After a spate of politicking - and an unlikely alliance - the necessary five votes now appear lined up on the Salt Lake County Council to deliver a soccer-and-entertainment complex to Sandy.

At the same time, Salt Lake City may land its coveted cultural district, perhaps with a Broadway-style theater as an anchor. And the Legislature may boost the Zoo, Arts and Parks tax to fund the mega-playhouse.

So how did the tide suddenly turn on the floundering stadium scheme?

Key County Council members believe there is a deal of sorts: Sandy scores soccer, while the capital raises its curtain for a theater district.

Councilman Randy Horiuchi maintained there is no ''tie'' between a ZAP increase and soccer, but, at the same time, he boasted, ''we were able to find a meeting of the minds that demonstrates we're putting a package together where everyone's coming out a winner.''

On Friday morning, Horiuchi huddled with Republican House Speaker Greg Curtis and Salt Lake City Democratic Mayor Rocky Anderson.

The power brokers insist there is no agreement. But hours after the meeting, Anderson called to lobby County Councilman David Wilde, considered the swing vote on the stadium proposal.

"I'm nervous about it, but on balance it seems like the right thing to do," Wilde said late Friday. "If we go through with this deal, we can not only use it for the soccer stadium, but [also] some other good projects, including some in the [Murray/Taylorsville] area I represent."

Sandy hopes to tap up to $35 million in county hotel taxes - Horiuchi says the figure may dip below $30 million - plus $10 million in Redevelopment Agency cash to fund land and infrastructure for a 20,000-seat soccer-specific stadium near 9400 South State Street.

The suburb sees the public investment as "seed money" for a massive $650 million development, complete with retail, restaurants, housing and offices. Critics say that so-called "Phase 2" is the element that Real Salt Lake and their investors most covet.

Councilman Joe Hatch says the terms of the tweaked deal include doling out $90 million in hotel taxes as follows: $30 million for the Sandy stadium, $50 million for a downtown cultural district, which would include a renovated Utah Theatre and a remodeled Capitol Theatre, and $10 million for other county projects, including fields and recreation projects for the southern and western parts of the valley.

But it is the $50 million for Salt Lake City cultural amenities that won Hatch over.

"If those of us that love downtown and want to see the projects there can use Sandy soccer to get some of those things, more power to it," Hatch said.

Another aspect: a proposed hike in the ZAP sales tax - from the current 0.10 percent to possibly 0.17 percent - to bankroll a Lincoln Center-type performing-arts complex, which would include a Broadway theater, smaller multi-use theaters, a restaurant and a live-music venue.

That ZAP bump could provide $10 million a year, according to Hatch.

"Having those two pots of money would definitely allow us to build this thing," Horiuchi said. "That would also allow us to get Japan Town [a makeover for a historic Japanese area west of the Salt Palace]."

Anderson pitched the downtown cultural venues - he envisioned the performing-arts center on Earl Holding property near the federal courthouse - to Curtis and others this week.

"I thought there might be a way to work out something that would be a win for everybody," Anderson said.

Curtis said Friday he is intrigued, but he quashed any rumbling of a quid pro quo. "I politely but unequivocally said that I wasn't going to do that."

The House speaker did say he may shepherd a funding bill through the Legislature for the performing-arts center once he sees hard numbers. Downtown Salt Lake City, the Sandy lawmaker agreed, is where a Broadway theater belongs.

"I might - 'might' being the operative word. We don't have a deal yet."

Curtis stunned insiders last week when he suggested hotel taxes could be used for an airport TRAX line if the county rejects Sandy's stadium plan.

Officially, Anderson is advocating the stadium be at the Utah State Fairpark. But the mayor says he would take a $70 million to $80 million performing-arts center over a $100 million soccer stadium "in a heartbeat."

Still, Anderson cautioned, "nobody's proposing right now that those two be linked together in any way."

County Mayor Peter Corroon, a fellow Democrat, agrees the two subjects should be separate.

"Mayor Anderson's goal is to improve downtown. Mayor [Tom] Dolan's goal is to improve Sandy. My goal is to improve the entire county," Corroon said. "I have to look at the big picture."

That wider vision is why County Councilman Mark Crockett says he opposes funneling countywide taxes to a Sandy stadium and a downtown theater. He insists the whole scheme is "out of proportion with countywide benefits."

Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, whom Anderson also lobbied Friday, said she has not changed her stand against Sandy's proposal.

"This, to me, is not about an additional project. It's: Will the team make it? How long will it take to prove it? And is the funding mechanism viable for the county?"

On Tuesday, Wilson will present an alternative: Keep RSL at Rice-Eccles Stadium until the team proves it is solvent.

djensen@sltrib.com

hmay@sltrib.com

What's next?

The nine-member Salt Lake County Council will debate - and perhaps vote on - the soccer stadium proposal Tuesday at the County Government Center at 9 a.m.

The proposal appears to have five votes, but not a veto-proof sixth. So will Mayor Peter Corroon kill this plan - as he did a previous one? So far, he is not saying.

"It's hard for me to understand a deal I haven't seen," he says. "I'm going to try to take the politics out of it and just deal with the numbers."

If Corroon vetoes, will the Legislature punish the county? House Speaker Greg Curtis pledges, "no."

But he expects the county to come to the Legislature and seek permission for how to spend the $90 million in hotel taxes. For his part, if Sandy fails to land the stadium, Curtis will push for the taxes to help fund a light-rail line to Salt Lake City International Airport and nothing else.

"Their pool of money goes away," Curtis said. "We're funding something [light rail] that all of us want."

Who gets what in Salt Lake County

* Real Salt Lake gets its 20,000-seat suburban stadium.

* Sandy gets the stadium and a mega-development of shops, offices, restaurants and condos.

* Salt Lake City gets a cultural district, including a restored Utah Theatre and a renovated Capitol Theatre.

* Salt Lake City gets additional ZAP money for a "Lincoln Center-style" performing-arts complex, including a Broadway theater.