Rio Tinto Stadium

Rio Tinto Stadium
"The RioT"
Location	9256 South State Street Sandy, Utah 84070-2604
Coordinates	40°34′59″N 111°53′35″W / 40.582923°N 111.893156°W / 40.582923; -111.893156Coordinates: 40°34′59″N 111°53′35″W / 40.582923°N 111.893156°W / 40.582923; -111.893156
Broke ground	August 12, 2006
Opened	October 9, 2008
Owner	SCP Worldwide
Operator	SCP Worldwide
Surface	Kentucky Blue Grass
Construction cost	$115 million ($124 million in 2012 dollars[1])
Architect	Rossetti Architects
Project Manager	ICON Venue Group[2]
Structural engineer	Martin & Associates[3]
Services engineer	M-E Engineers, Inc.[3]
General Contractor	Layton-Turner Joint Venture[3]
Capacity	20,213[4]
Field dimensions	120 × 75 yards[5]
Tenants
Real Salt Lake (MLS) (2008–present)

Rio Tinto Stadium also known as "The RioT" is a soccer-specific stadium, in Sandy, Utah, that is the home to Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, in a game between Real Salt Lake and Red Bull New York. The stadium seats 20,213 for soccer, but can be expanded to over 25,000 for concerts.^[6]

The stadium hosted the 2009 MLS All-Star Game between the MLS All-Stars and Premier League club Everton F.C. on 29 July 2009. It also hosted one leg of the 2011 CONCACAF Champions League Finals between Real Salt Lake and Primera Division club Monterrey.^[7]

Financing

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In 2005 a soccer-specific stadium for Real Salt Lake was approved for Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. However, funding for the stadium was hard to come by. A vote in early 2006 struck down a funding proposal for the stadium. The proposal was declared "dead" by owner Dave Checketts at that point, putting the team's future in doubt. Parties from cities such as Rochester, New York, and St Louis, Missouri expressed interest in purchasing the franchise and moving it, but on the day Checketts had set as a deadline to have a stadium plan in place, a tacit agreement was put in place, and Real Salt Lake announced that they would move forward with the construction of Real Salt Lake Stadium, 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.

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. In response to the stadium rejection, construction company Anderson Geneva 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.

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. The bill was passed by the Utah State Senate.

On September 28, 2008, it was announced that the naming rights to the stadium were sold to the mining company Rio Tinto in a fifteen-year deal worth between $1.5 million and $2 million per year.^[8]

Attendance records (soccer)

Concerts

The first concert held in the stadium was by The Eagles, during their Long Road out of Eden Tour, on May 9, 2009.^[9]

Paul McCartney performed at the stadium during his Up and Coming Tour on July 13, 2010, marking his first ever concert in Utah.

KISS performed at the stadium on September 22, 2010 during their Hottest Show on Earth Tour, marking their first performance in Utah since 2003 when they came with Aerosmith.

Neil Diamond will perform at the stadium on July 28, 2012.

Access

The stadium is located near the interchange between US Highway 89 (State Street) and Utah State Route 209 (9000 South), and is easily accessible from Interstate 15; however, parking near the stadium is limited. The stadium is also accessible by TRAX via the Sandy Expo station.

References

External links

• Stadium website
• MLS article on groundbreaking, August 12, 2006