Looking back on RSL expansion 20 years later as club faces newest MLS team San Diego FC

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY—Real Salt Lake will welcome the newest MLS team, San Diego FC, to Utah for the first time on Saturday.

The meeting serves as a reminder of how far the league has come since RSL was made its 11th team in 2005, especially now that the club is facing the 30th MLS team 20 years later.

"30th team in our 30th season," MLS commissioner Don Garber said at San Diego's home opener on March 1. "We talk a lot about building a soccer nation in our country and it requires a lot of work and a lot of dreaming."

Garber has seen much of that work and dreaming take place after becoming commissioner in 1999 and bringing in RSL — and the now-defunct Chivas USA — as part of the first league expansion during his tenure six years later.

A crew unfurls a 60-foot version of the new Salt Lake Real jersey during an event unveiling the team's new design at a celebration in Park City on Saturday, March 12, 2005. (Photo: Jason Olson, Deseret News)

"If not for this club coming into MLS in 2005, I'm not sure what Major League Soccer would be today," Garber said in 2022. "Dave Checketts said back then, 'I really believe in what soccer culture can be.' And here we are so many years later."

Though ownership has changed hands twice since originating under Checketts, many figures from the 2005 inaugural season remain part of the club to this day.

Jason Kreis was the club's first player and later led the club to its only MLS Cup as head coach in 2009. He returned to Utah in 2023 as director of operations and special projects, working closely with the coaching staff and front office as a nexus between ownership, academy and club.

Two other inaugural season players, Brian Dunseth and Jay Nolly, remain in Utah and work on the broadcast side of the game, covering both RSL and MLS in general.

Members of the Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer team model their new jersey designs during a celebration in Park City on Saturday, March 12, 2005. (Photo: Jason Olson, Deseret News)

RSL's first two games as a club in 2005 were both played on the road, ending in a 0-0 draw to the MetroStars and a 3-1 loss to the Galaxy. It wasn't until the team's first-ever home game on April 16, 2005, that the first win in club history was achieved against the Colorado Rapids, thanks to a goal by Dunseth, nonetheless.

Were you at that first home game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in April 2005? We would love to hear from you. Reach out to onlinesports@ksl.com with any memories and stories you have from that day. We look forward to hearing from the literal Day 1 RSL fans.

The expansion clash between RSL and newcomer San Diego FC kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MST at America First Field. Dunseth and longtime RSL play-by-play analyst David James will be on the call for the MLS Season Pass broadcast on Apple TV.