Real Salt Lake yesterday held a "groundbreaking ceremony" for their $50M training facility and youth academy in Herriman, Utah, a project which "calls for eight soccer fields," according to Aaron Falk of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. The fields "would be used" by RSL, their minor league club, the USL Real Monarchs, and RSL's Under-16 and Under-18 teams. The Monarchs "will play in a 5,000-seat stadium on the site." RSL officials "estimate the facility will be home to about 50 full-time staffers as well as a 250-student charter school." Herriman spent roughly $5.6M "from a Community Development Agency fund to purchase 30.1 acres land for the project and has entered into a longterm lease" with RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen and the team. Herriman City council member Coralee Wessman-Moser said that Hansen "has spent" roughly $5M on water infrastructure for the area. Herriman City Manager Brett Wood also said the facility would be a "great economic driver" for the community. RSL officials said that the team "intends to continue to keep a footprint in Arizona and could continue operating its Casa Grande academy on some level." Hansen also has "plans to build regional training facilities in Utah and Arizona" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 8/24).
