This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
"We were worried that we were going to lose the team. We went to our first game [in 2005] and fell in love. It's a big part of our family now."
BILL BARBER
RSL season-ticket holder
"It's a good thing I don't play [soccer] anymore because I'd probably get beat up for my [no] vote, or slide-tackled very hard."
REP. DAVE LITVACK D-Salt Lake City
"I'm glad the deal finally got done. It was a bit of a sausage-making process."
RSL season-ticket holder Scot Boyd.
"What are we telling these folks [who pay the hotel tax]? Thanks for visiting Utah. Thanks for letting us gouge ya."
Rep. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden
"We're having a hard time justifying this with what our constituents want. This circus has turned around and come down on our heads."
Rep. Lynn Hemingway, D-Millcreek.
"Whatever anybody thinks of the process, the end result is a Major League Soccer team in this community, which is absolutely fantastic."
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson
"Until now I thought Jon Huntsman was doing a great job. [He's] saying this isn't really taxpayer money. That's nonsense. That's money that could be going toward light rail or buying open space."
Murray resident Lee Brinton
"We stink at promoting our state. With the television coverage alone . . . this is worth millions and millions of dollars that the state coffers alone will never commit to promote us." Rep. Brad King, D-Price.
"This has come at a great, great cost. But what a blessed event this is."
RSL owner Dave Checketts
"Yes, there's potential downsides: The team will leave, the team will fail. . . [But] contracts will include penalties."
Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan
"The Sandy proposal had more momentum than the fairpark proposal."
Senate President John Valentine
"What are the drawbacks to this? There's got to be a negative."
Rep. Phil Riesen, D- Salt Lake City.
"We've gotten used to Salt Lake. I think we're part of the community now and we've done a lot of work on and off the field. Moving, after that, would have been tough for anybody."
Midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy
"It's been a very big talking point amongst our locker room, just over the past four or five days. And to be completely honest, we need to be focusing on other things. . . . This is a hugely important season for us. For me, this is a make-or-break season, and we don't need to have anything other than the soccer hanging over our heads."
Forward Jason Kreis
"My wife, she wasn't happy last Monday. Her exact words were: 'I don't want to move again.' And that's what I told her when I first came here. I want to be in Salt Lake for a long time, I want to be involved in this club on all levels, even after my playing days, because I love it here. Even being a Southern boy coming out West, I want to stay here and plant some roots here."
Midfielder Carey Talley
"This takes us in a complete opposite direction. You go from having a sort of cloud that could be hanging over your head - and it could have been hanging over our head the entire season - to really pushing us in the other direction, to have a first-class facility in the best market in Major League Soccer. For us, it's like you have new life as a team."
Midfielder Chris Klein
"I'm just thrilled. I just kept believing it that it would happen. . . . I really believe that once the governor got the ball rolling - maybe I'm not supposed to say that - but once it got rolling, it was good."
Coach John Ellinger