We’re still set to link up with Garth at about 12:00 p.m. MT, so stay tuned. Feel free to start shooting questions our way in this thread now (we have compiled all the questions from the old thread and will be answering many of those over here, so worry not)…

Alright folks, Garth here. Thanks for joining us and let’s get this started.

We’ve already received some great questions, so I’m just going to dive right in (editor’s note: after the jump, that is!)…

From: Just Thinking
How is Luis Escalada doing will he be our new front man?

GL: Luis is on trial and is working hard to regain his fitness after not getting many games in the past year.

From: Taylor F.
What can we expect this season, as far as how well the team will do in away games?

GL: We will try to win them! We will have the same core in place as the end of last season and our away results got steadily better as the season progressed last year, which is reflective of that collective experience, which leads us to think we will have better road results this year than last year.

From: Just thinking
Is there anyway that we could get some girl shirts that are RSL colors (NO PINK!!!). I want to support my home town team by wearing their gear. My husband and I have already made some ideas that we think would be great.

GL: I will talk to our merchandising folks and see what is possible. A lot of the wives and girlfriends have expressed similar sentiments. We are often at adidas’ mercy with respect to these matters and ordering must be done months in advance to meet their production cycle, so it isn’t as easy as it may seem.

From: RSLFANINCALIFORNIA
Garth,

Why such a short fuse for Kenny Deuchar? It seemed to be more of a service issue that kept him from putting more balls in the back of the net as opposed to his ability. Granted, he gaffed on a few sitters. I just think with the left sided crossers that RSL has on trial and the importance the team has put on this we should have a true target forward like Dr. Goals.

GL: Kenny is a great kid and gave maximum effort for a full year. After that length of time we can pretty fairly evaluate a player’s body of work. Given what Kenny earned, we thought we could find a different way to use that money to make our team better.

From: Sammy
Will there be an expanded partnership with the Ogden Outlaws, local Amateur sides, and BYU this year? (Such as a round-robin tournament)

How are you going to get the younger guys games?

GL: MLS is working on several ideas to replace the Reserve League and we have explored loaning players to USL teams, as well as playing games against local teams, as we have routinely done in the past. We will have an expanded relationship with Ogden Outlaws and will look to that team to showcase some of the best Utah talent as well as some of the best college players in the country. We have designated one of our assistants, Jeff Cassar, to oversee that team and ensure they receive a high level of instruction and the best players will have the opportunity to train with our first team on occasion.

From: Janillean
I have questions similar to Sammy. Since the Reserves Division has been eliminated, will there be other games to try and get the younger guys more game experience? Will the public be invited to attend these games? I’m really sad about no more Reserves games.

GL: Reserve games we set up will likely all be open to the public.

From: JVC-RSL
Please explain the benefits of Escalada over Espindola.

GL: Escalada is on trial. Espindola signed for double what we were able to offer him in Venezuela to play Copa Libertadores for 6 months.

From: Gaby
1. Please confirm report that Jean Carlos Solorzano will start a trial next week. Are there any other trialists who have yet to arrive at camp?

GL: Until trialists show up in camp we cannot confirm their attendance because until that point anything can happen.  It’s the same situation as a contract negotiation in that sense.  They either arrive or they don’t.  That said, we do expect to have one or more attacking trialists in camp in Florida

2. Are you disappointed in Luis Miguel Escalada’s fitness? Is he more or less fit than Matias Cordoba was at this stage last year?

GL: Escalada is working hard on his fitness as is our entire team this early in pre-season.  We have not and will not agree to a contract for the 2009 season with a player who is unfit, but its worth pointing out that these are early days.  Our first match is 6 weeks away.  As we saw with Mathis last year players can get fit and contribute, it just takes time.

3. Why has there been no daily photos, video clips, or even in-depth training reports?

GL: We spend this first trip every year auditioning trialists, trying new things, working on our fitness  and building our team defensive structure.  Candidly, its pretty boring.  Think of it as pouring the foundation for the house.  I’m sure our fans want to write their initials in the drying cement, but ultimately until the cement sets, we cant build our house and there just isn’t much to show our fans in terms of what the team will look like for the regular season.

We will have a greater staff presence in Tampa and the sessions there will start to reflect where we are as a team, but in comparison to last year we are way ahead of the game.  Borchers joined us for our second trip, we traded for Kovalenko toward the end of that trip, maybe even the last day and we added Olave and Deuchar for our last trip.  Those four guys played a lot of minutes for us and this year we already have those guys in the fold.  Alexandre, Seitz, Nimo and Cox have had good camps so far, Yura is way ahead of where he was a year ago and the core of our team is much better with additions like Will Johnson, Clint Mathis and Robbie Russell (who will begin working with our group in Florida, even though he still has a ways to go.)

From: redscare
I’d like Garth to comment on the pace of RSL season ticket sales so far, how it compares to the rest of the league, and his assessment of the financial state of the team and MLS. How does he anticipate that the world’s continuing financial troubles will affect the league and what he plans on doing to keep up ticket sales if there is a major impact.

GL: Season ticket sales are moving briskly and are ahead of almost all of MLS save for Seattle and Toronto. People have responded enthusiastically to Rio Tinto Stadium and the incredible atmosphere that you, our fans, created during our stretch run and through the playoffs. The global economic recession affects everyone, but our payroll for players was increased slightly over last season so we expect to field a quality team. Most of that salary hike was consumed by re-signing Olave and Morales, but we still have the ability to add one or two pieces.

From: Jay T.
Have you decided on the field dimension for Rio Tinto this year?

GL: 75 x 120

From: Juice Box Guy
Will RSL have a DP in the next year or two. I understand that Garth and Jason have correctly chosen the approach of New England and Houston with building a solid core of players and staying away from the DP. However, with the recent sucess of Blanco in Chicago and Schletto in Columbus is there any chance that the RSL FO might take a different approach?

GL: We will consider any possible avenue if we think it makes our team better.

From: Juice Box Guy
I forgot one thing. Did RSL protest about getting “jipped” out of the CONCACAF Champions League and the Superliga since the new rules were written AFTER MLS had finished the regular season and playoffs? You would think making the conference championship would get you into ONE of those tournaments. Also, in the future would qualification to these tournaments be included in the season ticket price?

GL: MLS writes the rules and we play by them. We were disappointed and a bit unlucky to not qualify for either Superliga or Champions League. If we did qualify in the future, which is a definite goal of the club, we would have to look at the economics of whether to include them in a season ticket packge or not. As you can imagine, the opponents in those tournaments would have powerful influence on what the value of a ticket was.

From: Pete
Garth, will you be a taste tester AFTER the match on April 2nd for our ReALE Salt Lake home brew contest? And what players can you get for us to be tasters?

Cheers!

GL: I’ll have to fight Ian away from you! I’ll try to get a ride home so I can taste test the home brew contest. Our stadium GM, Mike Steele may want to submit an entry too, which could compromise my independent judgment, as I know his efforts to be outstanding.

From: 15 to 32
Were you the guy behind the USA goal at the US v Mexico (dos a cero shirts need to be made) in the RSL jacket?

GL: That guy was way fatter than me! I’m kidding, but I’m told it was Hans Niska our Director of Facility Management for Rio Tinto Stadium who was out there to observe how Columbus staged the qualifier so we could put on a bang up show on September 5th. Get your season tickets now as that is the only way to buy a ticket to the qualifier!

What should we expect to see from this team this year that hasnt been there in years past. What are your plans on Espy? Do you think you will look at getting him back in the summer or are his days in an RSL kit over? Which of the new guys impressed you the most? Which impressed the least. Who do you think will have a big year in an RSL kit? and of course, thank you for helping bring us out of the bottom of the table and be a team to be scared of!

GL: We hope to be a better attacking team this season. We expect to be solid defensively. Fabian has been signed by a Venezuelan club and we wish him well. It’s impossible to predict what will happen by this summer, but we certainly won’t sit on our hands hoping for one player to become available several months in the future. That said, we won’t close doors on any former players either as that is a basic tenant of our player friendly ethos. It doesn’t matter much who I think will have a breakout year. That is all up to the players. Our job is to sign young talent, which we have, and give them an environment in which they can succeed, which we have. The rest is up to them and the ones who want to compete and fight badly enough will rise to the top and make the starting 11.

From: Ismitje
Greetings,

With family in southern Utah along the I-15 corridor and friends in southern Idaho, I’ve long wondered when RSL might target advertising there for game attendance, perhaps packaging something with a hotel in Sandy. I am sure something happens on the youth soccer level, but there are plenty of folks who make weekend trips to SLC and would take in games.

GL: It’s a good idea and something we should explore. We may already be looking into it as I have been out of the office for most of the last two months between the combine, draft, scouting trips and pre-season and our crack business staff is always active in exploring every possible way to build packages attractive to our fans.

From: Chelseabound

Hey Garth: Do you anticipate any change in the goalkeeper situation this year?

GL: The player who gives us the best chance to win will play at every spot

From: Brian
What positions are being targeted in trades (if any)?

GL: If we can’t meet our attacking needs from within the existing group we will look outside it.

How do you feel about Real not playing if the opening week?

GL: It gives us an extra week to scout and prepare our team.

From: rsldude
Garth, while I’m excited to see the progress of Yura and Robbie this year, but they are still young, and with Escalada seeming to have fitness issues, how active are you right now in searching for an answer up top? It seems teams around the league have leapedfrogged us on signing strikers when we knew going into the offseason that this is our biggest weakness

GL: We have had some injuries during our first pre-season week and our first focus is on getting our guys healthy and getting the best out of our existing players. That said, we are always looking to improve our team and we think we need to have a better attack this year than last year and we must find a way to score more consistently. We are actively exploring attacking options, both in midfield and at forward and have cap space available to bring in one or two players if the guys here aren’t getting the job done.

From: Ian T.
Garth, any chance of a local try-out taking place here? I know the Galaxy are doing one again this year, and I think it would be a good way to find some hidden home-grown talent for the team which I seem to recall someone saying keep your eyes out for around town. Just wondering if there‚s any chance of that happening here.
Thanks!

GL: We would like to hold an open tryout, but they are held in other markets in the off-season and the weather won’t allow us to do so in Utah. We will look at it again this summer, but the lack of available, quality fields will always present a challenge.

From: Hi5
Any word on where the final preseason game on March 21st will be played? Ogden? BYU? Rio Tinto?

Thanks! Keep up the great work!!

GL: It will be played at Rio Tinto Stadium

From: f4denz
Three Questions:

1) with the CBA running out in under a year, what changes would you like to see made in the league, Do you expect a rise in the salary cap, if so to what range and will MLS teams finally be given the rights to run all aspects of their own teams? The recent statement was made that MLS is 10 years behind the big leagues of Europe, which is great progress for a new league, what do we need to do in order to shrink that gap even more?

GL: We know nothing about CBA negotiations and couldn’t comment on them if we did. Because we have no knowledge of them its pure speculation to anticipate where they might wind up. As to how to make the league better, the same steady growth strategy that the league has followed since its inception should apply in my view. If you look at the growing demographics in this country they are, broadly speaking, Hispanics and people under 30. Guess what they report as their favorite sport? Soccer. If you’ve read “How Soccer Explains the World” there is further insight into how globalization will be a powerful force in gradually making the US a true soccer nation. It’s just going to take time, but smart business people are paying $40 million expansion fees because they see what this league will become down the road. It’s the same reason I left my law firm and Bill Manning left a cushy NFL job. It’s a long term play. Inevitability is not exciting, but it is reassuring.

2) What are the goals that you have set for the team, players and staff this year? The run last year was great but with so much returning talent do you think that a 20% improvement (in goals scored, goals allowed, and wins) is a reasonable expectation?

GL: We want to qualify not just for the playoffs and MLS Cup, but for Superliga, Open Cup and/or Champions League. That would show our club has taken the next step forward. It won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination and many teams in our conference have gotten better in the off season and are starting their first full season and conducting their first pre-season under their coaching staffs. We saw how important that was in helping us improve last year. Couple that with the fact that top teams like Houston, DC United, New England and Chivas will not be facing the prospect of playing in three tournaments this year (MLS teams now qualify for either Superliga or Champions League, but not both) and will therefore have more healthy depth, it will be a massive battle to repeat the success we had last year, but we look forward to the challenge.

3) With the current economic situation both in the US and around the world, the MLS has done well in retaining and attracting new season ticket holders(according to Sports Biz Journal), how is RSL doing on the season ticket front? Can we with so many big events (USMNT match, All Star Match, friendlies) and the new flash seat technology, expect to exceed 10,000 season tickets being sold this year?

GL: We would love to have 10,000 season ticket holders and ticket sales have moved briskly so far this off season. We credit our fans as one of the big reasons for the team’s success in 2008 and we hope everyone in the stadium for the Western conference final, which was the best atmosphere for soccer I’ve experienced in the US, will consider recreating that seething cauldron of noise at every RSL home game.

Thanks to everyone for submitting their questions and I think we got to most of them this time. Please let us know if this is a good forum as we always want to be as transparent and accessible to our fans as possible.

Also, as a final note, remember to take part in our great auction of game worn, MLS jerseys to benefit Soccer Unites Utah and the Williams family. To start off with a bang, we scored a pair of kits from Wednesday night’s U.S.-Mexico game – a Brad Guzan top autographed by the entire USMNT and Giovani Dos Santos’ #17 shirt from the match – that will kick things off tomorrow. Stay tuned here at Behind the Shield where we’ll have full details on the bidding process…