Real Salt Lake

Infobox Football club
clubname = Real Salt Lake


fullname = Real Salt Lake
nickname = RSL, Real, Royals, Red & Blue Army
motto = "Committed to the Core" (2008)
shortname =
founded = 2004
dissolved =
ground = Rio Tinto Stadium
Sandy, UT
capacity = 20,000
chrtitle = Owner
chairman = flagicon|USA SCP Worldwide
ceo =
mgrtitle = Coach
manager = flagicon|USA Jason Kreis
league = Major League Soccer
season =
position = 2nd Place Western Conf.
7th Place Overall
(As of 8/17/08)
pattern_la1=_yellowshoulders |pattern_b1=_bluestriped_sides |pattern_ra1=_yellowshoulders
leftarm1=000080 |body1=FF0000 |rightarm1=000080 |shorts1=000080 |socks1=000080
pattern_la2= _shoulder_stripes_white_shirt_alt |pattern_b2=_thinredsides |pattern_ra2= _shoulder_stripes_white_shirt_alt
leftarm2= 000080 |body2=FFFFFF |rightarm2= 000080 |shorts2=FFFFFF |socks2=FFFFFF
firstgame = Real Salt Lake 0 — 0 MetroStars
"(Giants Stadium; April 2, 2005)"
largestwin = 4–0 vs D.C. United,
"(Rice-Eccles Stadium; April 12, 2008)"
worstdefeat = 0–6 vs New York Red Bulls
"(Giants Stadium; August 26, 2006)"
topscorer = Jeff Cunningham (18)
fansgroup = Rogue Cavaliers Brigade,
The Loyalists,
Frank Castle Brigade.
honours =
American = true

Real Salt Lake is an American soccer club that is based in the Salt Lake City, Utah suburb of Sandy that began playing in Major League Soccer in 2005. The team currently plays its home games at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The word "Real" in the team's name is derived from the Spanish language. It is traditionally used in the names of certain Spanish soccer clubs such as Real Madrid that play in La Liga. It is roughly pronounced "ray-al", with the accent on the "al". It is translated into English as "royal".

Dave Checketts and SCP Worldwide partners Dean Howes, Kenneth Munoz, Michael McCarthy and Chris Bevilacqua, chose Real Salt Lake for the team's name because they desired to associate the team with a successful soccer club, Real Madrid, as well as to develop a brand that was clearly associated with Football.

The team's name was initially met with derision in the fan community. Many fans thought the name should more accurately reflect the Salt Lake area.Fact|date=June 2008 In the passing years, the criticism from local fans and the media has waned, and the club has instituted a formal relationship with Real Madrid. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20060902/ai_n16711063 Real Madrid will be back in '08] ] The team colors are claret red, cobalt blue, and Real gold. [ [http://web.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20041009&content_id=16397&vkey=news_slr&fext=.jsp&team=slr Real Salt Lake colors] ]

History

The other team names considered were: Salt Lake City Highlanders, Salt Lake Soccer Club, Alliance Soccer Club and Union SLC. [ [http://ussoccerplayers.typepad.com/ussoccerplayers/2008/04/sounders-alread.html USSoccerPlayers: Sounders Already Scoring ] ]

RSL's coach is former MLS all-time regular season scoring leader Jason Kreis. He retired as a player on May 3rd, 2007 and took over coaching duties. Kreis was also RSL's first player signed.

Their first head coach was John Ellinger, former coach of the Under-17 United States national team and the head of USSF's Bradenton Academy. After being replaced by Kreis, Ellinger remained with the team as technical director/director of soccer operations through August 2007.

Salt Lake City was formerly home to the USL Second Division's Utah Blitzz, which folded about the time Real Salt Lake formed. The Blitzz had won the USLSD's championship in their final year of existence. Blitzz head coach Chris Agnello was hired as an assistant coach for Real Salt Lake, but left after their inaugural season.

RSL's major rivals are the Colorado Rapids, which it competes with for the annual Rocky Mountain Cup, and C.D. Chivas USA, a fellow expansion team in 2005.

On November 17, 2006, XanGo announced a multi-million dollar deal to be advertised on the front of RSL's jersey.

Nearly a month later, RSL announced the high-profile acquisition of the American teenage phenomenon Freddy Adu for the 2007 season. Adu later left Real Salt Lake midway through the season to play in Portugal.

The team won the Rocky Mountain Cup in the 2007 season.

Real Salt Lake has five current hard-core supporters groups: The Loyalists, Rogue Cavaliers Brigade, The FCB (Frank Castle Brigade), Salt Lake Elite, North Side Crew, and a sixth supporters group for the 2009-2010 season called Brother Brigham's Hit Squad.

tadium issues

In 2005 a soccer-specific stadium for the team was approved for Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. However, funding for the stadium was still hard to come by. A vote in early 2006 struck down a funding proposal for the stadium. However, Tom Dolan, the mayor of Sandy, said that he would not give up on his fight to approve the proposal in Sandy. The funding plan was revised, but was struck down later in 2006 over disagreements in the appropriation of millions of hotel-tax dollars for a financially unproven sports franchise. The proposal for Sandy was declared "dead" by Checketts at that point, putting the team's future in doubt. Dave Checketts said that he wanted the team to remain in Utah, but would sell it if a proposal was not put forward by August 12, 2006.

Parties from several cities, including Rochester, New York [ [http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060713/SPORTS05/607130354/1007/SPORTS Rhinos confirm talk with MLS club in Utah] ] and St Louis, Missouri, expressed interest in purchasing the franchise and moving it. Other stadium sites in the area were also proposed, including the Utah State Fairgrounds in Salt Lake, and the tiny town of Vineyard, just west of Provo. Finally, on the very day Checketts had set as a deadline to have a stadium plan in place or decide to sell the team, and after months of up and down discussions with local municipalities, county, and state officials and a change in the funding structure, a tacit agreement between Checkets, Sandy City, and Salt Lake County was put in place, and Real Salt Lake announced that they would move forward with the construction of Real Salt Lake Stadium, [ [http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20060812&content_id=68933&vkey=pr_rsl&fext=.jsp&team=rsl Real Salt Lake joined by Real Madrid Saturday at 12:00 noon to break ground on Sandy stadium site] ] which would ultimately be named Rio Tinto Stadium. The groundbreaking, coinciding with the Xango Cup, Real's match against international power Real Madrid, took place that afternoon featuring elected leaders, team officials, as well as the entire rosters of both Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid. On August 15, the deal was officially approved by the Salt Lake County Council. [ [http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_227233529.html KUTV news - Soccer stadium finally a ReALity] ]

The stadium plan encountered difficulties however after the Debt Review Committee of Salt Lake County voted against the stadium proposal 4 — 0 on January 26, 2007 citing what they saw as Real Salt Lake's financial inviability as the reasoning behind the lack of support. County mayor Corroon concurred with the DRC and the stadium plan was effectively killed on January 29, 2007. In response Real Salt Lake's owner announced the team would be sold and likely move out of the Salt Lake area after the 2007 season. [ [http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,655192248,00.html KSL Newsradio: Soccer stadium deal is dead] ]

On January 30, 2007, local private business expressed serious interest in keeping the team in Utah. Anderson Geneva, in response to the stadium rejection, [http://www.andersondirt.com/blog/?p=57 offered the club 30 acres of land] on which to build their stadium and multi use center, and offered the land for free. The land was estimated to be worth US$10 million.

The Sandy Stadium proposal was not completely dead, however: a new stadium proposal was made on February 2, that would divert 15 percent, roughly $2 million a year, of the county's hotel taxes to the stadium project beginning in July until 2017. [ [http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5141310 Stadium plan: It's ba-a-ack!] ] Such a deal would have to have been made by February 9, or the deal would have been completely off. [ [http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660192342,00.html Stadium deal due by Friday — or else] ] The bill was passed by the State Senate. [ [http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5169527 Senate paves way for a Sandy stadium] ]

After Governor Huntsman made a move that would allow the team to remain in Salt Lake County: the Utah House approved House bill 1SHB38, by a 48-24 margin, effectively approving $35 million towards the development of Real Salt Lake's new home. The governor was expected to sign the bill, [ [http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20070208&content_id=83327&vkey=news_rsl&fext=.jsp&team=t121 Utah House approves stadium funds] ] and ultimately did so.

Sandy City, along with the state of Utah and representatives of the team, finally came to an agreement regarding the placement of the Real stadium. The deal was shot down about a week prior to the agreement by the Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon saying it was too risky. However, Utah's governor, Jon Huntsman, Jr. said that soccer was here to stay. The $110 million dollar stadium was built in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Rossetti's California office was the architecture firm responsible for the design of the new stadium. The stadium's opening date was set for October 9 when Real Salt Lake hosted the New York Red Bulls. [cite news|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_10105238 |title=RSL confirms Oct. 9 stadium opening |publisher="The Salt Lake Tribune" |date=2008-08-05 |accessdate=2008-08-05]

Real Madrid and Youth Academy

As of September of the 2006 season, Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid have signed a 10-year co-operative agreement. Among the provisions of the deal are a biennial friendly match between the two teams to take place in Salt Lake City, annual February training for RSL at the Real Madrid practice facility in Spain, and, perhaps most importantly, the creation of a $25 million elite youth academy in SLC that will train up to 200 players from ages 12 to 18. [ [http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_4273347 Salt Lake Tribune article] announcing the RSL-RM deal] The academy, a co-operative project for which Real Madrid will pay half the cost, will include academic facilities and dormitory housing, arguably becoming the first true soccer "youth system" in MLS, along with the Red Bull Academy effort of Red Bull New York. In this sense, it is part of a growing league-wide trend toward the emphasis of youth development, a trend which has been encouraged by the main office and jump-started by the league's decision to allow individual teams to maintain rights to the products of potential youth development systems.

Rocky Mountain Cup

With Major League Soccer's expansion in 2005, Real Salt Lake became the second team in the Rocky Mountain region and the Colorado Rapids' closest neighbor. The supporters of the two clubs created a competition between the two sides to foster and memorialize this budding rivalry. Colorado won the Rocky Mountain Cup in its inaugural year, 9 points to 3, and successfully defended the Cup in 2006 by a margin of 7 points to 4. Real Salt Lake won the Rocky Mountain Cup in the 2007 Season, 7 points to 4 points.

Television and radio

Radio broadcasts are on KALL AM 700 (English) and KTUB AM 1600 (Spanish)

KSL-TV and FSN Utah will handle local television broadcasts.

tadiums

* Rice-Eccles Field (2005-2008)
* Rio Tinto Stadium (2008-)

ongs

The post-victory song is the Bob Marley anthem, "Iron Lion Zion". It was decided after an internal vote, because it fit the team's criteria for a celebration song.
The team anthem is called “The Mighty R-E-A-L” and is performed by Indie rock group and Utah natives Meg & Dia. [ [http://www.adidas.com/us/campaigns/mls/content/site.asp adidas MLS Soccer ] ]

Players

Current Roster

"As of August 21, 2008." [http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/players/roster.jsp?club=t121]

Notable former players

"This list of former players includes those who received international caps while playing for the team, made significant contributions to the team in terms of appearances or goals while playing for the team, or who made significant contributions to the sport either before they played for the team, or after they left. It is clearly not yet complete and all inclusive, and additions and refinements will continue to be made over time."

* Freddy Adu (2007)
* Gustavo Cabrera (2005)
* Jeff Cunningham (2006–2007)
* Alecko Eskandarian (2007–2008)
* Scott Garlick (2006)
* Chris Klein (2006–2007)
* Jason Kreis (2005–2007)
* Clint Mathis (2005)
* Eddie Pope (2005–2007)

Head coaches

* John Ellinger (2005–2007)
* Jason Kreis (2007—)

Team records

* Games: flagicon|Jamaica Andy Williams, 55
* Goals: flagicon|USA Jeff Cunningham, 18
* Assists: flagicon|USA Javier Morales, 13
* Shutouts: flagicon|USA Nick Rimando 7
* Single Season Goals: flagicon|USA Jeff Cunningham, 16 (2006)
* Single Season Assists: flagicon|USA Javier Morales, 13 (2008)"MLS regular season only, through 2006 season"

* All-Time regular season record: 21-50-23 ("Through Oct. 21, 2007")

Year-by-year

Average attendance

"regular season/playoffs"
* 2005: 18,037/missed playoffs
* 2006: 16,366/missed playoffs
* 2007: 15,960/missed playoffs
* 2008: 14,855/ TBD (As of July 29, 2008)

References

Official Sponsor

* XanGo

External links

* [http://www.keepinitrealsl.blogspot.com Keepin' it Real - where RSL fans come to Keep it Real]
* [http://www.realsaltlake.com Real Salt Lake.com]
* [http://www.rslstadium.com rslstadium.com - official Sandy stadium preview Website]
* [http://www.realsaltlake.org/ Real Salt Lake News and Information]
* [http://rockymountaincup.com/ Rocky Mountain Cup Website]
* [http://www.theloyalists.com/ The Loyalists]
* [http://www.rougecavaliers.com/ The RCB Supporters Club]
* [http://www.rslaudio.com/ The Unofficial RSL Audio Archive]
* [http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=956 Official Real Salt Lake board, courtesy of BigSoccer]
* [http://mlsnet.com The OFFICIAL Major league Soccer Website]
* [http://www.aylsoccer.com/ Are You Loyal? - Real Salt Lake Podcast and Blog]
* [http://www.rslfm.com/ The RSLFM Report - RSL News, Information & Commentary]
* [http://www.themindofscads.com/ The Mind of Scads - A Real Salt Lake Soccer Blog]
* [http://www.rsltothecore.com/rslblog/ Behind the Shield - Real Salt lake's official team blog]
* [http://www.rslfans.com RSLFANS.com]
* [http://www.rsltothecore.com Official blog of Real Salt Lake]