Around fifteen years back, at the time when RSL came into existence as the new expansion team in MLS, Don Garber, the commissioner had been taking care of his duties only six years. At the time he was hired, the team owners, that time the league was just 10-team league gave him the responsibility of stabilizing the league as well as growing it.
Garber said, “RSL is very closely connected to me and it holds an important place in my life.” He is not the 20th year in his job and he calls RSL a “model club” for those markets who have an interest in joining the league. He gives credit of this to owner Dell Loy Hansen, who took the decision to invest in the MLS team, a USLT (Real Monarchs), NWSL (Utah Royals) along with an academy that is in Herriman.
According to Garber, Real Salt Lake is one and the only club in MLS having all four components in its market. It is the only club that comes close to is Portland Timbers. The club has three out of four components in its market. He further added,” RSL is a wonderful example to understand what could be done in the markets, where one wants to expand the league.”
He said, “Salt Lake has a craving to grow and unlike another new team, it never sits around the table despite being here for the past 14 years. We always use Salt Lake as our model to make people understand what a club can do to become successful in a small market.”