This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
SANDY -Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon argues the numbers "don't work," so Sandy officials are going to work on those numbers.
The goal: See if they can salvage a Major League Soccer stadium.
"I remain optimistic that we [can] work this out" with Real Salt Lake, said Randy Sant, Sandy's economic-development director.
Added Mayor Tom Dolan: "We are still working."
Even Salt Lake County Councilman Joe Hatch, who represents downtown Salt Lake City, said Sandy should make its final pitch before the plug is pulled on the stadium.
"Before we cross the Rubicon and say 'never,' we owe Sandy the decency to see if they can hold it together," Hatch said.
The team, in a statement e-mailed Thursday to season-ticket holders, backed up that attitude.
"We will continue our quest to find a workable solution to keep Major League Soccer vibrant in the state of Utah, buoyed by the support of the state Legislature, the governor, the mayor of Sandy and the great people of Utah," RSL's chief operating officer, Dean Howes, told fans.
For the news media Thursday, team officials declined to comment. But they previously have said they must have a soccer-specific stadium to survive. And Corroon's rejection of $35 million in hotel taxes for the sports venue led many fans and elected officials to wonder whether the team would move elsewhere.
But Sandy folks remain optimistic there is only one place for the team to go: a new stadium at 9400 South and State Street.
Why isn't the deal dead?
Sant and other officials believe Corroon acted prematurely when he decided the $35 million RSL owner Dave Checketts wanted wasn't a sound financial decision.
In all, the team has asked for $45 million in public dollars - the other $10 million was going to come from Sandy - to help pay for its $145 million soccer-and-entertainment center.
What blocked Corroon was that the county wouldn't be able to make a payment on the stadium loan for a decade. Hotel taxes would be tied up until 2015 while the county pays off bonds for an expansion of the Salt Palace and a parking garage at the South Towne Expo Center.
With interest, it would take nearly $90 million to pay off that $35 million stadium bond.
Sandy officials, as long as a week ago, knew they had to find a way to deal with the county's concerns over the escalating interest, Dolan said.
"I felt we still had some things to talk about."
In fact, Sandy officials and county staff were scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon, but Corroon's surprise announcement scuttled the meeting.
"We were starting the process of negotiating how to overcome this 10 years without revenue," Sant said. "We never got back together."
One of the solutions that would have been destined for the bargaining table: Sandy could offer more cash of its own, Sant said.
He still hopes to jump-start those talks to keep hotel taxes as part of the equation. He believes Corroon left that option open when the county mayor said earlier this week, "I hope an alternative funding source is possible."
County Councilman Michael Jensen offered another option.
"Maybe Sandy would bond, and maybe with the hotel money, we could help Sandy with a bond. I would be open to doing something like that," Jensen said.
County Councilman Jim Bradley agrees the team has to come up with something besides the same pitch.
"We'll have to wait to see what Real has as a backup," Bradley said. "If they don't have anything, probably it is over."
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Tribune reporter Derek P. Jensen contributed to this story.