is a professional
Soccer club based in
Salt Lake City ,
Utah that began playing in
Major League Soccer in
2005 . The team currently plays its home games at the
University Of Utah 's
Rice-Eccles Stadium . A $60 million
USD , 20,000-seat
Soccer-specific Stadium (reduced from 25,000) was recently approved for the suburb of
Sandy , to be completed in time for the 2008 season.
The team name has nothing to do with the English word "real"; ''real'' in
Spanish signifies "royal", and is bestowed on a number of clubs that play in Spain's
First Division by the
Spanish Crown . The Salt Lake City club's owner,
Dave Checketts , desired to attach his team to a successful soccer club,
Real Madrid , as well as to develop a brand that clearly connoted 'soccer', leading to the choice of name.
Fan support for the name initially was not positive which was picked by an online survey, as rumors that the name would be Real Salt Lake were largely met with derision and pessimism. Many fans felt the name was boring and un-attractive. Many people felt the name should more accurately reflect the Salt Lake area, particularly as the city's other professional team, the
Utah Jazz of the
NBA , does not. However, in the past year there there has been little criticism from the team's fans or the media.
Their first head coach is
John Ellinger , former coach of the Under-17
United States National Team and the head of
USSF 's
Bradenton Academy .
Salt Lake City was formerly home to the
USL Second Division 's
Utah Blitzz , who folded about the time Real Salt Lake formed. The Blitzz had won the USLSD's championship in their final year of existence.
Currently the club has three fan clubs known as ''The Loyalists'', the ''Rogue Cavaliers Brigade'' (RCB) and ''The Jesters''.
In 2005, the
Rocky Mountain Cup was created in an effort to create some sort of rivalry right off the bat for the new franchise. The Cup goes to the team that wins the season series between the
Colorado Rapids and RSL. The
Colorado Rapids claimed the
Rocky Mountain Cup in that inaugural season by winning the series 3-1. Even with the added excitement of the Cup competition, RSL's major rival quickly became fellow expansion team
Chivas USA . This was due to the fiercly competitive physical play between the two teams (and perhaps also the fact that they both joined in the same year).
''As of April 1, 2006''
Source: http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/MLS/players/roster.jsp?club=rsl
''regular season/playoffs''
- 2005: 18,037/missed playoffs
