But a sideline distraction - including questions about whether RSL will find a permanent home in Utah or bolt - threatens to swallow the show.

At a Tuesday news conference welcoming David Beckham & Co. to Utah, Checketts acknowledged he still has not found a stadium solution for his second-year franchise.

Checketts reaffirmed his Saturday deadline for deciding RSL's fate, and later ruled out relocating the team himself to Utah County - though he said developers there might be able to bid on the franchise as early as Sunday.

His choice for a stadium remains Sandy, but Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis confirmed he intends to yank the $90 million in hotel taxes once slated as seed money for a suburban venue and steer it toward train transit instead during a September special legislative session.

"I want a soccer stadium for Sandy as much as anyone else," Curtis said. "But you learn to accept defeat as gracefully as possible and use the money for some other needed project."

Checketts told the sports radio station, 1280 TheZone, that two out-of-state parties have lined up to buy the team. Suitors in St. Louis and Rochester, N.Y., reportedly have shown interest.

At the news conference, Checketts said RSL will have an announcement regarding its future and a possible stadium location by Saturday, but would not give any indication what that might be.

"I don't have an answer yet, but I am going to take the week and really look for one," he said. "And, by Saturday, we will have an answer, one way or another."

Pressed about the remaining options he has for the proposed stadium after Salt Lake County leaders denied a funding request for one in Sandy last month, the owner of the NHL's St. Louis Blues said he has a plan, but will not divulge it.

"I wouldn't get to three days before [his self-imposed deadline] and not have one option I'm not focused on," he said. "But I'm not going to say what that is."

Checketts said he has done everything in his power to convince elected officials he is serious about keeping RSL in Utah, but has not received any assurances about a funding plan to help build a stadium.

RSL's owner told the radio station he reacted "very poorly" after the County Council rejected the Sandy stadium plan. "I wish I had not done that," he conceded.

County Councilman Joe Hatch insists Sandy still could resurrect a stadium without hotel taxes. The revenue, he says, could be raised by a combination of redevelopment money and a "very tiny" tax hike.

"The question is: Do they have the political will to do it?"

Officials from Salt Lake City and Sandy have been scurrying for a stadium solution for weeks.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has proposed the stadium land at the Utah State Fairpark. However, he recently backed off that idea and supports it at Sandy so he can preserve funding options to build a performing arts center downtown. "I'm great with Sandy landing the soccer stadium," Anderson said late last month. "I want to make sure the team stays in Utah. I also think there are ways to raise the funding for a major performing arts center."

Utah County developers, who own the former Geneva Steel site in Vineyard, have aggressively pursued RSL, offering free land or to buy the team outright.

Checketts said the dream to lure Real Madrid was hatched nearly two years ago. "We are going to be around the clock, 24-7 up until Saturday, and I hope I have something positive to report on Saturday."

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Tribune reporters Glen Warchol and Heather May contributed to this story.