Major League Soccer will take over the sale of Real Salt Lake
After finding Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen guilty of inappropriate conduct in the workplace, the MLS will take over the sale of the team.
In 2019, The Athletic broke the news that Real Salt Lake’s owner Dell Loy Hansen used racist language towards employees and other people. Right after the article was published, Major League Soccer (MLS) started an investigation which placed his ownership of the club into jeopardy. Once the investigation finished, Hansen was found guilty and MLS Commissioner Don Garber confirmed that he must sell the club.
In November 2020 it was confirmed that if the current owner didn’t find a new buyer for the club by 8 January, Major League Soccer would take over the process of selling it. Hansen also has to sell NWSL’s Utah Royals, USL’s Real Monarchs, Rio Tinto Stadium, Zions Bank Stadium and the teams’ academies and training facilities.
RSL will have a new owner this year
On Tuesday there was a conference call with Garber and he confirmed that MLS will take over the sale of Real Salt Lake. The MLS commissioner expects to sell the team this year and according to The Athletic, the Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith is the frontrunner to buy RSL.
"We found that Mr. Hansen had engaged in conduct that was inappropriate for the workplace," Garber said. "It was contrary to the values of MLS frankly. I think it was contrary to the values of Real Salt Lake. It has been resolved and Dell Loy has agreed with us that he would sell the team, and that process has started. The league has actually taken over the sales process as of this week, there's lots of interest in buying that team."