Sandy • It’s the middle of a Real Salt Lake game at America First Field. They bellow “Dale, dale, dale Real” at the top of their lungs in Spanish, clamoring for their team to score. Their chants are supported by the thundering drums of Hispanic supporter group La Barra Real keeping time.
The supporters section at the south goal of RSL’s home stadium has always been the rowdiest area at games. But this year, something is both missing and new.
Before the start of the 2023 season, the organization ripped out the seats of sections 9, 10 and 11 on the south end and installed long metal poles in their place. It created a safe-standing section for the most fervent fans to stay on their feet for all 90 minutes.
“Safe standing is what makes soccer,” said Todd Nate, president of the Riot Brigade, one of the several RSL supporter groups.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of La Barra Real cheer on Real Salt Lake during their game against the LA Galaxy, May 31, 2023.
In past years, chants from RSL supporters came from different parts of the stadium. The groups were fractured, disjointed. The family-oriented wanted nothing to do with the rambunctious, and vice versa.
It’s taken several efforts to solve the issue. In 2019, The Riot formed as an umbrella group in an effort to unify all the supporters under one flag. After the pandemic and an ownership change, The Riot and the club re-emphasized unification.
But the addition of the safe-standing section appears to be what’s actually making everyone come together.
“It helps bring unification within the groups, which is something that is really important for us to do as supporters,” said Zac Barnes, supporter liaison with RSL. “By having everyone stand shoulder to shoulder and be able to move around and not be restricted by ticketed seats, [it] allows that intermingling of the groups, people singing more songs.”
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) “Safe standing is what makes soccer,” said Todd Nate, president of the Riot Brigade, one of the several RSL supporter groups.
Safe-standing was slated to arrive at America First Field last August. Tyler Gibbons, vice president of marketing and game production at RSL, said it didn’t happen because the club kept adding special games and visits from outside teams at the stadium. Those conflicted with needing 15 days of no events to install the poles.
Gibbons added that the club needed clearance from the Sandy City Fire Department to create a safe-standing section, which also contributed to the delays.
Now that safe-standing is here, though, supporters say the experience has been largely positive.
“We got more chants than when we had the chairs,” La Barra Real leader Carlos “Pirata” Dominguez said.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Juan Garcia and fellow members of La Barra Real cheer on Real Salt Lake during their game against the LA Galaxy, May 31, 2023.
Part of installing the safe-standing section on at the south goal also involved moving La Barra to the center of the section. That seemingly minor change has actually paid dividends. Dominguez said he has noticed more people get involved with chanting, clapping and singing as a result of the move.
Supporters have wanted safe-standing since before Ryan Smith and David Blitzer bought the club in January 2022. But conversations about it generally fell on deaf ears, supporters said.
Keaton Harward — a “capo” of The Riot, which means he’s one of the chant leaders at the south goal — said the feedback supporters usually got from previous ownership regarding safe-standing was, “Maybe someday,” and a lot of what he termed “half-promises.” Nate said there was a lack of understanding of the fan base and seemed to invoke Dell Loy Hansen.
“I don’t think the last ownership knew what the soccer culture was,” Nate said. “Instead of building safe-standing, he built a humongous TV.”
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) More people get involved with chanting, clapping and singing as a result moving fan groups around, La Barra Real leader Carlos Dominguez said.
That “humongous TV” Nate referenced is the video board that sits atop the supporter section. It was installed in 2015 as one of the many upgrades that have been made to the stadium over the years.
But ironically, it stands in the way of making that side of the stadium a true, more vertical and imposing safe-standing area a la Orlando City, Minnesota United or Borussia Dortmund.
“That’s why the design is the way that it is,” Gibbons said of the RSL’s current safe-standing situation.
Conversations are already underway for expanding the safe-standing section in the future. But how exactly that’ll happen is unclear. One idea has been moving the large video board, an endeavor that would cost a significant amount of money. Another idea is relocating the supporters to the north end of the stadium, where there is more room above the stands.
But before any of that can happen, the club and supporters both need to see the area at full tilt for a while.
“The people that show up will define how big we can make this go,” Harward said.
For now, safe-standing will continue under a trial basis. But the trajectory and potential of it look promising.
“We’re just happy to give people what they need and what they want to have a good time here,” Gibbons said.
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