July 12, 2004, 04:25 PM

New Professional Soccer Team in Utah

By Rob Booth

According to the national sports media and the local papers in Utah, Major League Soccer's next expansion team is going to be in Salt Lake City. Bad news for soccer fans in Houston, good news for people who don't like taxpayer-funded stadiums.

AP via ESPN: Newspapers - Salt Lake City on deck

SALT LAKE CITY — Major League Soccer will award an expansion team to Utah next week, according to newspaper reports.

Salt Lake City will be home to an MLS team starting next spring, the Deseret Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Dan Checketts, a partner in the ownership group trying to bring Utah a second major professional team, told The Tribune for a story Sunday that the official announcement will come Wednesday at a news conference.

Houston was under consideration for a new franchise, according to the Seattle paper and several other sources. There has been a good deal of chatter on the soccer fan message boards about this likely decision.

Various venues had been under consideration in Houston for a stadium, notably Reliant Stadium (considered by some to be too big), and Robertson Stadium on UH (considered by some too hot for a summer sport, there's no AC there). Major League Soccer's stated goal is to have special soccer-specific stadiums (SSS) in each market. Given the recent history of stadium building in the US, it seems a pretty safe bet that local governments would be asked to build the SSS.

Major League Soccer plans for two more expansion teams in 2006, so the issue of building a new stadium in Houston is likely to come up again.

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