Real Salt Lake's USL PRO team is now official.
Months after announcing plans for the formation of a third-division side set to begin play in 2015, RSL formally unveiled Real Monarchs SLC on Monday morning.
Along with presenting the official name, the logo for the new club was also revealed. It shares the same color scheme as Real Salt Lake but looks a bit different, featuring a gold lion in the middle with two diagonal swords behind it and a crown on top.
“We are committed to providing another asset to our great state of Utah and the Intermountain region, one which will provide career, sporting and entertainment value to all those who wish to work, play and live here,” RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen (pictured above) said in a statement.
“The collective presence of the Monarchs and USL PRO on the Utah sports scene deepens our sport’s roots in the community, strengthens the infrastructure supporting our elite MLS team, and marks the latest of many initiatives for soccer in Utah.”
The club may also field a National Women's Soccer League team, something that their fellow MLS sides the Houston Dynamo and Portland Timbers have done.
RSL have begun conversations with officials about the possibility of adding a professional women's squad that would also play at the Utah State Fairpark stadium that is being built for the Monarchs, but the discussions are still in the early stages.
- Get more RSL news at RealSaltLake.com
“Right now, it’s really hypothetical, because we are working on USL and focusing on the launch,” Monarchs president Rob Zarkos said of the other projects. “We’ve talked with everyone involved with RSL Women [the pro-am women's team sponsored by RSL] to give them our ideas, too. Execution isn’t quite there yet, though.”
The Monarchs will start playing at Rio Tinto in 2015 before moving into their own stadium the following year. The USL PRO team are expected to appoint a head coach by December.
