Will Sports Complex be "World Class"

None by KCPW

RSL Washes Hands of Project, Organizers Say its "On Track"

(KCPW News) ReAL Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts is donating 7-point-five million dollars for the city's new sports complex, but says he no longer thinks the project will be "world-class." It will have fewer fields and amenities, which organizers blame on construction costs. Checketts chalks it up to poor management of the project. Salt Lake Sports Complex Authority co-chair Dave Spatafore says "not so."

"The reason the size is less than what we envisioned four years ago is not because of the financing," says spatafore. "It's because the State Division of Natural Resources is planning to deliver 40-acres less than what they contemplated four years ago."

The site is a total 220-acres just off I-215. Forty acres are on the Davis County side and currently used as an off-road vehicle park. Spatafore says Davis County Commissioners now hope to make that land part of the complex and contribute financially to the development. As for the barbs Spatafore and RSL officials have traded recently over the team's demands for naming rights and other revenues, he admits those requests were always part of discussion:

"The difference - I guess it's semantics - is were they demands as part of the quid pro quo for the money? Or was it a continued long-term relationship after? Obviously we have different view points," says Spatafore. "But as far as we're concerned that's water under the bridge. We're grateful for the contribution. We're ready to move on."

Checketts has vowed to deliver the seven-point-five million-dollar donation within 30 days. Spatafore says were it not for Governor Huntsman's intervention in the last few weeks, that donation would not have come to pass. Huntsman is also responsible for the deal that landed RSL 35-million tax dollars for it's Sandy stadium.

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