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It's fair to say Wednesday is a monumental day for Real Salt Lake. Not on the field, but a few blocks west of downtown Salt Lake City as team owner Dell Loy Hansen prepares to discuss his vision of a potential minor-league soccer stadium at the Utah State Fairpark Wednesday afternoon.

Hansen will meet with the Fairpark Board of Directors, a 14-member board of people from all around Utah, needing a unanimous vote of approval and support from the entire board to begin negotiations with what is anticipated to be an 8,000-seat stadium. RSL's owner has already proposed paying the entire cost of construction, currently estimated at $13 to $18 million.

On Sept. 2, the Fairpark's chairmen of the board gave the initial green light to further along discussion with Hansen for a potential deal to be struck. The stadium, should it be passed by the board, will be home to eventual home to RSL's minor-league affiliate USL Pro team.

In an interview with the Tribune on Aug. 22, Hansen answered questions posed regarding the inclusion of the USL Pro team, a potential stadium and why the owner has been adamant about finding a home for an affiliate in the last year.

The location was sought after largely for the location and demographic, Hansen said. With Rio Tinto Stadium and RSL firmly entrenched in the south Salt Lake Valley, it was ideal to find a way to reach the soccer audience near downtown Salt Lake City, into northern Utah and the west part of the valley.

There are some initial plans in place for to enhance local soccer leagues to be played at the new venue. Hansen said early plans are to form a Sunday soccer exhibit for Latin recreational leagues, games that will start in the morning and run through the late afternoon.

"We want to build a very deep connection to the Latin [soccer] fans in Utah," Hansen said. "Part of the [minor league] stadium is to deepen that."

Also mentioned was the formation of a potential women's league that Hansen would like to get started sometime in 2016 when the USL Pro team transitions from playing its 2015 schedule at Rio Tinto Stadium — expected to be 14 matches — to the downtown minor-league stadium.

When asked how the potential stadium could be integral to the growth of the club, Hansen said it's always been a primary focus.

"We need to take our U-12s and U-13s to prepare them to go through the [Arizona-based] academy, from the academy, we need to bring through our USL team and we need to move it to MLS," he said. "From the ground up, we need those players playing our style from 12 to 22, so if you play like RSL plays for 10 years, under our coaching formulas, you're going to walk onto the field and we're going have minimal transition. The obvious goal is to have more and more players like Barcelona that are Homegrown … we've taken lessons from that and we bought the religion hook, line and sinker. We're fully committed."

Hansen pointed to the success of RSL's Arizona-based residential academy in Casa Grande, Ariz., a program that continues to churn out professional and Division-1 soccer players to schools around the country and win youth-level trophies. Ideally, the USL Pro team will serve as just another stepping stone for players on the fringe of the first team or trying to make a serious impression as an up-and-coming talent.

"[USL players] will spend a lot of time practicing with the primary team, so the coaches are getting looks at both sides all the time," Hansen said. "Having [the stadium] close is there, but developing the soccer and the fan base on the north and west ends of Salt Lake, we think, is the right thing to do."

RSL coach Jeff Cassar said the USL Pro team will undoubtedly be a buffer between the Grande Sports Academy south of Phoenix and the first team in Sandy. Cassar said the minor-league team should prove to be "a great tool" for players who aren't ready to contribute first-team minutes.

"With their performance there, then they put themselves into consideration and then it's an easy transition," Cassar said last week. "And it's wonderful they're going to be right in our backyard, so I can go watch them play, the coaches can go watch them play and really have a good understanding of the player."

Fairpark executive director Michael Steele said Hansen has been exploring the possibility of a 40-year lease agreement with the Fairpark should the board give a unanimous thumbs up Wednesday afternoon.

"[The board] wants this thing to succeed," Steele said last week. "They see this as potential to help get us there. This is a big deal."

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'They're where we want to be' • RSL is no stranger to the big games. The players are, in fact, brutally familiar with being featured in high-scale outings during the club's six-consecutive seasons making the postseason. Against league-leading Sounders — of whom RSL currently trails by five points in the West — the 90 minutes at CenturyLink Field will give a deeper look into where the club stands with six weeks remaining.

"I think the fact that we've had so many meaningful games with Seattle in the past, and we're going to play either Seattle or L.A. in the playoffs — it's going to be inevitable," defender Tony Beltran said of felt pressure. "We're going to go into this game, yes it is a big game, it's a pivotal game in the Supporters' Shield race, but you prepare and do the same things preparation wise, but you're conscience of that; that it's this stage of the season and it's a little more meaningful."

Midfielder Ned Grabavoy said simply: "We know what they're about, they know what we're about."

"It's obviously a really good team, a team that's been successful the last few seasons and they obviously have a great home-field advantage and it's a very difficult place to play," Grabavoy continued. "But we're used to all of that. For us, I don't think we place too much on onus in the beginning of the week that it's a bigger game than any other. We know the atmosphere is bigger, we know it's a very, very good opponent, but at the same time: Three points is three points in this league, so each game is important here down the stretch."

Cassar said unlike in recent weeks where the club has faced Eastern Conference opponents, middling West clubs or clubs nipping at their heels, Seattle is a team RSL is looking up to.

"You're trying to get to where they're at," Cassar said. "When you're playing somebody that is below you, you're trying to keep them down … they're where we want to be and to get there, you have to beat those teams. If we come out with the right energy, passion and commitment and focus [Friday], it could be a good day for us."

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No one is safe • Grabavoy was his usual ruminative self Tuesday after training. I asked the 11th-year MLS midfielder if he's turned to studying the standings on a daily — or even weekly — basis as his club continues down the stretch part of the regular season. He said it's become more of a habit with the league growing and the parity still rampant in MLS. RSL remains five points behind Seattle in the West and the Supporters' Shield race with seven games remaining, including Friday night's showdown at CenturyLink.

However, Grabavoy cautioned at the notion — as did captain Kyle Beckerman last week — of entertaining Supporters' Shield talk prematurely.

"I've seen in past seasons where teams sit there seven, eight games from the final week and maybe all they do is preach Supporters' Shield and maybe they burn themselves out a little bit, I think," Grabavoy explained. "It's obviously a great test for us this weekend, but in saying that, I think we just want to continue to get better and keep going.

"I do think there is some importance to avoid playing in the 4-5 first round game, so you would like to be in the Top 3, and so we still have some work to do to make sure that happens. There's plenty to play for, and no one is safe at this point."

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-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani