Bad Sport: When financing gets tough Checketts wants to take his soccer ball and go home

Checketts showed his real loyalty to our community yesterday when he revealed that he wants to uproot his soccer team and send it elsewhere. His behavior strengthens Mayor Corroon's position that Checkett's proposal is a bad investment for the county tax payer. If the county were to accept Checkett's rosy numbers and invest millions of public money so that some could profiteer personally from the project and Checketts were to hit another rough spot in the future the county could own land and infrastructure under a soccer specific stadium with no direct revenue to pay for it. Checketts behavior and statements about moving the team or selling out of state just bolsters the argument of the instability of his venture even more. His lack of deep pockets should not be blamed on the Mayor for making a good loan underwriting decision. There are others more solvent to make soccer a long term reality in Utah--like the Geneva developers in Utah County. If there is blame to be assessed if this venture fails it should be at Checkett's solvency not the underwriting decision of the debt review committee and the Mayor.

Over the years Larry Miller used public/private partnerships, but Larry Miller is more savvy in public relations and when things looked rough for the Jazz, Larry expressed his loyalty to our community and stated he was willing to do whatever it took to keep the Jazz in Utah. My sister even went and bought a car from Larry to help keep the Jazz in Utah. I also believe Larry was sincere. Checketts on the other hand is losing more and more creditability everyday. It seems as if he has hired Dell Schantz to run the PR campaign on his financing of his project. I would be more sympathetic to Checketts if I believed he was invested in our community as much as he wants us to invest in his venture. Checketts should persuade the public that he has a dedication and loyalty to our community if he wants to be in a joint venture with his proposed partners: us the taxpayer.

Peter Corroon on the other hand has increased his creditability with the public and reveals that he is looking out for the the citizens and not special interests. He is a statesman. It takes a lot of courage to stand up to special interests, the Speaker of the House and do what is right instead of what may be flashy.

I hope Checketts can get more stable financing and keep REAL here in Utah, but if he leaves it is his own fault.