It's official. Real Salt Lake won't find its home in Utah County.

But Salt Lake County and possibly St. Louis are still in the running as possible stadium sites for Dave Checketts's soccer team.

Late Thursday, Checketts rejected a second offer from Anderson Development to buy the team and build a 20,000-seat soccer stadium in Vineyard.

"Real Salt Lake and SCP Worldwide are grateful for the interest that Anderson Development and its principals have shown us in wanting to locate our stadium project at the Vineyards in Utah County," Checketts said in a statement Thursday.

"We have decided, however, that this site is not a viable option for our team or the stadium project and we are no longer entertaining this offer," he said. "We continue to look at other options both within Salt Lake County and outside the state of Utah."

Checketts is considering selling his team after Peter Corroon, mayor of Salt Lake County, said earlier this week he won't support a proposal that would put $30 million in hotel taxes toward buying land and building infrastructure for the stadium, calling it an "unsafe investment."

For Mike Hutchings, an attorney and partner of Sandy-based Anderson, Checketts's decision was a "disappointment."

"The stadium would have been a very nice amenity on the property, but clearly, Checketts wants to locate the team in Salt Lake County, and possibly elsewhere, St. Louis, specifically," Hutchings said.

But it's not a total loss, he said. "We're in talks with other anchor tenants for the mixed-use project, and we're working with UTA on getting an intermodal transit hub on the former Geneva site. Once you have major transportation features identified on the project, then you can make development plans."

Meanwhile, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and several legislative leaders are hoping to salvage the situation and find ways to keep the soccer team in Utah.

If that doesn't work, St. Louis, which has a strong soccer fan base, is still keen to have the team locate there, even though it doesn't have a stadium venue as yet for Real Salt Lake, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report on Thursday.

The report cites Jeff Cooper, an Alton, Mo., lawyer spearheading a group to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to St. Louis, as saying he had significant discussions with Checketts about buying the team.

Grace Leong can be reached at 344-2910 or gleong@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.