Statement from Real Salt Lake Chief Business Officer
Andy Carroll
regarding The Salt Lake Tribune’s suggestion of supposed tax “breaks” and/or Sandy City leniency for the club:
“In an article on outgoing Sandy City Mayor Tom Dolan, seemingly with the sole purpose of sensationalism, writer Lee Davidson makes insinuations of impropriety and underhandedness regarding Real Salt Lake and Owner Dell Loy Hansen’s dispute over a tax valuation in 2012 on
Rio Tinto Stadium
. As a result, it is necessary to get the facts straight regarding Real Salt Lake’s numerous and sizeable tax contributions and support to State, county and local municipalities, as well as Mr. Hansen’s continued investment and commitment to Utah’s economic health, growth and development.
- Since its inception, Real Salt Lake has directly contributed more than $10 million dollars to local, county and state economies through sales and property taxes alone.
- Real Salt Lake not only competes on the global soccer stage, but in an increasingly competitive North American sports landscape against larger-market teams with numerous and substantial competitive advantages. As a result, it is imperative that we diligently manage all of our operating expenses in order to further invest in players, staff and infrastructure as we compete for championships and provide our fans with world-class experiences. This includes ensuring that we are paying our “fair share” of property taxes, but not overpaying due to improper or outdated valuations. In 2012, we were one of more than 700 entities to contest valuation estimates; this is simply a good sound business principle. There is nor was there ever anything clandestine or nefarious regarding how we handled the property tax reduction. There is no “there” there; there is no story there.
- With little to no fanfare in 2013, Mr. Hansen willingly met the club’s obligation, made under a previous ownership group, to honor a $7.5 million donation to Salt Lake City for an athletic complex in the northern part of the State’s capital.
- Mr. Hansen is currently in the midst of privately funding $100 million of his own money to build world-class soccer training facilities in Herriman, Logan, West Valley and other cities throughout the state in his effort to complete his vision to make Utah the nation’s soccer mecca and to put us on par with the world’s best communities for soccer and player development.
- Just two weeks ago, Mr. Hansen, at significant personal risk, again “doubled down” on soccer in Utah, bringing a new National Women’s Soccer League team to Utah to ensure that Utah has the world’s best female soccer players in our backyard and so that our young women can have access, exposure and aspirations to be THE very best.
We look forward to doing our best in continuing to positively impact Utah and its local communities and in driving economic health, growth and development.”
