The shovels were put into the dirt on Tuesday as work began to construct Real Salt Lake’s new state-of-the-art training facility in Herriman, Utah. Although the project is still a year away from completion, RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar is already salivating about what the massive training center can mean for the Claret-and-Cobalt and Major League Soccer.
“It’s truly amazing. It’s going to put RSL not just on the map in the United States, but in the world, really,” Cassar said on ESPN 700’s Bill Riley Show on Tuesday. “I think teams outside our country are going to want to come here and have training in preparation for their seasons and playing games against us.”
The facility, scheduled to be completed in time for the RSL Academy teams to begin play in September of 2017, will serve as the central location for Real Salt Lake as well as the club’s second team, Real Monarchs, and the Academy teams at the U-18, U-16 and U-14 levels. Right now, RSL holds most training sessions at America First Field in Sandy, while the Monarchs train at various locations throughout the year and the Academy teams are located in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Bringing all five teams under one roof will enable to the coaching staffs to more fluently interchange ideas while players will be more readily available to train at various levels.
It will also serve as a valuable recruiting tool for potential additions to the Real Salt Lake family.
“Whenever players can see what kind of training facilities and amenities and rehab and all those things – the video room that we are going to have is going to be amazing – these are all things that players want. Everything there is going to be to make the players better,” Cassar said. “There are going to be no excuses at all. When everything is there to have you better and everything is at the coach’s disposal to prepare his team, there is a lot of onus on coming through.”
The scope and magnitude of the facility will be “game-changing” for RSL according to the head coach and could cause ripples throughout MLS.
“You have to follow suit with what’s going on,” he said. “The antes keep getting higher each time and this is going to set the standard for MLS and if teams want to keep up they’ll have to do the same too.”
To hear the full interview, click here.
