Real Salt Lake!

Well, it's that time of year again - time for the MLS season to kick off and Real Salt Lake in their new Stadium!

They had a free exhibition Saturday against a USL team - the Austin Aztek. The USL is basically a second division soccer league under the MLS (sad thing is, several of the USL teams are better than a lot of MLS teams, anyway...) It was strange that the place wasn't even close to full, it was FREE!?!?!?!? Anyway...

I was already in the area, having spent a couple of hours at the gym - so I went over to the stadium. First, let me say - the design of the stadium is AWESOME! It's very european, and really feels like a soccer stadium, it's awesome (I said that). I kind of checked the place out a little and I really don't think there's a bad seat in the house! The fans are far enough back that even on the front row, you can see all the way down the sidelines - unlike at Rice-Eccles where the front row was right on top of the sideline (given the soccer field's wider dimensions) and it was hard to see the corners on either side - Especially at the North end, from our old seats.

So, the only thing I could find wrong about the stadium is the parking - it is NON-EXISTENT! There is literally no stadium parking - I guess we're supposed to use the Southtowne Exhibition Center, but they had an event going and there was no Game parking there in this instance. So, I parked at Jordon Commons, which I'm sure we're not supposed to do (and I got door-dinged for my efforts.) I did it anyway this time because the lot was nowhere near full.

Otherwise, I love the place. I'm excited to go see a few games this year. Real looked about the same as ever, decent mid-field and no finishing - yes, they won 2-1 but it should have been 7-1 if they could shoot - sheesh! The defense looked suspect a few times, which is par for the course with Real.

Anyway, looking forward to April 2 - opening day!