Jason Franchuk - DAILY HERALD | Posted: Thursday, October 9, 2008 11:00 pm
SANDY -- You might say Bill Manning knows Utah County.
Real Salt Lake's new president moved from Philadelphia six months ago, a "soccer guy" at heart coming to start a dream endeavor -- a 4-year-old Major League Soccer franchise starting an exciting new path.
Manning knows BYU Country, coming from the NFL's Eagles, which are popular in the area because of the number of Cougar connections. He even had a former standout of both, Reno Mahe, in Suite No. 23 to enjoy Thursday's official opening of 20,000-seat Rio Tinto Stadium, a hotly debated project politically that finally came to sweet fruition with a 1-all tie against New York.
"See this atmosphere? It's electric," Manning said. "It's exactly what we hoped for."
And a far cry from anything seen aside from opening day, April 2005, when the Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City was at its fullest and loudest.
That afternoon, with the University of Utah campus buzzing at another new professional sport to follow, there were 42,000 fans that filled a curiosity.
Since then, the school's football stadium was confined to hold 28,000 Real fans.
But the total capacity is about 55,000, meaning that awnings covered up a bunch of sections.
Simply, the place never felt like a home-field advantage. Everything from a half-empty stadium to artificial turf had the club waiting for a night like last night.
State Street in Sandy, from about 9400 South to the 9000 block, held rush hour much longer than normal.
Fans paid anywhere from $5 to $20 to park at various businesses that were selling off their lots (the more expensive, the closer, but much less likely to be filled).
They streamed in from Interstate 15, where traffic was stop-and-go but mostly smooth.
Fans poured in to the stadium's east side, across the street from Jordan Commons (with its restaurants and move theaters) to enjoy the carnival that will be a mainstay.
What's it mean for Utah County?
There's a long-running joke from RSL officials that a lot of potential fans wouldn't attend games before, because they were played at the University of Utah. This, of course, plays into the notion that BYU fans (dominant in the UC) wouldn't have anything to do with supporting that stadium.
Of course, the closer truth of the matter is probably the distance.
Manning said 600 season tickets have already been sold for 2009. Maybe a third are coming from Utah Valley. It makes sense.
Rio Tinto is a good 30-minute drive closer, which makes a night of soccer even more appealing -- even an 8 p.m. start like last night.
There have to be some concerns about appeal. The stadium wasn't officially sold out for its christening until about noon (approximately 100 tickets remained) and there were a significant number of open seats. Could the honeymoon be over quick?
Part of that could be explained by fans possibly walking around the stadium, whether to soak in the new surroundings or just try to stay warm as the wind kicked up and the temperature sank right around opening kick.
But this new place, primed with the best Salt Lake team yet produced, showed its noise potential at exactly 8:50 p.m.
Jamison Olave blasted a shot into the north net, tying the score at 1 against New York in the 41st minute.
White towels were waved in a blizzard of fanaticism. Orange streamers were strewn onto the field. Yellow confetti was poured near the place where the home team made history.
Head coach Jason Kreis wasn't thrilled with the tie. It hurts his team's playoff chances at a record of 9-10-8 and he thought his group played tentative, especially on offense.
"We seemed to be a step slow," he said. "I think we were nervous."
On a night when Manning and his staff had every right to enjoy the moment, aside from the milquetoast result, he couldn't help but look toward the future.
One home game remains, Oct. 18, unless RSL sneaks into the playoffs. There's already a lot of talk about what the stadium will mean to the entire Wasatch Valley. There will be an international rugby match Nov. 8. A junior-college football game will take place in Rio Tinto, too. Manning was excited to announce country music star Kenny Chesney will play there next summer.
"This is just the start," Manning said.
It's taken a lot of political back-and-forth, a ton of name-calling then compromise the last couple of years by various parties, to reach the conclusion it appeared all sides felt happy about.
The project cost about $120 million, of which the team lists $45 million as coming from public funds.
Kreis spoke about permanence, which should appeal to fans and prospective talent. He loves that his team finally plays on real grass, the only way to go in pro soccer.
He worried beforehand how his current team would handle such change on opening night: everything from securing tickets for family to finding out where to park before the game.
But it's a true home field, one that could become a huge advantage.
"It's going to be about the support we get," Kreis said. "The fans; how vocal they can be."