Real Salt Lake Stadium Deal Dead again?

It seems Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis has not been impressed with Real Salt Lake's signing of Freddy Adu as he has declared the stadium deal for the team 'dead.'

Curtis has been one of the biggest supports of the stadium, however an extremely close re-election bid (he won by just 20 votes) that focused partly on the stadium issue might have changed his mind.

He now plans to introduce legislation that would take the hotel tax money that had been proposed for the stadium and redirect it to a Utah Transit Authority line to the airport. Money for the line was to come from the current sales tax on food, however, it looks like that tax will be removed soon.

However, team owner David Checketts has downplayed Curtis's statements saying that he feels they are do more to his frustration with local leaders not with the stadium idea.

Real is hoping to open the stadium on July 4, 2008, with a match against Real Madrid, however that looks less and less likely as the delays increase. That said, Checketts is sure of one thing, the team 'will sell beer' at the new stadium.