When Jazz owner Larry Miller's lease is up on the venue's land in 2040, Salt Lake City, through its Redevelopment Agency, will take control of the arena and the property.

It's just one part of the deal the city brokered with Miller when he sought a taxpayer subsidy to help build the arena in 1990.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson outlined such details to City Council members in hopes of persuading them to give Real Salt Lake a similar package if the Major League Soccer team wants to build a stadium at the Utah State Fairpark.

Miller has bristled at subsidy comparisons between the Jazz and RSL. And no wonder: Miller got more for his arena than RSL owner Dave Checketts would receive for a Fairpark stadium. And if Checketts picks Sandy, RSL's subsidy - when adjusted for inflation - would be close to Miller's.

Anderson calls Miller's comments last week to reporters - in which Miller called Checketts' plans ill-conceived - "mind-blowing."

"I can understand somebody else saying they don't believe in government assistance to private businesses," the mayor said Monday. "You only have to look at the facts to see that Larry Miller's basketball team and baseball team would not be here without many millions of dollars in public subsidies."

"I think it's really nice that David's got a champion in Rocky," retorted Miller on Monday night at halftime during the Jazz-Bulls game at the EnergySolutions Arena.

Anderson wants to offer Checketts $12.5 million for a Fairpark soccer venue. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is pushing a stadium in Sandy with subsidies topping $50 million.

According to figures provided by Anderson, here's what Utah's capital did for Miller in 1990:

* Issued an approximate $25 million bond (roughly equivalent to $38.6 million in 2006 dollars) to pay for land under the basketball venue and associated infrastructure. To pay off the bond - the final installment is in 2015 - the RDA spends $2.3 million a year. That amount that will balloon to $7.5 million a year in the last seven years.

* Arranged a dollar-a-year lease on land for the arena.

While Miller has said he is paying back the bond, that isn't entirely accurate.

He pays property taxes, which help pay part of the bond. It's impossible to say whether other developments spurred by the arena have generated enough property taxes to pay the rest.

"To a small degree, his property taxes would retire a small portion of the debt," said Valda Tarbet, acting director of the city's RDA. It's "not a substantial amount."

Miller sees it differently.

"We are paying it back through the tax increments. I haven't seen anything where Checketts is willing to do the same thing. All I see is him with his hand out asking for money," he said.

At the end of Miller's 50-year lease, in 2040, the RDA will take over the land and the arena - though the venue could be woefully outdated by then.

"It's uncertain what the value of that stadium, at the end of 50 years, will be," Tarbet said.

Salt Lake City also subsidized construction of Franklin Covey Field, which Miller now leases as owner of Triple-A baseball's Salt Lake Bees.

The RDA spends $600,000 a year to pay off an $18 million bond on the stadium. Eventually, the RDA will pay $1.7 million a year. The city also underwrites the baseball venue's annual operations, by $100,000 a year.

Those costs used to run more - $300,000 - but the city reworked the deal after Miller bought the baseball team in 2005.

"I reduced that subsidy," Anderson said. "It has not been eliminated. Larry Miller didn't want it reduced. So much for not wanting government help with private business."

Miller said the lease payments he makes for Franklin Covey Field have gone up during Anderson's tenure.

"We're paying triple what we were paying before Rocky," he said.

It's not unusual for RDAs to help subsidize private-business ventures. Salt Lake City is pitching in money for a new office tower on Main Street and West Valley City helped the Newspaper Agency Corp., which handles printing, advertising and circulation for The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News.

hmay@sltrib.com

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Tribune reporter Lya Wodraska contributed to this story.