Former Notre Dame Centerback Will Meet Team in Chicago,
Could Potentially Provide Cover for Bench Depth Saturday Night
HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, April 19, 2024) – Real Salt Lake today acquired Columbus Crew DF Philip Quinton in exchange for up to $200,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) via trade. The Crew will receive a guaranteed $150,000 in 2024 GAM and a conditional $50,000 in GAM if certain performance incentives are met for the 24-year-old defender with Real Salt Lake.
Quinton departs after three seasons in Columbus, initially joining Crew 2 in 2022 prior to signing with the Columbus First Team for 2023 and 2024. Selected in the First Round of the 2022 MLS SuperDraft (25th overall) out of Notre Dame University, Quinton subsequently signed an MLS NEXT Pro professional contract with Crew 2 on March 17, 2022. In his rookie season with Crew 2, Quinton appeared in 19 matches (17 starts) in MLS NEXT Pro as Crew 2 captured the inaugural MLS NEXT Pro Cup with a 4-1 victory over St Louis CITY2 on Oct. 8, 2022.
“I’m honored to join Real Salt Lake and be a part of the project in Utah,” said Quinton, hours before departing Columbus to join RSL in Chicago for this weekend’s match at Soldier Field. “RSL is a great Club with a big history and an excellent plan to keep building into the future. I’m excited to meet all my teammates and the coaching staff, and most importantly I can’t wait to see the great fans that support the Club.”
The Portland, Ore., native signed an MLS contract with the Crew prior to the start of the 2023 season, and since appeared in 13 regular season games (11 starts) – including last weekend’s 0-0 draw at America First Field – scoring his first MLS goal in a 6-1 victory over Atlanta United on March 25, 2023.
# 26 – Philip Quinton
Pronunciation: KWIN - ton
Position: Defender
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
College: Notre Dame
Date of Birth: 16 November 1999 (24)
Nationality: American
How Acquired: Signed via trade from Columbus Crew SC (Major League Soccer)
TRANSACTION: Real Salt Lake acquires DF Philip Quinton from the Columbus Crew in exchange for up to $200,000 in General Allocation Money. Columbus receives a guaranteed $150,000 in 2024 General Allocation Money (GAM) and up to another $50,000 in conditional GAM, announced on April 19, 2024.
ABOUT REAL SALT LAKE:
During the first week of January 2022, the RSL compendium of properties was acquired by global sports entrepreneur David Blitzer – who boasts interests in the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), the New Jersey Devils (NHL), the Cleveland Guardians (baseball) and the Washington Commanders (NFL) – as well as several European soccer entities, including Crystal Palace (England), FC Augsburg (Germany), Estoril (Portugal), ADO Den Haag (Netherlands), Alcorcón (Spain), SK Beveren (Belgium) and Brøndby IF (Denmark). The Blitzer group partners with Utah-based Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), which owns the Utah Jazz (NBA), led by Ryan Smith and including Dwyane Wade, among others.
Real Salt Lake recently kicked off its 20th Major League Soccer season, its third full season under Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni, who led the Utah side on an interim basis for the final 100 days in 2021. RSL is the lone Western Conference side to have advanced to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in each of the 2021, 2022 and 2023 campaigns, amassing 13 postseason appearances in the last 16 years, as well as on five occasions in the last six seasons.
RSL's MLS Cup 2009 victory marked the state of Utah's only major professional championship in nearly 40 years, the title preceding an historic run to the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League Final. Buoyed by a passionate base boasting several thousand season ticket holders and opening its permanent home in Sandy just over 15 years ago; since October, 2008, RSL’s 163-59-75 (W-L-T) mark at America First Field – home of the “RioT” Supporters Group umbrella – equates to a 1.91 points per game average and a 0.679 win pct, one of the truly amazing value proposition in North American sporting landscape today.
For the 2024 season and beyond, Real Salt Lake’s Blitzer / Smith ownership groups have partnered to bring the National Women’s Soccer League back to Utah, as Utah Royals FC returned this Spring. Led by Head Coach Amy Rodriguez, President Michelle Hyncik and Sporting Director Kelly Cousins, URFC aims to seize upon the success the NWSL enjoyed during its first iteration on the Wasatch Front from 2018-20 and grow the game to even greater heights going forward. Led by visionary sports business entrepreneur Jess Gelman – the founder of the Sloan Sports Analytics Institute, along with innovative NBA executive Daryl Morey – Utah Royals FC blazes new trails in 2024, with kickoff next Saturday, March 16 at America First Field.
In 2015, the club expanded its development pyramid with the addition of Real Monarchs SLC, one of several MLS-operated clubs playing in the USL Championship, the United States' Division II setup. The Monarchs boast a pair of titles in its brief history, as the 2017 USL Championship Regular-Season champions, later winning the USL Championship title in 2019. For the 2022 season and beyond, Real Monarchs compete in the newly-launched “MLS NEXT Pro” as part of a joint United States and Canada endeavor to complete the professional player pathway by connecting youth academies in MLS NEXT to first teams in Major League Soccer. The 2024 campaign will see the Monarchs represent the Club in the historic Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a tourney open to teams from all levels of the U.S. Soccer pyramid, the first trophy hoisted back in 1914.
The entire competitive RSL setup, which includes nearly 70 players representing the RSL Academy’s U-15 and U-17 teams, calls the expansive Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, Utah their daily training home. With five world-class grass fields, two indoor turf fields, a residential dormitory, the STEM-based RSL Academy High School and the 5,000-seat Zions Bank Stadium located on a 42-acre campus, Utah’s sporting future is bright.
The RSL Community Foundation was established in 2016, created with the goals of being active in the community yearround, utilizing the popularity and reach of RSL, the Royals, the Monarchs and the Academy in promoting health and wellness in children throughout the region, engaging supporters of soccer to raise funds and volunteer time for various local initiatives.
