This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Soccer fans are thrilled and tax watchdogs flabbergasted.
When officials announced Thursday the freshly minted deal diverting $35 million in hotel taxes to help build a Real Salt Lake stadium, Chris Enger was there, just as he was for two previous soccer-goes-to-Sandy proclamations.
He hopes this one is the last.
"This is the one," the Herriman resident and RSL season-ticket holder said. "Today, I'm happy as a bee."
But Ada Prins is angry as a hornet. The Salt Lake City resident, who didn't attend the event, said she hopes the 70 percent of county residents who backed County Mayor Peter Corroon's rejection of an RSL subsidy - which led to this week's scrambling at the Legislature to reroute the money anyway - have long memories.
"They need to get out there and vote those lawmakers out. They can't find any money to fund even teachers' needs. I'm so disgusted," she said, adding that RSL's "rich" owner, Dave Checketts, should have tapped his wealthy friends. "Get Gov. [Jon] Huntsman [Jr.] to fund it. He's rich. Get $35 million from his father to fund it. He's rich."
But soccer fans at Capitol Hill, many wearing the team's royal red and blue, praised Huntsman for keeping their team in Utah.
"It's the first day of the rest of our lives. It's absolutely fantastic," said Glenn Webb, president of The Loyalists fan club. "I did great voting for Huntsman and [Sen. John] Valentine," who were instrumental in clinching the deal.
Adam Merkley, sporting a red RSL jersey, carried his 11-year-old step-daughter, Dakotah Martinez, around on his shoulders. The team's first game at Rice-Eccles Stadium two years ago was the first soccer game Merkley ever attended. And he has been to every game since, usually accompanied by Martinez.
"The first time she met Jason Kreis you would have thought she was meeting Michael Jordan," Merkley said. "I just love the game. I love the team."
Still, others who stayed home Thursday lamented the deal. Murray resident Lee Brinton has followed the saga since his city was a stadium contender two years ago. He had urged Corroon to withhold public funding.
"This represents the dirtiest of everything we are disgusted with in politics," Brinton said. "County government responded to the will [of the people] and the state comes in and says 'We don't like what you're doing so we're going to trump you.' It just stinks."