August 15, the deal was officially approved by the Salt Lake County Council.[6]
The stadium plan encountered difficulties however after the Debt Review Committee of Salt Lake County voted against the stadium proposal 4 — 0 on January 26, 2007 citing what they saw as Real Salt Lake's financial inviability as the reasoning behind the lack of support. County mayor Corroon concurred with the DRC and the stadium plan was effectively killed on January 29, 2007. In response Real Salt Lake's owner announced the team would be sold and likely move out of the Salt Lake area after the 2007 season.[7]
On January 30, 2007, local private business expressed serious interest in keeping the team in Utah. Anderson Geneva, in response to the stadium rejection, offered the club 30 acres of land on which to build their stadium and multi use center, and offered the land for free. The land was estimated to be worth US$10 million.
The Sandy Stadium proposal was not completely dead, however: a new stadium proposal was made on February 2, that would divert 15 percent, roughly $2 million a year, of the county's hotel taxes to the stadium project beginning in July until 2017.[8] Such a deal would have to have been made by February 9, or the deal would have been completely off.[9] The bill was passed by the State Senate.[10]
After Governor Huntsman made a move that would allow the team to remain in Salt Lake County: the Utah House approved House bill 1SHB38, by a 48-24 margin, effectively approving $35 million towards the development of Real Salt Lake's new home. The governor was expected to sign the bill,[11] and ultimately did so.
Sandy City, along with the state of Utah and representatives of the team, finally came to an agreement regarding the placement of the Real stadium. The deal was shot down about a week prior to the agreement by the Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon saying it was too risky. However, Utah's governor, Jon Huntsman, Jr. said that soccer was here to stay. The $110 million dollar stadium was built in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Rossetti's California office was the architecture firm responsible for the design of the new stadium. The stadium's opening date was set for October 9 when Real Salt Lake hosted the New York Red Bulls.[12]
Real Madrid and Youth Academy
As of September of the 2006 season, Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid have signed a 10-year co-operative agreement. Among the provisions of the deal are a biennial friendly match between the two teams to take place in Salt Lake City, annual February training for RSL at the Real Madrid practice facility in Spain, and, perhaps most importantly, the creation of a $25 million elite youth academy in SLC that will train up to 200 players from ages 12 to 18.[13] The academy, a co-operative project for which Real Madrid will pay half the cost, will include academic facilities and dormitory housing, arguably becoming the first true soccer "youth system" in MLS, along with the Red Bull Academy effort of Red Bull New York. In this sense, it is part of a growing league-wide trend toward the emphasis of youth development, a trend which has been encouraged by the main office and jump-started by the league's decision to allow individual teams to maintain rights to the products of potential youth development systems.
Rocky Mountain Cup
With Major League Soccer's expansion in 2005, Real Salt Lake became the second team in the Rocky Mountain region and the Colorado Rapids' closest neighbor. The supporters of the two clubs created a competition between the two sides to foster and memorialize this budding rivalry. Colorado won the Rocky Mountain Cup in its inaugural year, 9 points to 3, and successfully defended the Cup in 2006 by a margin of 7 points to 4. Real Salt Lake won the Rocky Mountain Cup in the 2007 Season, 7 points to 4 points, and defended the cup successfully in 2008 and 2009.
Supporter Groups
Real Salt Currently counts with five official Supporter Groups, The Loyalists, FCB (Frank Castle Brigade), RCB (Rogue Cavaliers Brigade), Section 26, and the newest group, La Barra Real.
Television and radio
Radio broadcasts are on KALL AM 700 (English) and KTUB AM 1600 (Spanish)
KUTV will handle local television broadcasts, with most matches broadcast on KUTV's digital television channels.[14]
Stadiums
- Rice-Eccles Stadium (2005-2008)
- Rio Tinto Stadium (2008-)
Songs
The post-victory song is the Bob Marley anthem, "Iron Lion Zion". It was decided after an internal vote, because it fit the team's criteria for a celebration song.
The team anthem is called “The Mighty R-E-A-L” and is performed by Indie rock group and Utah natives Meg & Dia. [15]
There is an alternate anthem created by Alban and Tony of the CBG called "RSL Anthem." [16] When a goal is scored by Real Salt Lake in Rio Tinto Stadium, the song The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani is played throughout the stadium.
Players
Current squad
As of July 15, 2009.[17]
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Notable former players
This list of former players includes those who received international caps while playing for the team, made significant contributions to the team in terms of appearances or goals while playing for the team, or who made significant contributions to the sport either before they played for the team, or after they left. It is clearly not yet complete and all inclusive, and additions and refinements will continue to be made over time.
- Freddy Adu (2007)
Gustavo Cabrera (2005)- Jeff Cunningham (2006–2007)
- Alecko Eskandarian (2007–2008)
- Scott Garlick (2006)
- Chris Klein (2006–2007)
- Jason Kreis (2005–2007)
- Eddie Pope (2005–2007)
Luis Tejada (2007)
- See also All-time Real Salt Lake roster
Head coaches
- John Ellinger (2005–2007)
- Jason Kreis (2007—)
Team records
- Games:
Andy Williams, 55 - Goals: Robbie Findley, 24
- Assists:
Javier Morales, 17 - Shutouts: Nick Rimando 7
- Single Season Goals: Jeff Cunningham, 16 (2006)
- Single Season Assists: Javier Morales, 15 (2008)
MLS regular season only, through 2006 season
- All-Time regular season record: 21-50-23 (Through Oct. 21, 2007)
Year-by-year
| Year | Reg. Season | Playoffs | Open Cup | CONCACAF Champions' Cup |
SuperLiga |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 5th, West | Did not qualify | Round of 32 | Did not qualify | Started in 2007 |
| 2006 | 6th, West | Did not qualify | Round of 16 | Did not qualify | |
| 2007 | 6th, West | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not participate |
| 2008 | 3rd, West | Semifinals | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2009 | 5th, West | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
Average attendance
regular season/playoffs
- 2005: 18,037/missed playoffs
- 2006: 16,366/missed playoffs
- 2007: 15,960/missed playoffs
- 2008: 16,179/19,632
Notes and References
- ^ Real Madrid will be back in '08
- ^ Real Salt Lake colors
- ^ USSoccerPlayers: Sounders Already Scoring
- ^ Rhinos confirm talk with MLS club in Utah
- ^ Real Salt Lake joined by Real Madrid Saturday at 12:00 noon to break ground on Sandy stadium site
- ^ KUTV news - Soccer stadium finally a ReALity
- ^ KSL Newsradio: Soccer stadium deal is dead
- ^ Stadium plan: It's ba-a-ack!
- ^ Stadium deal due by Friday — or else
- ^ Senate paves way for a Sandy stadium
- ^ Utah House approves stadium funds
- ^ "RSL confirms Oct. 9 stadium opening". The Salt Lake Tribune. 2008-08-05. http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_10105238. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
- ^ Salt Lake Tribune article announcing the RSL-RM deal
- ^ http://web.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090320&content_id=228204&vkey=pr_rsl&fext=.jsp&team=t121
- ^ adidas MLS Soccer
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://web.mlsnet.com/players/index.jsp?club=t121
- ^ Will join Randers FC on January 1, 2010
Official Sponsor
External links
- Keepin' it Real - where RSL fans come to Keep it Real
- Real Salt Lake.com
- rslstadium.com - official Sandy stadium preview Website
- Real Salt Lake News and Information
- Rocky Mountain Cup Website
- The Loyalists
- The RCB Supporters Club
- Section 26 Supporters Club
- The Unofficial RSL Audio Archive
- Official Real Salt Lake board, courtesy of BigSoccer
- The OFFICIAL Major league Soccer Website
- Are You Loyal? - Real Salt Lake Podcast and Blog
- The RSLFM Report - RSL News, Information & Commentary
- The Mind of Scads - A Real Salt Lake Soccer Blog
- Behind the Shield - Real Salt lake's official team blog
- RSLFANS.com
- Official blog of Real Salt Lake
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