Real Salt Lake is alive

The Utah House has passed a $35 million bill today that pays for a parking garage and land for a stadium and Real's stakeholders voted unanimously to accept the deal and stay near Salt Lake. The last thing that is needed is the governor's signature and Real Salt Lake will officially be off the list of the dead.

Just 10 days ago, it looked like the team was set to be sold and moved out of Utah, but tonight owner Dave Checketts has to be toasting the news with some good champagne.

The new stadium will be built in Sandy and is expected to open in 2009 on July 4, 2008, with a match against Real Madrid (edit-Checketts still opens the stadium will be ready by then, just 17-months from now).

Just how close the team actually came to moving to St. Louis we will never know, however a spokesman for the governor said, “Frankly, we’re racing the clock. St. Louis keeps sweetening the deal.”

It is obvious the group(s) in St. Louis trying to land a soccer team is serious. Let's hope that soon enough they too will be drinking some bubbly.