A new “owner” for Real Salt Lake
So yesterday on a tip from a fan at the RSL vs. Columbus match (thanks Kramer) I said that I had some news that would shake RSL to it’s very foundations and with some research help from Aj, I am now able to explain more fully my announcement. It is no exaggeration that bringing in a new “partner” will eventually make everyone’s news but I have heard rumblings that the deal which according to the article was supposed to be finished late last week may have run into a couple delays and that may be why it hasn’t been covered by anyone other than the Enterprise (a Salt Lake weekly business newspaper) which proclaims that Dell Loy Hansen will purchase 49% of the club from SCP Worldwide which is headed by Dave Checketts. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, Hansen is president of Wasatch Property Management Inc, which holds several big buildings in downtown Salt Lake City, including the Wells Fargo Tower, Ken Garff Building, and the Chase Building, its overall portfolio is valued at more than 1.2 billion dollars. Folks if you don’t think this shakes things up, well consider the following:
“I’ll be considered a local partner” said Hansen; he added “I’ll be primarily responsible for financial, payables and sponsorship relationships with Real.” He has some interesting ideas about establishing the brand into office buildings and even residential communities where players and staff will live.
So this opens up a number of questions on why now, could it be that Dave is looking for capital to boost his bid to become the owner of the St. Louis Rams? Could it be caused by the ouster of Rush Limbaugh from the group behind Dave’s bid? Could Dave be looking to start another MLS franchise in St. Louis? The league and fans have wanted a team there for a long time but they have always fell short because they could not find a financial backer. Could this be part of an infusion of capital for RSL to make that big move in the off season and get Dave’s man from Real Madrid? One has to wonder about how much the deal is worth, with new MLS franchises going for about $40 million dollars and a stadium valued at $110 million plus(or that least that is close to the costs) this deal could be worth almost $75 million dollars a huge boost for SCP Worldwide and RSL.
Here are scans of the original article
To see a larger image go to http://connect.roguecavaliers.com/photo/rsl-article-20091102apage1?context=user
to see a larger image go to: http://connect.roguecavaliers.com/photo/rsl-article-20091102apage2?context=latest
I am not sure what this move means for RSL as only time will tell but with the team making progress in attendance, revenue, and is in a conference final for the second straight year, I find myself hoping that too many owners doesn’t ruin the team. I love that the team may have some extra funds which could depending on the results of the CBA with the MLS Players Union open up new slots, this could be a great way to build up an academy system, designated players, big time international friendlies, and any other number of positive things. I don’t know enough about Hansen to form an opinion one way or another yet, but as I said yesterday this will shake RSL to its very foundations.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
win once go to seattle, win twice make history
This entry was posted on November 7, 2009 at 1:00 am and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
November 7, 2009 at 2:29 am
“the Real?”
November 7, 2009 at 3:59 am
(Tried to respond from my phone and it got angry at me; apologies if it double-posts at some point.)
This is definitely big news. I’m cautiously optimistic though. More money and more local exposure is a good thing. Not to mention that the stadium deal left a bad taste in some people’s mouths (mostly those who didn’t actually understand the deal, but such is life) with regard to the organization in general and Checketts in particular, so hopefully having a new major partner from the area will help with the leftovers of that fallout.
November 7, 2009 at 11:57 am
How much does management affect RSL?
November 7, 2009 at 12:29 pm
That sports complex in Logan is enough to make me pretty confident in this guy. Its a very impressive facility. I’m kind of excited about this news. I love the idea of making RSL a brand. This kind of marketing and brand management is exactly what RSL and the MLS need to keep this league healthy, or make it healthy for some critics.
November 7, 2009 at 12:50 pm
This guy isn’t a soccer guy by any strech of the imagination but to have a local presense in the ownership group is a good thing. I like the infusion of capital, I am sure it will not all directly impact the club but I think it shows that the team and sport are drawing interest from investors.
Owernship affects the team but I think Hansen was fairly clear in where he planed on making an impact, finances and sponsorships, with some branding tossed in all of which are areas that I think RSL has made progress but could he be enough to really boost the effort, i hope so.
It will be very interesting to see what this leads to, I love the idea of Real Communities which could be a huge advantage if the roster expands and the reserve divsion comes back (remember many reseve players made very little money and even now we have guys who are not exactly swimming in dough). The thought of there being a “Real” presence in downtown as all the rebuilding projects are wrapping up could be a great thing for the team. I know a number of people have mentioned the big “Its Real” playoff sign downtown (I will try to get a picture today).
It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to this, I really don’t believe play on the pitch will be impacted unless some of the new cash is used to cover the possible fees in getting a DP.
November 7, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I feel the same way “Cautiously Optimistic”. The infusion of capitol is a huge deal, as is the Real Nation idea. This does have to potential to make our team a household name among all Salt Lakers.
I am worried about how the players feel about this and hope this does not distract from the play on the field over the next 15 days, and going into next season. But it does open up the possibility for a DP and high profile friendly, but a DP is both a blessing and a curse.
November 7, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Thanks for the great reporting Denz and for saving it until after I got home from work.
I typed up a long reply and hit submit yesterday, and it never showed up. Just as well, because it saved you all from having to skip past it.
I think this move looks very much like Dave seeing other opportunities and lining up a successor to keep his options open. He now has an influx of cash in case one of several things happen. 1- He gets selected as the preferred buyer of the Rams. 2- St. Louis somehow gets into the mix for an MLS team whether through expansion or the more unlikely possibility of a team moving. 3- The Millers realize that they can’t/don’t want to run the Jazz anymore and would rather take the money and run. However with #3 I think it is not likely that Larry would have wanted the family sell the team to Checketts as it was clear that there was bad blood there. However, if they want out badly enough and he clearly has the best offer, then I think it would be a no-brainer for them to sell to Dave, because they know he’d work hard to keep the team competitive and would most likely stay in Utah (after threatening to move to St. Louis and getting a gaggle of free arena improvements from the city or state).
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. He now has an influx of cash, and a backup plan that he can sell anywhere from an additional 2% up to the other 51% to this person and/or other interested parties. I think he always has 8 different things on the back burner that he is preparing for, and this is a clear sign to me that he is going to try to take advantage of the current market to move into ownership on yet another team of some sort.
I honestly don’t think he expected the stadium deal in Sandy to go through, and my assumption is that he was ready to move the team to St. Louis if they were willing to give him a stadium or to sell the team outright to some other city that was ready to take on a franchise. Once the stadium deal surprisingly went through (and it was a pretty sweet deal) then he was locked into keeping the team here whether he wanted to or not.
I have gotten the feeling over the last several years that he’d prefer to be elsewhere and focus his energies on an NBA team, the Blues, and an NFL franchise. If it comes down to it, I am guessing he’d rather own multiple franchises in one market so that he can cross promote. Just owning one in a small market isn’t a real great thing in today’s ownership game.
Paul Allen is one of the new breed that has shown that owning multiple franchises in one place works well for cross promotion/marketing and more importantly because you can make your staff work for both teams and not pay them much more. He has Leiweke running the show for the Seahawks and Sounders and he may be involved in the Blazers as well (I gave up on the NBA after letting the Sonics move to Oklahoma???!!!!!).
Ultimately this just provides a lot of flexibility for a man who has shown over the years that he doesn’t like to be stuck with any one thing for a long period of time. He likes to build a value up, cash in, and move on to the next thing. We saw it with the Jazz (which didn’t work out as he’d been promised as he says or as he had hoped as Miller said, the Knicks, then MSG, then CSTV, and other ventures as well).
He sees the franchise with good value now with two more teams entering the league and a second straight playoff and maybe the value won’t rise much considering the league may run out of steam as the NASL and every other soccer venture has… but I am assuming he probably got as much out of selling this percentage as he paid upfront (feel free to correct me) and he STILL owns the franchise. Not a bad move on his part.
Let’s hope it doesn’t foul things up and turn into a situation with a part-owner who is more interested in sticking up every ad possible in the stadium and around town, but little interest in the product on the field. That is my one great fear. I ultimately got tired of the Jazz because of the crazy amount of over marketing of all aspects of the team (especially the godawful arena that doesn’t even have a clock, drinking fountain, or toilet without some ad emblazoned on it for something) but at least they have been a consistently semi-competitive team for a long stretch.
Let’s hope it works out and the influx is used on signing Findley long-term, bringing in a world class striker/DP to replace Yura, and maybe doing a better job at working with fans and season ticket holders and providing some more stability.