SANDY - Owing to the fact that the bad road to this grand opening was as difficult as it was, maybe those 50 miles made the arrival Thursday night that much more satisfying.

"It does for me," said Dave Checketts, Real Salt Lake's owner and the man with the most scars on his mind, body, and soul from the jagged journey. "I feel great tonight."

He did because the destination - Rio Tinto Stadium - turned out much grander and prettier than the ugly thoroughfare - public debate, backroom backstabbing, name-calling, tug-o-wars in the political sandbox over a prized Tonka truck - traveled. That avenue, as everyone around here knows too well, was more a grimey, bumpy back alley.

But it led to a palace.

Hours before Real's Rio Tinto debut against the New York Red Bulls, resulting in a 1-1 draw, Checketts took me on a tour of his team's new home, through the owner's posh suite, around his spacious office, up a ramp toward the field leading to an elevated deck that had the feel of an emperor's perch, across a club for big spenders that looked like a swanky restaurant/dance hall, into the locker room, complete with plasma TVs and whirlpools, around the concourse, through the regular-fan seats, over the verdant field, cut to a precise three-quarters-inch height.

Rio Tinto is fantastico.

It's easy to get caught up in the hyperbole of the opening of a new stadium, but this place is more than hype.

"It is better than I ever envisioned it would be," said Checketts, who used to dream big, traveling around Europe, checking out the world's greatest soccer venues, taking bits and pieces and loading them into what became Rio Tinto, and now believes the building will draw better talent to his franchise.

Yeah, the circuitous, cantankerous trip was worth the pain, he said. Looking back, my favorite stop along that arduous path was the fully uncloaked feud that broke-back out between Checketts and his former boss, Jazz owner Larry Miller. Remember the two titans battling it out via comments made on radio shows and in conference calls? Checketts practically called Miller a liar, claiming he had lobbied against the stadium. Miller said he was baffled by that accusation, calling Checketts "worn out" and "tired," adding that the RSL owner hadn't properly "shown the color of his money."

Beautiful. That was a lonely bit of entertainment in an otherwise dreary process - "I made mistakes," Checketts said Thursday night, "and learned lessons" - that droned on and on, numbing everyone on both sides of the debate over the use of public money for an MLS stadium.

Well. That money, along with private cash, was finally approved and delivered for the finished product, all of which was enhanced by 20,000 fans, most of whom acted sorely impressed.

That last thing kept coming back to mind as RSL battled the Red Bulls: the community.

The benefits to the community.

Not everyone is a soccer fan, and there might be some in the state who never will watch a game here. But for those who are, or might, the course walked, the expenditures made, the hotel-tax dollars collected, will be more than worth the sorry sojourn.

There are a few who will benefit financially more than others in this whole deal. Still, the larger advantages of having one more sports option, something fans - from the hardcore to those still undecided about soccer - can potentially rally around will trump the disadvantages.

Especially if Checketts now builds a team competitively deserving of its home.

Bottom line: Sports in Utah won on Thursday night, even if the home team didn't.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Monson and Graham Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com.